Russian Women and Men Tennis Players Fire Up for French Open
It’s almost time for the French Open; a tournament that has elevated the careers of quite a few Russian tennis players. In 1996 Yevgeny Kafelnikov won the French open and became the first Russian Grand Slam titlist. Eight years later, in 2004, two Russian women players battled it out in the finals with Anastasia Myskina defeating fellow Russian Yelena Dementyeva to become the first Russian woman Grand Slam winner.
While both Myskina and Dementyeva will not be competing this year there are others in the wings ready to take on the challenge of carrying the Russian torch, with the number two ranked player in the world, Maria Sharapova leading the way. She will be joined by Svetlana Kuznetsova who is ranked third in the world. Other Russian women in the tournament are Nadia Petrova, Dinara Safina and Anna Chakvetadze. Not only are the women talented, they are also beautiful Russian ladies.
The Russian men have not had as much success as the women lately in Paris, but Nikolai Davydenko (#3 world ranking) made the quarterfinals last year and is hoping for a strong showing this year. Igor Andreyev, one of the last people to beat the favorite Rafael Nadal on clay, could make a strong showing along with Mikhail Youzhny. You can’t overlook Marat Safin either; he’s still very capable of an upset.
