Tennis: Russian master takes aces to the card table

By BRIAN VINER

Yevgeny Kafelnikov is a name you might almost expect to find at the top of a "Where are they now?" feature.

Five years ago he was ranked top male tennis player on the planet.

Yet without officially declaring his retirement, the 30-year-old Russian, twice a Grand Slam champion and Olympic gold medallist in Sydney, has disappeared from the tournament scene, a characteristically enigmatic career move by one of the quirkiest men ever to play top-level tennis. Or top-level anything, come to that.

"A stubborn Russian nut," the assessment of his former coach, Larry Stefanki, might be considered an understatement.

Where Kafelnikov is now - at least on the day I meet him - is in Maidstone, Kent. He is there to compete in the 888.com Pacific Poker Open, which has a bigger cash incentive than many of the tennis events he played in: £5400 ($14,200) just to get through round one, £268,000 ($706,000) to the eventual winner.

Even when the prize is not so alluring, it is at the card table that Kafelnikov gets his kicks these days.

But he doesn't play just for kicks. Just as Stefanki once coached him in tennis strategy, so he has hired his compatriot, Kirill Gerasimov, professional poker's Rookie of the Year in 2002, to do the same with a deck of cards.

Under Gerasimov's tutelage, Kafelnikov seems to be developing into a formidable poker player. At a tournament in Moscow he knocked out Dave Colclough, the Roger Federer of European poker.

But by all accounts he needs to introduce a little more subtlety and stealth to his game.

"He's very aggressive and likes to bully the table," says a poker devotee of my acquaintance. "He plays poker rather like he plays tennis."

Plays tennis? Or played? I confront the man himself with the $64,000 question. And like the poker player he has become, he takes my $64,000 question and raises another $64,000 question.

"I have retired," he tells me, with the ghost of a smile. "But I have not officially announced it yet.

"Some people still think I am just taking a break, but I believe that my time in tennis has gone by. Even if I came back, I would have no chance to play at the level I was.

"Tennis is a young man's sport. Obviously there are some exceptions, like [Andre] Agassi. He's 34 and still competing, but he's the one and only. I played 1000 matches in my tennis career. That's more than enough, no?"

I agree with him that it probably is.

There is something about Kafelnikov that brooks no dissent. Partly it is his size (he is 190.5cm but seems taller), partly his inscrutability and partly his sheer Russian-ness.

I hate to resort to cliche, but there really is something of the Bond villain about him, an aura intensified by his polo-necked top and bad haircut, not to mention his friendship with some decidedly shady characters, notably Alimzhan Tokhtakhounov, the alleged gangster who was arrested in connection with fixing figure-skating competitions at the 2002 winter Olympics in Salt Lake City.

He shrugs when I mention this association.

"I am still friendly with him. There's nothing I can do about it. I have known this guy for many, many years."

He shrugs again when I mention the investigation into match-fixing in tennis that was partly provoked by his withdrawal from a tournament in Lyon last year.

"It was a false accusation, and I tried not to pay too much attention. But it did hurt my reputation."

Does he honestly not think he could still compete at the highest level? After all, he is the same age as Tim Henman, who has just enjoyed the best 12 months of his career.

"It is true. But Henman started his career later. I began at 19, and now it is impossible to compete with guys 10 years younger. They are more hungry. At the end of 2003 I thought, 'I can't do this any more'.

"I was losing to guys who, a couple of years before, I was able to beat with only my left hand. That's when I realised my time was gone.

"The most important thing was not to disappoint my fans. It is hard to earn a good image in Russia. Once you do, you're a hero. But if you then do something wrong, you're treated like, like ... I can't think of a word to describe it.

"I dedicated myself to playing for Russia. I played all Davis Cup matches, won Olympic gold. I still have a good image.

"So when people on the street in Moscow ask why I stopped playing, I say, 'Because I don't want to see you people crying when I lose'. They understand that."

Kafelnikov, faithful to his fierce sense of Russian identity, has no desire to live in Miami or Monte Carlo. His home is in Moscow, where he sees as much as he can of his six-year-old daughter, Alesja, from whose mother, Masha Tishkova, he is divorced.


Away from the poker table - and the golf course - he has a business empire to run.

"I have lots of businesses in Russia, mainly real estate. That is the most successful business right now in Russia."

It seems reasonable to ask Kafelnikov, the son of a humble high-school volleyball coach, how he spends his money. I know he used to blow a great deal of it on the roulette wheel, to the point at which it was apparently becoming a problem.

Poker is the only form of gambling he pursues now, but it is said that during the 1999 Australian Open he virtually took root at a roulette table in Melbourne and reportedly lost a packet punting repeatedly on black.

Remarkably, it didn't stop him adding a second Grand Slam to his 1996 French Open title, and a few months later he was anointed world No 1.

He declines to tell me how he spends his money now, admitting only to a lifestyle that is "above the ordinary".

He doesn't miss playing tennis one bit, he adds, but remains a keen spectator. He had a good record against the present world No 1, Federer - played five, won three - but recognises that the wondrous Swiss has improved since then. Might he, even, be the greatest player who ever lived?

A frown. "It is hard for me to answer. He's good on all surfaces, very universal. Maybe his weakness is clay, but he can be successful there, too."

He does not have any plans to use his experience to coach others. "I do not have the patience."

Yet he has the patience to play poker, albeit in a singularly aggressive style?

"Yes. I find it very exciting. Because you win not with the cards but with your skills. With body language you can win a game, but also you can lose a game."

Many of the world's top poker players have sporting backgrounds. Doyle "Texas Dolly" Brunson, perhaps the greatest poker player, was a basketball prodigy whose career was ended by a knee injury.

Another leading player, T J Cloutier, played pro football. At a less exalted level, snooker stars Steve Davis and Mark Williams are both highly competent poker players.

"I think it's to do with nerve," says my poker-loving friend. "Sportsmen know how to keep calm under pressure, they're focused, observant, disciplined and they have a powerful winning psyche."

- INDEPENDENT