So many of current top guys having russian roots?
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Nadal_Django
Legend
You forgot Safiullin. 
D
Deleted member 771911
Guest
Because of more opportunities to leave Russia, taken by their parents?
GameSetDjokovic
Semi-Pro
Perhaps they have a natural talent for the sport. Just sayin'
GhostOfNKDM
Hall of Fame
Comes and goes in phases.
Russia is right now producing many players (on the men's side that is) who are in the Top 50.
Spain had a run in the past. USA was the same way in prior decades. Germany, Australia etc...
Countries seem to enjoy golden periods cyclically.
Russia is right now producing many players (on the men's side that is) who are in the Top 50.
Spain had a run in the past. USA was the same way in prior decades. Germany, Australia etc...
Countries seem to enjoy golden periods cyclically.
I notice Russians are conspicuously absent from the world's favorite sports, soccer! European media regularly names the top 100 in the world. How many of them are Russian, one or two?
A small European country (Croatia) was in the last World Cup final, and there are so many Croatian stars peppered throughout the top clubs. Last year, the best soccer player (Lewansdowsky) came from Poland.
I think that's the reason why there are so many Russian tennis players. For most European boys, soccer come first. But since the soccer culture is so weak in Russia, they are more gravitated toward tennis!
A small European country (Croatia) was in the last World Cup final, and there are so many Croatian stars peppered throughout the top clubs. Last year, the best soccer player (Lewansdowsky) came from Poland.
I think that's the reason why there are so many Russian tennis players. For most European boys, soccer come first. But since the soccer culture is so weak in Russia, they are more gravitated toward tennis!
D
Deleted member 688153
Guest
Exactly, its a function of what's popular/pays well in each country
Phoenix1983
G.O.A.T.
None of these men have won a slam.
BGod
G.O.A.T.
Currently 4 in the Top 10, but 9 Eastern Euros in the Top 20 (Raonic, Dimitrov, Shap, Novak, Hurkacz).
I think the biggest reason is due to the game development at its root. Culturally it's harder to get Western Europeans into Tennis because of saturated sports content. There is no NBA or equivalent in Eastern Europe, NFL, MLB doesn't exist, etc.
That kind of explains itself.
Would be hilarious if it got to 6-8 of the Top 10 being Slavic and the ATP slowly accommodates that. Wink, Wink.
I think the biggest reason is due to the game development at its root. Culturally it's harder to get Western Europeans into Tennis because of saturated sports content. There is no NBA or equivalent in Eastern Europe, NFL, MLB doesn't exist, etc.
That kind of explains itself.
Would be hilarious if it got to 6-8 of the Top 10 being Slavic and the ATP slowly accommodates that. Wink, Wink.
At the 2014 Sochi Olympics, the Russian government organized a massive, unprecedented PED fraud campaign. As a result, Russia was thrown out of most Olympics summer and winter sports. Tennis is one of very few individual sports where Russian youths can still compete on a level playing field with the world. Understandable that Russian youths started pouring into tennis!
Bartelby
Bionic Poster
Amazon warehouses or McDonalds aren't really that superior as options, but those kids don't get the tennis training presumably.
Bartelby
Bionic Poster
The evidence for this comes from someone who confessed to organising the doping before becoming a very well-paid informant.
When you deal with this kind of stuff, you don't get to deal with angels and saints!
In EVERY case, that's the fallback excuse! Coincidental? I think not!
Not to mention, Russia has a long, rotten established record on this! Second to no other country!
Bartelby
Bionic Poster
America has a very long record of such things too, but it's fobbed off as just a few rotten eggs.
weakera
Talk Tennis Guru
The earnings potential of an ATP player is a complete joke compared to the earnings potential of an MLB/NBA/NFL player. There are over 150 MLB players alone who have out-earned Roger Federer's prize money, none of whom you have heard of. That's why American kids don't pursue tennis - it's a waste of time when the average salaries and maximum salaries are so much higher in other sports available to them. The WTA on the other hand offers earnings that few if any other women's sports can top which is why American women dominate ladies tennis with more top-100 players than any other country.
stringertom
Bionic Poster
Balkan countries have been a pipeline for NBA talent for 30 years or more. Yugoslavia won Olympics gold in BB in 1980 and FIBA gold all the way back in 1970. Currently, Nikola Jokic (SRB) and Luka Doncic (SLO) are NBA superstars with Jokic a co-favorite for league MVP.
AM75
Hall of Fame
+ Davidovic Fokina & Bublik
The big difference is that, in democratic countries, it's not organized and protected at the highest levels of government!
I agree that there are potential cheaters everywhere! Lance Armstrong, for example! Or the cheating in British cycling! But in democratic countries, the press is free to expose those cheating scandals! In autocratic countries, the government goes after the press, and not the cheaters!
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I Am Finnish
Bionic Poster
Troicki
beard
Legend
No money in football? Or basketball?
As someone stated, it's phases, where some countries dominate, mostly big, populated countries... Maybe even coincidence, it's not that top 10 are all Russian...
weakera
Talk Tennis Guru
What do russian footballers earn? Certainly zero money to be made in professional russian basketball and virtually no path to the NBA for ruskis
beard
Legend
No path for Russian to the NBA? Why? Is it forbidden for them?
Your logic is rubbish. Russian footballers and basketball players who want money can leave Russian domestic leagues and earn a lot. But, the problem is lack of quality. There is more money in F and B, but Russians are not as successful...
weakera
Talk Tennis Guru
There's perhaps a path for any living human but the basketball infrastructure in Russia is non existent compared to what is available for North American players or even Australian players so it is an enormous uphill climb for them. That is why there are so few Russian NBA players ever. Tennis on the other hand has rich opportunity available in Russia and offers some of the best earning potential to prodigy athletes in Russia. That's why more top Russian athletes are funneled into tennis.
It's a pretty simple equation really. You just sound like an idiot arguing with facts. Why would a young, male American athlete pursue tennis over other sports which offer much better opportunity (more training outlets and more spots in the pro leagues than in the ATP top 100), average earnings, earnings potential, marketing exposure etc?
Russians are limited to soccer really. American basketball, baseball and football offer higher average salaries than any sport available on a serious level to russians and also regularly hand out contracts worth 100/200/300/400+ million.
beard
Legend
You are fishing in a barrel. No basketball infrastructure, but there is what? Good tennis infrastructure. Yeah...
Everyone is financially limited compared to the USA, so Russia is too... In Tennis, Football, Basketball... But in tennis Russians are successful, not because of money, there is more money in F and B...
We disagree and enough is said by me...
What I think is there is that soccer nations need youth leagues, the major league for pros and the acceptance of the international community. For the Russian soccer players all those aspects of the sport are tough but for Croats that's another story. On the other hand, tennis is a sport which may not require nations' "leagues" and/or players' dependence on those "leagues" or shall I say local competitive tournaments. I'd say the Russian tennis players are taking advantage of their homeland families' filthy denaro to grow in and out of Russia independently which is not as easy for soccer players.
Mainad
Bionic Poster
It's all Boris Yeltsin's fault. There wasn't a great deal of interest in tennis in Russia before he came along and funded tennis courts and training programmes. Boris managed to impart his enthusiasm for the sport into encouraging successive generations of Russian tennis champions of both sexes. Medvedev, Rublev and the others are just the latest to benefit from Yeltsin's largesse.
I saw him a few time in some tennis arenas. I think he was ones or twice as a fan at Rolland Garros too.
JaoSousa
Hall of Fame
Probably because only college basketball athletes from the US played in the Olympics tournament. If Dr. J, Moses Malone, Kareem, Magic, and Bird played on the same team, they would take Yugoslavia to the cleaners.
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Russia has by far the largest population in Europe, 146 m. The 2nd largest, Germany, has 83 mil and trails by over 60 mil.
For its size, Russia has very few sports stars, relative to its European neighbors. Following are just 4 countries of about 10 mil or less, each with more sports stars than Russia: Norway, Sweden, Croatia, Serbia!
For its size, Russia has very few sports stars, relative to its European neighbors. Following are just 4 countries of about 10 mil or less, each with more sports stars than Russia: Norway, Sweden, Croatia, Serbia!
octobrina10
Talk Tennis Guru
As for Medvedev, his parents wanted him to get French nationality and wanted him to be born in France. The family was expecting to leave Moscow for France in March so that he could get French citizenship but Medvedev was born much earlier than expected in the month of February and as a result, he was born in Russia itself. ...His parents, Sergey and Olga, also say, "It was impossible for Daniil to perform by training in Russia. We then looked for the ideal place to help him get there. We first thought of Finland or Sweden. It was close but not well enough in tennis. We thought about it for a long time and when his sister left for the University of Nice, we started to visit her there and we realized that it was a good solution."It's all Boris Yeltsin's fault. There wasn't a great deal of interest in tennis in Russia before he came along and funded tennis courts and training programmes. Boris managed to impart his enthusiasm for the sport into encouraging successive generations of Russian tennis champions of both sexes. Medvedev, Rublev and the others are just the latest to benefit from Yeltsin's largesse.
Source: T e n n i sWorld.
TimHenmanATG
Hall of Fame
Firstly, the sport is called "football", not "soccer". Don't attempt to ingratiate yourself towards the yankistani hillbillies.
Secondly, your premise is ridiculous. Poland has about 40 million people. If Robert Lewandowski was indicative of the Polish system, then European football would be flooded with Polish players.
Instead, we have the likes of Kamil Grosicki and Jan Bednarek plying their trade at the top level.
No offence to those players, but they are hardly exactly at the apex of world football.
GameSetDjokovic
Semi-Pro
2002 disagrees with you.
ZanderGoga
Semi-Pro
And if there were anything like an NBA equivalent in Eastern Europe, they'd be playing there instead of Dallas and Denver.
stringertom
Bionic Poster
EuroLeague has a long history of teams from Serbia and Turkey but their more successful franchises are in Western Europe and do have the € power to lure young talent like Doncic (Real Madrid) before the NBA draft and big money comes to the young talent.
As a late bloomer, Jokic stayed in Serbia and played for a Belgrade pro team in the Adriatic Basketball Association before getting drafted by Denver; same for Jusuf Nurkic staying home in Croatia to play for Zadar in the ABA. He was Denver’s first choice Balkan big man and earned a higher pick (16th; Jokic was 41st in the same draft).
Two decades before that Vlade Divac jumped from Belgrade Partizan to the NBA and was accompanied into the league by one of my favorite backcourt stars of the era Drazen Petrovic (Croatian pro ball to Real Madrid before Portland in the NBA). Still mourn losing him in a car crash at age 28; the dude was a serious talent!
BGod
G.O.A.T.
I actually know this being a massive basketball fan (teeters between that and tennis actually and played both sports competitively).
But point stands, there is no NBA equivalent and basketball is not seen as a traditional money play despite how popular it is in those countries. Nevermind the histories of countries such as Croatia/Slovenia in how they relate to Eastern Europe.
JaoSousa
Hall of Fame
Druss
Hall of Fame
Russia’s current top players Medvedev and Rublev don’t even come close to Safin who had an all-court game. Such a beauty to watch when he was switched on. That jumping BH at 1:55Nevertheless, nobody comes even close to this bad boy
Mainad
Bionic Poster
All the big titles this year have been won by Slavs or part-Slavs.
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