On this day: Yevgeny Kafelnikov conquers ATP throne despite a terrible streak

From February 2004, only four players have been ranked at the top of the ATP rankings, all of them having to work hard to get there and stay in front of the biggest rivals. We know how consistent have been Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic during their reigns and what effort it took from Andy Murray to pass Novak in the second part of 2016 to join them on the exclusive list. It wasn't always the case, though, and a clear example is Yevgeny Kafelnikov who became the 16th player on the ATP throne on May 3, 1999. Yevgeny won the Australian Open in January and conquered Rotterdam as well in February, with a perfectly normal scenario to see a Grand Slam champion as world no. 1. Still, the story has one big catch, as the Russian had lost the last seven matches played in the ATP tournaments before conquering the leading ranking position!

Something like that is unthinkable today and Kafelnikov managed to achieve the feat after a slow start from the best player of the previous decade Pete Sampras, with the American missing the Australian Open and competing in just four tournaments before May, winning only seven matches. Carlos Moya was the third pretender for the throne, taking the top spot after reaching the final in Indian Wells and heading to Miami as world no. 1 who stayed there for two weeks. Moya was unable to deliver steady results in the upcoming weeks as well, propelling Kafelnikov at the top of men's tennis despite the worst streak in the ATP tournaments of his career! After winning that title in Rotterdam, Yevgeny was beaten in the quarters of London by Thomas Johansson and suffered an early exit at Indian Wells and Miami to Gustavo Kuerten and Vincent Spadea.

Kafelnikov did score two Davis Cup wins against Germany in Frankfurt on an indoor carpet, although he couldn't catch a break when the clay season started, dropping all four encounters played in April against the rivals ranked outside the top-40! Andrei Pavel toppled him in Estoril in three sets before Franco Squillari served an early exit in Barcelona too. The worst was yet to come, though, with the 20-year-old Ivan Ljubicic demolishing him in Monte Carlo in just 44 minutes, followed by Richard Fromberg who completed the miserable month for the Russian after beating him in Prague.

Despite this disastrous streak, Kafelnikov would become world no. 1 on Monday after Prague, moving just 15 points clear of Pete Sampras (3382 in comparison to 3367) and staying there for six weeks before the American restored the order in June and his beloved grass. Kafelnikov would win seven more titles by the end of a career, including an Olympic gold medal in Sydney, never getting another chance to be ranked above all the others. He finished the 1999 season ranked second and stayed in the top-10 until October 2002 when he started to fade away from the big scene, ending his tennis journey in St. Petersburg in October 2003.

from Tennis World USA https://ift.tt/2SySrTb