Yevgeny Kafelnikov

Yevgeny Aleksandrovich Kafelnikov was born on February 18, 1974. He is a retired Russian professional tennis player and a former World Number 1 tennis player. Yevgeny is known for being an outstanding tennis player with over 40 titles to his name. He is known for winning two Grand Slam singles titles, four Grand Slam doubles titles, and the men’s singles gold medal at the Sydney Olympic Games. He has helped Russia won the Davis Cup in 2002 and was the last man to have won both the singles and men’s doubles titles in one Grand Slam event – the 1996 French Open.

Yevgeny turned professional in the year 1992 and just two years later in 1994, he won his first top-level singles title in Adelaide. Once Yevgeny started rolling, he was a hard force to stop. In 1995, he beat World Number 1 tennis player at the time, Andre Agassi, in the quarterfinals of the French Open but lost to Thomas Muster in the semifinals. In 1996, Yevgeny caught the eye of many when he won both the singles and doubles titles in the 1996 French Open. From the years 1997 to 2003, Yevgeny further improved his performance. In 1999, after winning his second Grand Slam singles title, he finally reached the World Number 1 ranking. By the end of his professional career, Yevgeny won a total of 26 singles and 27 doubles titles. He won a total of $23,883,797 in career prize money which put him at the number 5 on the all time ATP prize money list. He even has a record of winning singles titles in 12 different countries.

Yevgeny announced his retirement in 2004 and has since then been active in several sports. He has had a few impressive finishes at the 2005 World Series of Poker, has played golf on the European PGA tour at the 2005 and 2008 Russian Open. Now, Yevgeny works as a commentator for Russian TV covering the sport of tennis. He also coached Marat Safin during the 2008 Miami Masters.