L
laurie
Guest
I've noticed on this particular forum that disparaging remarks are often made about Kafelnikov and his achievements. So let's look at them:
He's won 26 titles including two slams plus an Olympic gold medal in 2000. He won the Davis cup in 2002 though he wasn't fully fit due to a hernia and Youzny had to play the final rubber, coming from two sets down to beat Mathieu in Paris Bercy (incidentally psycologically Mathieu has never recovered from that and always loses when the going gets tight)
He never won a Masters title but won the French Open as we know. He also won 4 grand slam doubles titles.
What I remember about Kafelnikov is that he was very talented, good hands at net, quite volatile at times (seems a typically Russian trait on court), briefly number 1 in 1999. I think his only downfall was that he played far too often, consequently he was burned out by the age of 28 in 2002. He played every week like Davydenko and Weird Al Jankovic does now. These two will also burn out if they don't cut down their schedules.
He never gets mentioned as Hall of Fame material. If Rafter can get in with 2 slams then Yevgeny should too. Just one other thing though, he's only 33 now but looks like he never played any sport, he's balooned!!
What do you think about Kafelnikov?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yevgeny_Kafelnikov
He's won 26 titles including two slams plus an Olympic gold medal in 2000. He won the Davis cup in 2002 though he wasn't fully fit due to a hernia and Youzny had to play the final rubber, coming from two sets down to beat Mathieu in Paris Bercy (incidentally psycologically Mathieu has never recovered from that and always loses when the going gets tight)
He never won a Masters title but won the French Open as we know. He also won 4 grand slam doubles titles.
What I remember about Kafelnikov is that he was very talented, good hands at net, quite volatile at times (seems a typically Russian trait on court), briefly number 1 in 1999. I think his only downfall was that he played far too often, consequently he was burned out by the age of 28 in 2002. He played every week like Davydenko and Weird Al Jankovic does now. These two will also burn out if they don't cut down their schedules.
He never gets mentioned as Hall of Fame material. If Rafter can get in with 2 slams then Yevgeny should too. Just one other thing though, he's only 33 now but looks like he never played any sport, he's balooned!!
What do you think about Kafelnikov?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yevgeny_Kafelnikov