Russian retired tennis star Yevgeny Kafelnikov who won two men’s singles grand slam tournaments (1996 French open and 1999 Australian Open) as well as four men’s doubles grand slams, including an Olympic gold at the Sydney Olympic games in 2000, is a world renowned name in Russian tennis. The 38 year old who now acts as a pundit for Russian coverage of Tennis, has spoken publicly about his concerns for Russian tennis and in particular for the fortunes of Russian players who are hoping to earn medals at the upcoming London Olympic games.
The former world number one believed that Russian tennis and in particular the men’s side has significantly declined in recent years as Mikhail Youzhny who si now world number 34 was the last Russian to break into the worlds top ten palyer back in 2008. Kafelnikov is so pessimistic he has written off the possibility of a Russian Olympic champion believing that any male Russian representative at the London Olympics would merely be there to make up the numbers and should consider it a victory just to take part.
The Russian star did however believe that with Maria Sharapova who has been on great form this year as the current number two in the world would have the best chance of winning gold, he believes that male tennis stars already know they have little or no chance of winning in London let alone get a medal. Kafelnikov who id the vice-president of the Russian Tennis Federation has stated his intentions to lay foundations to rejuvenate the Russian Male tennis quality by producing new stars of the game, to complement the success of the female side of the Russian tennis federation.