The triumph of the Russians in tennis. How did it happen?

Russia’s successes in 2021

Many sporting events took place in 2021, and even the coronavirus pandemic did not prevent it. Some countries could not host the tournaments, but others offered a helping hand. The world cooperated, trying to overcome the consequences of the epidemic together. For example, Kazakhstan could not hold the rapid and blitz World Championships so Poland came to the rescue, and now at the end of December, (just in time for the New Year), we will see another exciting chess competition.

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Russian athletes also made their fans proud. Spartak Moscow reached the 1/8 finals of the Europa League, defeating Polish Legia in the last round (but we must admit, it was very tense). But the Moscow team played their main matches earlier, first winning the Italian Napoli in an away match, and then at home. We are talking about the team that has 4th place in the “A” Series at the moment. It is worth noting the success of the Russian national football team, which made it to the play-off matches of the 2022 World Cup. If it hadn’t been for Kudryashov’s own goal in the 81st minute in the match with Croatia, it would’ve reached the World Cup directly.

But the successes were not only in football. At the Olympic Games held in Tokyo in the summer of 2021, Russia took 5th place. 20 gold, 28 silver and 23 bronze medals is quite a decent result. Especially considering that Great Britain and Japan lost to Russia in the total number of medals, but were higher in the table due to the greater number of gold awards.

Also in 2021, the Russian national team became the world champion in beach football, for the third time in history. It was the Russian chess player who played in the match for the title of world champion, but, unfortunately, lost to Norwegian Magnus Carlsen, who remained the current champion.

According to the Ministry of Sports of the Russian Federation, more than 40% of the Russian population is involved in sports. Is this not a great indicator of popularity in the country, when almost half of the country does not just occasionally exercise, but does it regularly, attending various sports clubs and competitions?

But I would like to pay the main attention of the article to tennis, and to the successes of Russia in this particular sport.

Tennis 2021 – what are Russia’s successes?

The Davis Cup was held in 2021. Russian athletes won the first place honours. This happened for the first time in 15 years. Given the historical and sporting grandeur of such a “comeback”, it is not surprising that the success of tennis players immediately attracted the attention of all the sports journalism of the country.

Успехи Даниила Медведева

In fact, the Russian tennis players themselves are quite skilled. Just take Daniil Medvedev for example, he played in all possible tournaments in 2021.

In February, he lost to the legendary Novak Djokovic in the final of the Australian Open. During the match, Daniil won only two games. It’s a shame, but it’s forgivable, because the famous Serb has shown a phenomenal game. The final result was 7:5, 6:2, 6:2. And the tournament itself was held in strict quarantine conditions, some participants were even forbidden to leave their hotel rooms, because the organisers were afraid of the possible spread of Covid-19. Fortunately, it was prevented.

In March, Medvedev won the ATP 250 tournament in Marseille, and took 2nd place in the ATP rankings. For the first time in a long period, this was done by an athlete who was not previously included in the “Big Four” – the list of the strongest tennis players of the XXI century.

In June, Medvedev was successful again, this time in another ATP 250 tournament, held in Mallorca, Spain. But this was just a warm-up. In August he won the Masters 1000 Series tournament in Toronto.

September – victory in the Grand Slam tournament! And in the final, he beat not just anyone, but Novak Djokovic himself, with a score of 6:4, 6:4, 6:4! Phenomenal performance! Great revenge for the February defeat in the Australian Open.

He won the Laver Cup as part of the European team, having played a match against Denis Shapovalov (an athlete from Canada).

In November the final ATP – 2021 championship took place, where he, unfortunately, lost to Alexander Zverev from Germany with a score of 6:4, 6:4. But at least it happened in the actual final! And also, Zverev himself lost to Medvedev earlier in the same tournament, at the group stage.

Thinking about the successes of Alexander Zverev, the career of Denis Shapovalov, you realise that not only Russian tennis players are successful, but also those athletes who have Russian heritage but live abroad.

Andrey Rublev. Briefly about his achievements

Another outstanding Russian tennis player, Andrey Rublev, is also worth noting. In March 2021, Andrey won the ATP-500 tournament in Rotterdam, defeating Marton Fuchovich 7:6, 6:4 in the final. In the same month, he won the Doha doubles tournament together with Aslan Karatsev.

At the 2021 Olympic Games, he won a gold award with Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova! At the same time, in the final they defeated another couple from Russia – Elena Vesnina and Aslan Karatsev.

In September, he won the Laver Cup as part of the European team, where Medvedev also participated. But unlike him, Rublev had more games (3), winning them all.

The successes of the Russian national team are also worth mentioning. In February, Russian athletes won the ATP Cup. But the biggest screaming success was recently, in early December, when the Russians won the Davis Cup for the third time in their history. In the final match, the Russians beat the Croatian team (consider it a revenge for losing in football). 7:6, 6:2 – that’s the score Daniil Medvedev defeated Croat Marin Cilic with – this victory was decisive in the tournament!

Russia is the best in tennis in 2021!

Considering all the successes of Russian athletes both individually and at the national team level, we can say with confidence that Russia was the best country in tennis this year! The number of tournaments won is shocking – the ATP Cup; the ATP 250 tournament in Marseille and Mallorca; the Masters 1000 (Toronto); the US Open; the Davis Cup and many other competitions. A phenomenal performance, and another reason to be proud of the Russian athletes.

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