Yevgeny Kafelnikov interview – 'I put two photographs of myself together. It was like looking at two different people'

Richard Krajicek knew that he needed to beat Sergi Bruguera in straight sets to reach the final, and thats exactly what he did. The Dutchman produced a barrage of bullet serves and huge forehands to win 6-4, 6-4 and set up a Sunday showdown with Goran Ivanisevic at the AFAS Classics in Eindhoven. Ivanisevic won nine of their 12 meetings, but Krajicek is a man on a mission this week.

Earlier, Ivanisevic fired his way past Yevgeny Kafelnikov 6-4, 7-5. The 3rd/4th place play-off will be contested by Bruguera and Michael Chang. Chang defeated Paul Haarhuis 6-7, 6-4, 10-6 (Champions Tie-break). In the other match of the day, Michael Stich overcame Henri Leconte 6-2, 7-5.

It is a familiar story. A former World No.1 tennis player burns out after a decade of training and playing himself into the ground. He retires, breathes a sigh of relief and isnt seen or heard for five years.  He relaxes, goes on holiday and does all the things he wasnt allowed to do when he was a tennis player. One day he wakes up and doesnt like, or even recognise, the person that he sees in the mirror. He is unfit and overweight, and he wants to do something about it. He hears about the BlackRock Tour of Champions and asks his old rivals what they think of it. They tell him that it is a chance to experience the competition, camaraderie and limelight that they used to enjoy, but without the stress. Perfect.

It happened to Pete Sampras, it happened to Thomas Muster and now it has happened to Yevgeny Kafelnikov.

The Russian won French and Australian Open titles, topped the world rankings and won the Olympic gold medal in Sydney 2000. Renowned for his work ethic, he played 915 singles matches and 571 doubles matches in an 11-year career.  Then, after a 6-2, 6-2 loss to Mikhail Youzhny in St Petersburg in 2003, he was not seen on a competitive tennis court again.  He played poker, golf and devoted his time to bringing up his now 10-year-old daughter, Alesja. He didnt work out at all, and began to tip the scales at 120 kg (264 lbs) – 36 kg (79 lbs) more than in his prime. It was time to act.

I put two photos together, one when I was playing and a recent one, and it was like looking at two different people, said Kafelnikov at the AFAS Classics in Eindhoven, where he is making his debut on the BlackRock Tour of Champions.

I said to myself, no, you cant do that to your body, its not going to last long if you do. So I needed to gather myself. Sometimes you need those moments in your life when you draw the line and see what its like to be at your best – at your highest level, and also at your lowest level. Fortunately, my lows were not too deep so I got out of it and I want to say thanks so much to everyone for giving me the opportunity to come back and play.

Kafelnikov talks with pride about his record as a tennis player, but he knew when it was time to call it a day.

Basically I burned out, he said.

I got to the stage where I couldnt take it any longer. The fact that you need to travel, the media attention, and the saddest thing – the losses. Deep down inside I felt like I belonged to the really elite group of players, which is the top five or top ten at worst. But it got to the stage where I was out of the top ten, and then 2003 was a really difficult time and I started to lose to players who would hardly win a game against me when I was at my best. I just said look, I cant take it anymore and that was when I really decided to quit.

Kafelnikov was never the most media-friendly of tennis players, but he learned a few lessons while out of the limelight, and admits that he began to miss the attention.

I wanted to get away from all the pressure that I had during the years when I was playing, and I really did that. But then, after one or two years of being away in the shadows where nobody sees you, you dont talk to people or to the media, it becomes boring.  As you get older and wiser you see life from a different angle and your perspective changes, definitely. When I was playing on the tour on a regular basis I had quite an ego and thats understandable. I was there to win and it comes with the territory. Thats why Im here – people want to see me because I was once the Number One in the world and won Grand Slam titles. People want to see the guys who they idolised. Now, as we get older, were really thankful that people want to see us. Its really wonderful, and were going to try to give our best back.

He has been good to his word. Over the first two days of the AFAS Tennis Classics in Eindhoven, Kafelnikov could not have been more hospitable. He spent an hour laughing and joking with the media on the first day, offered to visit the Tour and Tournament sponsors whenever they needed him and hasnt stopped smiling since he arrived. Accompanied by daughter Alesja wherever he goes, his demeanor could not be more different to the man that reached No.1 in the world in 1999.

My daughter told me that if I go to this tournament, she goes too, so thats part of the deal, said Kafelnikov.

I had to talk to the teacher and shes allowed three days off school so shell be back to school on Monday, but shes enjoying it very much. The first day she was shy and she didnt know any of the guys but I told her look, this guy I played doubles with and this one gave me a hard time when we played, so now she knows everyone. Its a very nice feeling to see the guys that I used to share a locker room with. We had good chats before when we were on the tour together and now after those years that I have been away its pretty much the same, it never changed. They are all good guys. The BlackRock Tour is doing a good job of giving these guys another opportunity to be with each other. Were definitely now at a stage where we need to give back as much as we can to fans who really love the game of tennis. Were doing the pro-ams, talking to the sponsors and thats what we need to do.

On the court he has been less successful, losing all three of his round-robin matches against Michael Chang, Paul Haarhuis and Goran Ivanisevic. But he has already lost 15 kilos over the past six months as he bids to regain his fitness, and he isnt about to stop now.

Slowly, slowly, slowly I am getting into better shape and hopefully if I get more opportunities to play next year, I will definitely perform better, he said.

Matches on the BlackRock Tour of Champions are played over the best of three sets, with a Champions Tie-break (first to 10 points with a clear advantage of two) to decide the winner.

Last week in Luxembourg, John McEnroe won his first BlackRock Tour of Champions title in three years by defeating Leconte to take the Vivium Victory Challenge.

After Eindhoven, the Tour moves on to the Tennis Classics in Budapest. It will be the first time that the BlackRock Tour of Champions has visited Hungary. McEnroe and Bjorn Borg will both be in action

M. Stich  d. H. Leconte 6-2, 7-5

M. Chang d. P. Haarhuis 6-7, 6-4, 10-6

G. Ivanisevic d. Y. Kafelnikov 6-4, 7-5

R. Krajicek d. S. Bruguera 6-4, 6-4

Richard Krajicek                         2-1 (5-2)

Sergi Bruguera            2-1 (4-2)

Michael Stich            2-1 (4-3)

Henri Leconte     0-3 (0-4)

Goran Ivanisevic 3-0 (6-1)

Michael Chang 2-1 (4-3)

Paul Haarhuis 1-2 (4-5)

Yevgeny Kafelnikov            0-3 (1-6)

3rd/4th place play-off

Michael Chang vs. Sergi Bruguera

Final

Richard Krajicek vs. Goran Ivanisevc

Winner   400 points

Finalist   250 points

3rd place   200 points

4th place   125 points

5/6th place   80 points

7/8th place  60 points

1 Marcelo Rios 1130

2 Goran Ivanisevic            970

3 Michael Stich            900

4 Henri Leconte 830

5        Cedric Pioline 740

6 Thomas Muster 655

7 Sergi Bruguera 610

8 Anders Jarryd  525

9        John McEnroe                     480

10= Marc-Kevin Goellner (WC) 455

10= Fernando Meligeni (WC) 455

12 Pat Cash  420

13= Patrick Rafter  400

13= Pete Sampras  400

13=   Stefan Edberg                      400

16 Mikael Pernfors  330

17 Chris Wilkinson (WC)  325

18= Jaime Oncins (WC)  200

18=    Johny Goudenbour             200

20 Bjorn Borg  185

21=   Guy Forget                           125

21= Jeremy Bates (WC) 125

21= Albert Costa 125

21=  Carl Uwe Steeb  120

21= Guillermo Vilas 120

26=  Mats Wilander                        80

26=  Joao Cunha e Silva (WC)  80

26= Magnus Larsson  80

26= Andrei Cherkasov  80

26= Mansour Bahrami                  80

31= Jaime Yzaga  60

31= Alladin Karagoz (WC)  60

31= Andrei Chesnokov  60

Belfast, Northern Ireland – February 21-24 (Tennis Legends)

Champion: Anders Jarryd; Runner-up: Mikael Pernfors

Barcelona, Spain – April 24-27 (Champions Cup ’08)

Champion: Marcelo Rios; Runner-up: Michael Stich

Rome, Italy – May 10-11

Champion: Thomas Muster; Runner-up: Goran Ivanisevic

Hamburg, Germany – May 14-17 (BlackRock Tennis Classic)

Champion: Michael Stich; Runner-up: Marc-Kevin Goellner

Sao Paulo, Brazil – June 19-22 (Nossa Caixa Grand Champions Brasil)

Champion: Pete Sampras; Runner-up: Marcelo Rios

Istanbul, Turkey – July 17-20

Champion: Goran Ivanisevic; Runner-up: Fernando Meligeni

Graz, Austria – July 29-August 2 (s Tennis Masters)

Champion: Patrick Rafter; Runner-up: Michael Stich

Algarve, Portugal – August 5-8 (Vale do Lobo Grand Champions CGD)

Champion: Marcelo Rios ; Runner-up : Goran Ivanisevic

Paris, France – September 18-21 (5e Trophe Jean-Luc Lagardre)

Champion: Stefan Edberg; Runner-up: Sergi Bruguera

Luxembourg, Luxembourg – September 25-28

Champion: John McEnroe; Runner-up: Henri Leconte

Eindhoven, Netherlands – October 2-5 (AFAS Tennis Classics)

Budapest, Hungary – October 9-12

Macao, China – November 20 (Special Event)

London, UK – December 2-7 (BlackRock Masters Tennis)

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