Yevgeny Kafelnikov

Yevgeny Kafelnikov
Country	Russia
Residence	Sochi, Russia
Date of birth	February 18, 1974 (1974-02-18) (age 35)
Place of birth	Sochi, Soviet Union
Height	1.90 m (6 ft 3 in)
Weight	84 kg (190 lb/13.2 st)
Turned pro	1992
Retired	2003
Plays	Right-handed; two-handed backhand
Career prize money	$23,883,797 5th All-time leader in earnings
Singles
Career record:	609–306
Career titles:	26
Highest ranking:	No. 1 (May 3, 1999)
Grand Slam results
Australian Open	W (1999)
French Open	W (1996)
Wimbledon	QF (1995)
US Open	SF (1999, 2001)
Major tournaments
Masters Cup	F (1997)
Olympic Games	Gold medal (2000)
Doubles
Career record:	358–213
Career titles:	27
Highest ranking:	No. 4 (March 30, 1998)
Grand Slam doubles results
Australian Open	QF (1995, 1999)
French Open	W (1996, 1997, 2002)
Wimbledon	SF (1994, 1995)
US Open	W (1997)
Mixed Doubles
Career record:	{{{mixedrecord}}}
Career titles:	{{{mixedtitles}}}
Highest ranking:	{{{highestmixedranking}}}

Yevgeny Aleksandrovich Kafelnikov (born 18 February 1974; Russian: Евгений Александрович Кафельников, Russian pronunciation: [jɪvˈgenʲɪj ɐlʲɪˈksandrəvʲɪtɕ ˈkafʲɪlʲnʲɪkəf]) is a former World No. 1 tennis player from Russia. He won two Grand Slam singles titles (one French Open and one Australian Open), four Grand Slam doubles titles, and the men's singles gold medal at the Sydney Olympic Games. He also helped Russia win the Davis Cup in 2002. He is the last man to have won both the singles and men's doubles titles at the same Grand Slam tournament, which he did at the 1996 French Open.

Career

Kafelnikov was born in Sochi then part of the RSFSR of Soviet Union. He turned professional in 1992 and won his first top-level singles title in Adelaide in 1994.

In 1995, Kafelnikov defeated World No. 1 Andre Agassi in the quarter-finals of the French Open before losing to eventual champion Thomas Muster in the semi-finals.

A year later, in 1996, Kafelnikov captured both the singles and the men's doubles titles at the French Open. In the semifinals, Kafelnikov eliminated Pete Sampras and then beat former Wimbledon champion Michael Stich in the final 7–6, 7–5, 7–6.

In 1997, Kafelnikov won the men's doubles titles at both the French Open and the US Open.

In 1999, Kafelnikov won his second Grand Slam singles title at the Australian Open. He defeated Thomas Enqvist in four sets in the final. In May that year, he reached the World No. 1 men's singles ranking. However, he lost seven straight matches thereafter, and relinquished that ranking after six weeks.

Kafelnikov was in the Australian Open final again in 2000, but was defeated in four sets by Andre Agassi. That summer, he won the men's singles Gold Medal for Russia at the Sydney Olympic Games. In the final, he defeated Tommy Haas of Germany 7–6, 3–6, 6–2, 4–6, 6–3.

In 2002, Kafelnikov was part of the Russian team that won the Davis Cup for the first time. In Russia's semifinal win over Argentina, Kafelnikov saved two match points in a singles rubber against Gastón Gaudio and won the 4 hour, 10 minute match 3–6, 7–5, 6–3, 2–6, 8–6. The following day, he partnered Marat Safin in the longest doubles match in Davis Cup history. The pair eventually lost the 6 hour, 20 minute match 4–6, 4–6, 7–5, 6–3, 17-19. Russia eventually overcame Argentina 3–2 and went on to defeat France in the final 3–2.

Kafelnikov won his third French Open men's doubles title in 2002. He reached the French Open men's doubles final for the fourth time in 2003, when he finished runner-up.

In 2003, betting on a Kafelnikov match in Lyon was suspended when an ominously large wager was made on his opponent, Fernando Vicente, loser of his previous 12 matches.^[1] Vicente won in straight sets. Kafelnikov played his final singles tournament in St.Petersburg in 2003 and final doubles tournament (ironically a challenger event) in the Ukrainian city of Dnepropetrovsk.

Kafelnikov lost at the French Open quarter-finals against Gustavo Kuerten for 3 times, 1997, 2000 and 2001. Curiously, Kuerten won the three editions.

Records

Kafelnikov retired from the professional tour in 2004, having won 26 singles and 27 doubles titles. During his career he won $23,883,797 US dollars in career prize money, which puts him at no.5 on the all time ATP prize money list.

He won singles titles in 12 different countries: Australia, the Czech Republic, Denmark, England, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Russia, Switzerland, the United States, and Uzbekistan.

Life after tennis

Since retiring, Kafelnikov has had a few impressive finishes at the 2005 World Series of Poker. He also played golf on the European PGA tour at the 2005 and 2008 Russian Open. He stated that he was there not to make up the numbers, before finishing last by 20 odd shots in 2005 (and second to last in 2008). ^[2]

He now works as a commentator for Russian TV covering tennis. During the 2008 Miami Masters, Kafelnikov coached Marat Safin in the absence of Hernan Gumy. Just after the 2008 US open he again was hitting with Safin upon his return to Moscow, a possible coaching job with Marat cannot be ruled out.

Grand Slam singles finals

Wins (2)

Year	Championship	Opponent in Final	Score in Final
1996	French Open	Michael Stich	7–6(4), 7–5, 7–6(4)
1999	Australian Open	Thomas Enqvist	4–6, 6–0, 6–3, 7–6(1)

Runner-up (1)

Year	Championship	Opponent in Final	Score in Final
2000	Australian Open	Andre Agassi	3–6, 6–3, 6–2, 6–4

Grand Slam doubles finals

Wins (4)

Year	Championship	Partner	Opponents in Final	Score in Final
1996	French Open	Daniel Vacek	Guy Forget & Jakob Hlasek	6–2, 6–3
1997	French Open	Daniel Vacek	Todd Woodbridge & Mark Woodforde	7–6, 4–6, 6–3
1997	U.S. Open	Daniel Vacek	Jonas Björkman & Nicklas Kulti	7–6, 6–3
2002	French Open	Paul Haarhuis	Mark Knowles & Daniel Nestor	7–5, 6–4

Runner-up (1)

Year	Championship	Partner	Opponents in Final	Score in Final
2003	French Open	Paul Haarhuis	Bob Bryan & Mike Bryan	7–6(3), 6–3

Career singles finals (46)

Wins (26)

No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Opponent in Final	Score in Final
1.	10 January 1994	Adelaide, Australia	Hard	Alexander Volkov	6–4, 6–3
2.	7 March 1994	Copenhagen Open, Denmark	Carpet	Daniel Vacek	6–3, 7–5
3.	29 August 1994	Long Island, United States	Hard	Cédric Pioline	5–7, 6–1, 6–2
4.	20 February 1995	Milan, Italy	Carpet	Boris Becker	7–5, 5–7, 7–6(6)
5.	27 March 1995	St. Petersburg, Russia	Carpet	Guillaume Raoux	6–2, 6–2
6.	17 July 1995	Gstaad, Switzerland	Clay	Jakob Hlasek	6–3, 6–4, 3–6, 6–3
7.	28 August 1995	Long Island, U.S.	Hard	Jan Siemerink	7–6(0), 6–2
8.	8 January 1996	Adelaide, Australia	Hard	Byron Black	7–6(0), 3–6, 6–1
9.	6 May 1996	Prague, Czech Republic	Clay	Bohdan Ulihrach	7–5, 1–6, 6–3
10.	10 June 1996	French Open, Paris	Clay	Michael Stich	7–6(4), 7–5, 7–6(4)
11.	7 October 1996	Lyon, France	Carpet	Arnaud Boetsch	7–5, 6–3
12.	16 June 1997	Halle, Germany	Grass	Petr Korda	7–6(2), 6–7(5), 7–6(7)
13.	18 August 1997	New Haven, U.S.	Hard	Patrick Rafter	7–6(4), 6–4
14.	10 November 1997	Moscow, Russia	Carpet	Petr Korda	7–6(2), 6–4
15.	2 March 1998	London	Carpet	Cédric Pioline	7–5, 6–4
16.	15 June 1998	Halle, Germany	Grass	Magnus Larsson	6–4, 6–4
17.	16 November 1998	Moscow, Russia	Carpet	Goran Ivanišević	7–6(2), 7–6(5)
18.	1 February 1999	Australian Open, Melbourne	Hard	Thomas Enqvist	4–6, 6–0, 6–3, 7–6(1)
19.	22 February 1999	Rotterdam, Netherlands	Carpet	Tim Henman	6–2, 7–6(3)
20.	15 November 1999	Moscow, Russia	Carpet	Byron Black	7–6(2), 6–4
21.	2 October 2000	Sydney Olympics, Australia	Hard	Tommy Haas	7–6(4), 3–6, 6–2, 4–6, 6–3
22.	30 October 2000	Moscow, Russia	Carpet (i)	David Prinosil	6–2, 7–5
23.	19 February 2001	Marseille, France	Hard (i)	Sébastien Grosjean	7–6(5), 6–2
24.	8 October 2001	Moscow, Russia	Carpet (i)	Nicolas Kiefer	6–4, 7–5
25.	17 June 2002	Halle, Germany	Grass	Nicolas Kiefer	2–6, 6–4, 6–4
26.	16 September 2002	Tashkent, Uzbekistan	Hard	Vladimir Voltchkov	7–6(6), 7–5

Runner-ups (20)

No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Opponent in Final	Score in Final
1.	9 May 1994	Hamburg, Germany	Clay	Andrei Medvedev	6–4, 6–4, 3–6, 6–3
2.	24 April 1995	Nice, France	Clay	Marc Rosset	6–4, 6–0
3.	11 March 1996	Rotterdam, Netherlands	Carpet	Goran Ivanišević	6–4, 3–6, 6–3
4.	1 April 1996	St. Petersburg, Russia	Carpet	Magnus Gustafsson	6–2, 7-(4)
5.	24 June 1996	Halle, Germany	Grass	Nicklas Kulti	6–7(5), 6–3, 6–4
6.	22 July 1996	Stuttgart Outdoor, Germany	Clay	Thomas Muster	6–2, 6–2, 6–4
7.	4 November 1996	Paris, France	Carpet	Thomas Enqvist	6–2, 6–4, 7–5
8.	11 November 1996	Moscow, Russia	Carpet	Goran Ivanišević	3–6, 6–1, 6–3
9.	17 November 1997	Singles Championships, Hanover	Hard	Pete Sampras	6–3, 6–2, 6–2
10.	9 February 1998	Marseille, France	Hard (i)	Thomas Enqvist	6–4, 6–1
11.	21 September 1998	Tashkent, Uzbekistan	Hard	Tim Henman	7–5, 6–4
12.	2 November 1998	Stuttgart Indoor, Germany	Hard (i)	Richard Krajicek	6–4, 6–3, 6–3
13.	9 August 1999	Montreal, Canada	Hard	Thomas Johansson	1–6, 6–3, 6–3
14.	23 August 1999	Washington D.C., United States	Hard	Andre Agassi	7–6(3), 6–1
15.	31 January 2000	Australian Open, Melbourne	Hard	Andre Agassi	3–6, 6–3, 6–2, 6–4
16.	28 February 2000	London	Hard (i)	Marc Rosset	6–4, 6–4
17.	27 November 2000	Stockholm, Sweden	Hard (i)	Thomas Johansson	6–2, 6–4, 6–4
18.	17 September 2001	Tashkent, Uzbekistan	Hard	Marat Safin	6–2, 6–2
19.	5 November 2001	Paris, France	Carpet	Sébastien Grosjean	7–6(3), 6–1, 6–7(5), 6–4
20.	3 February 2003	Milan, Italy	Carpet	Martin Verkerk	6–4, 5–7, 7–5

Singles performance timeline

A = did not attend
LQ = lost in qualifying draw

Career doubles finals (41)

Wins (27)

No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Partnering	Opponent in the final	Score
1.	11 April 1994	Barcelona, Spain	Clay	David Rikl	Jim Courier & Javier Sánchez	5–7, 6–1, 6–4
2.	2 May 1994	Munich, Germany	Clay	David Rikl	Boris Becker & Petr Korda	7–6, 7–5
3.	16 May 1994	Rome, Italy	Clay	David Rikl	Wayne Ferreira & Javier Sánchez	6–1, 7–5
4.	24 October 1994	Lyon, France	Carpet	Jakob Hlasek	Martin Damm & Patrick Rafter	6–7, 7–6, 7–6
5.	10 April 1995	Estoril, Portugal	Clay	Andrei Olhovskiy	Marc-Kevin Goellner & Diego Nargiso	5–7, 7–5, 6–2
6.	15 May 1995	Hamburg, Germany	Clay	Wayne Ferreira	Byron Black & Andrei Olhovskiy	6–1, 7–6
7.	31 July 1995	Montreal, Canada	Hard	Andrei Olhovskiy	Brian MacPhie & Sandon Stolle	6–2, 6–2
8.	23 October 1995	Lyon, France	Carpet	Jakob Hlasek	John-Laffnie de Jager & Wayne Ferreira	6–3, 6–3
9.	1 April 1996	St. Petersburg, Russia	Carpet	Andrei Olhovskiy	Nicklas Kulti & Peter Nyborg	6–3, 6–4
10.	6 May 1996	Prague, Czech Republic	Clay	Daniel Vacek	Luis Lobo & Javier Sánchez	6–3, 6–7, 6–3
11.	10 June 1996	French Open, Paris	Clay	Daniel Vacek	Jakob Hlasek & Guy Forget	6–2, 6–3
12.	30 September 1996	Basel, Switzerland	Hard (i)	Daniel Vacek	David Adams & Menno Oosting	6–3, 6–4
13.	14 October 1996	Vienna, Austria	Carpet	Daniel Vacek	Pavel Vízner & Menno Oosting	7–6, 6–4
14.	9 June 1997	French Open, Paris	Clay	Daniel Vacek	Todd Woodbridge & Mark Woodforde	7–6, 4–6, 6–3
15.	14 July 1997	Gstaad, Switzerland	Clay	Daniel Vacek	Trevor Kronemann & David Macpherson	4–6, 7–6, 6–3
16.	8 September 1997	U.S. Open, New York	Hard	Daniel Vacek	Jonas Björkman & Nicklas Kulti	7–6, 6–3
17.	23 February 1998	Antwerp, Belgium	Hard	Wayne Ferreira	Tomás Carbonell & Francisco Roig	7–5, 3–6, 6–2
18.	19 October 1998	Vienna, Austria	Carpet	Daniel Vacek	David Adams & John Laffnie De Jager	7–5, 6–3
19.	19 April 1999	Barcelona, Spain	Clay	Paul Haarhuis	Massimo Bertolini & Cristian Brandi	7–5, 6–3
20.	24 April 2000	Monte Carlo, Monaco	Clay	Wayne Ferreira	Paul Haarhuis & Sandon Stolle	6–3, 2–6, 6–1
21.	16 October 2000	Vienna, Austria	Hard (i)	Nenad Zimonjić	Jiří Novák & David Rikl	6–4, 6–4
22.	19 March 2001	Indian Wells, United States	Hard	Wayne Ferreira	Jonas Björkman & Todd Woodbridge	6–2, 7–5
23.	14 May 2001	Rome, Italy	Clay	Wayne Ferreira	Daniel Nestor & Sandon Stolle	6–4, 7–6(6)
24.	29 October 2001	St. Petersburg, Russia	Hard	Denis Golovanov	Irakli Labadze & Marat Safin	7–5, 6–4
25.	10 June 2002	French Open, Paris	Clay	Paul Haarhuis	Mark Knowles & Daniel Nestor	7–5, 6–4
26.	17 March 2003	Indian Wells, United States	Hard	Wayne Ferreira	Bob Bryan & Mike Bryan	3–6, 7–5, 6–4
27.	4 August 2003	Washington D.C., United States	Hard	Sargis Sargsian	Chris Haggard & Paul Hanley	7–5, 4–6, 6–2

Runner-ups (14)

No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Partnering	Opponent in the final	Score
1.	7 February 1994	Marseille, France	Carpet	Martin Damm	Jan Siemerink Daniel Vacek	6–7, 6–4, 6–1
2.	25 April 1994	Monte Carlo, Monaco	Clay	Daniel Vacek	Nicklas Kulti Magnus Larsson	3–6, 7–6, 6–4
3.	27 March 1995	St. Petersburg, Russia	Carpet	Jakob Hlasek	Martin Damm Anders Järryd	6–4, 6–2
4.	26 June 1995	Halle, Germany	Grass	Andrei Olhovskiy	Jacco Eltingh Paul Haarhuis	6–2, 3–6, 6–3
5.	26 February 1996	Antwerp, Belgium	Carpet	Menno Oosting	Jonas Björkman Nicklas Kulti	6–4, 6–4
6.	24 June 1996	Halle, Germany	Grass	Daniel Vacek	Byron Black Grant Connell	6–1, 7–5
7.	4 November 1996	Paris, France	Carpet	Daniel Vacek	Jacco Eltingh Paul Haarhuis	6–4, 4–6, 7–6
8.	2 March 1998	London, England	Carpet	Daniel Vacek	Martin Damm Jim Grabb	6–4, 7–5
9.	16 November 1998	Moscow, Russia	Carpet	Daniel Vacek	Jared Palmer Jeff Tarango	6–4, 6–7, 6–2
10.	21 February 2000	Rotterdam, Netherlands	Hard (i)	Tim Henman	David Adams John-Laffnie De Jager	5–7, 6–2, 6–3
11.	15 May 2000	Rome, Italy	Clay	Wayne Ferreira	Martin Damm Dominik Hrbatý	6–4, 4–6, 6–3
12.	22 April 2002	Monte Carlo, Monaco	Clay	Paul Haarhuis	Jonas Björkman Todd Woodbridge	6–3, 3–6, [10-7]
13.	9 June 2003	French Open, Paris	Clay	Paul Haarhuis	Bob Bryan Mike Bryan	7–6, 6–3
14.	21 July 2003	Stuttgart, Germany	Clay	Kevin Ullyett	Tomáš Cibulec Pavel Vízner	3–6, 6–3, 6–4

Doubles performance timeline

A = did not participate in the tournament.

Team titles

2002 - Davis Cup winner with Russia

Trivia

• Kafelnikov starred in Virtua Tennis, an arcade tennis game. In that game, he has a strong backhand.

• He also obtained a wildcard entry into the 2005 Cadillac Russian Open golf tournament, in Moscow, shooting rounds of 88 and 96 to finish 40 over par and missed the cut by 24 strokes.

• He played exclusively with and endorsed racquets from Austrian company, Fischer throughout his career.

External links

• Kafelnikov.com.ar : pictures, profile, biography, titles and quotes
• Yevgeny Kafelnikov at the Association of Tennis Professionals
• Davis Cup record