By JOHN ROBERTS
The image of Russians playing tennis in France unfailingly calls to mind a line by Philippe Maria, of the French national sports dailyL'Equipe, who described the eccentric Andrei Chesnokov, winner of the Monte Carlo Open in 1990, as "a Marxist with Groucho tendencies."
Maria is unlikely to be stuck
for another quip or two with Marat Safin and Yevgeny Kafelnikov (Chico and Zeppo?) in Paris for the Davis Cup final starting tonight.
This month, when Safin won the Paris Masters, Kafelnikov was beaten in the third round by world No 1 Lleyton Hewitt, who went on to lose to Safin in the final.
The Russian pair were interrogated by Vsivolod Rybakov, an experienced French correspondent for the Moscow magazine VIP, whose strident interviewing style intimidated the reporters, if not the players (they knew what he was saying).
Rybakov is fluent in English, a language which tends to soften his tone, and he smiled knowingly when discussing the two men who hope to take Dwight Davies' splendid silver punch bowl to Russia for the first time.
Kafelnikov says he will retire from playing if the mission is accomplished.
"Why would Kafelnikov want to retire?" Rybakov said, shrugging his shoulders. "He is only 28 and can still make a lot of money."
Safin also addressed the subject with an air of scepticism. "That is the question without any answer," he said. "I cannot give you the answer. Yevgeny says yes [he will retire if we win], but, you know, he has like seven Fridays in a week."
"Ah, yes, seven Fridays," Rybakov repeated, his smile broadening. "He can change his mind every day."
Not that Safin, a 22-year-old Muscovite, qualifies as the most consistent of fellows.
"You know, Safin is not an ethnic Russian," Rybakov confided. "Safin is not a Russian name. Marat is a Russian citizen. His mother [Rausa] is Russian, but his father [Misha] is Tatar."
Emphasising that none of this detracted from Safin's character, Rybakov added: "All Marat's instincts are completely Russian."
Kafelnikov, from the Black Sea resort of Sochi, reasons that winning the Davis Cup would be the pinnacle of his career, a feat to set alongside his Olympic gold medal in Sydney and his Grand Slam triumphs at the French Open in 1996 and the Australian Open in 1999.
He says that Safin, in helping him to achieve his goal, would take top place in public esteem as if materialising from a matryoshka nesting doll.
"Marat has been very helpful to me throughout this year," Kafelnikov stressed. "He understands that this is important to me. Perhaps he has started to realise that this thing also could be important to him.
"If we do accomplish [winning] the Davis Cup, his image will be even bigger than it is right now. He'll be the No 1 player in the country and he'll be the star there. Right now we have two - me and him. When I stop, he will be the only one. There is a big difference."
When Safin and Kafelnikov return to the Palais Omnisports de Paris-Bercy tonight, the medium-pace, blue indoor hardcourt used for the Masters will have been replaced by slow red clay, France's choice of surface as the home team.
A year ago, Australia put a grass court on the Rebound Ace concrete at the Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne, believing the faster surface would give them the edge against France in the final. France prevailed, 3-2.
Kafelnikov, who won the singles and doubles championships at Roland Garros in 1996 and successfully defended the doubles title with the Czech Daniel Vacek in 1997, considers that the French may be deluding themselves.
"I am not saying they have made a big mistake, but definitely by choosing the clay they have completely equalised the chances of both teams," he said.
France gambled and lost on indoor clay courts in Grenoble in 1982 (beaten 4-1 by the US) and Nice in 1999 (3-2 by Australia).
Safin believes the Davis Cup duel will be decided by fitness.
"It's clay, it's the end of the season and everybody is tired, so you need to be strong enough, physically and mentally."
Few would bet against France on home ground, although Hewitt considers the final difficult to call.
"The reason is Marat Safin is such a great player that he can win a tie, I guess, off his own racket," the Australian said. "The big thing is, is Marat going to be there?" (The inference being in both body and spirit.)
"Kafelnikov is obviously on the way out, but wants it extremely bad.
"On the other side, France, like Australia, have a very good thing of not always fielding such great individual players but ones that gel together well as a team."
It will be Kafelnikov's, and his nation's, third Davis Cup final. He was on the losing side against Sweden in 1994 and against the United States in 1995. Both finals took place in Moscow.
The second occasion was memorable for Pete Sampras' triumph over exhaustion. The first featured an untimely appearance by Boris Yeltsin. The Russian President walked in without waiting for a change of ends after Alexander Volkov had lost a match point and been broken for 5-5 in the fifth set of the opening rubber against Stefan Edberg, who went on to win.
A Groucho moment if ever there was one.
- INDEPENDENT
By JOHN ROBERTS
The image of Russians playing tennis in France unfailingly calls to mind a line by Philippe Maria, of the French national sports dailyL'Equipe, who described the eccentric Andrei Chesnokov, winner of the Monte Carlo Open in 1990, as "a Marxist with Groucho tendencies."
Maria is unlikely to be stuck
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