Karen Khachanov, the 20 year old 6-foot-6-inch giant from Russia, managed a lot of firsts when he won his first ATP tour level title in Chengdu last week.
He became the first Russian champ on the ATP World Tour since Mikhail Youzhny won the Valencia Open in 2013. He is the third #NextGen player (a term coined by the ATP for players who are under age 21 and are in the top 200 of the ATP rankings) to win an ATP title this year, after Kyrgios and Zverev.
While there was quite a lot of hype about fellow Russian, the 18-year old Andrey Rublev, it is Khachanov who has drawn first blood at the start of what the Russian tennis fans would hope is a healthy battle between the two youngsters to bring back the golden days of Russian Tennis. Let us now take a look at a few interesting pieces of information about Khachanov.
1) Picked up the racquet as soon as he was born(well, almost!)
Khachanov was a 3-year old in kindergarten when his parents decided to him put him into a tennis group. There was no looking back ever since. His penchant for sport was evident, as he played basketball in Russia at the national level as a high-schooler.
His idols growing up were Juan Martin del Potro and Marat Safin – and understandably so!
At the age of 15, he left Russia to train with Vedran Martic, Goran Ivanisevic's former coach, in Croatia. Since then, Khachanov has been based in Barcelona for the past three years, learning the nuances of the game under Galo Blanco, who was Milos Raonic's early tutor.
2) Possesses a monstrous serve and heavy groundstrokes
Just like his idol Safin, Khachanov boasts of a gigantic serve, coupled with a forehand that would give a certain Argentine a run-for-his-money. The backhand is no pushover either.
This is further ascertained by the fact that his favorite shot is the backhand down-the-line.
And as Khachanov grows stronger(he weighs about 194 pounds already), those weapons are sure to grow bigger, better, and become more consistent. One can only imagine the sort of destruction it would cause. We should get ready for World War 3 maybe, haha!
3) Reached the semi-final of the Chennai Open partnering India's Saketh Myneni
Having been given a wildcard as a 17-year old, Khachanov, along with Myneni, caused a little havoc by capping an unlikely run to the semi-finals. In the first round, they notched up a fairly straight-forward 6-1 7-6(7) win over the Spanish duo of Albert Ramos-Vinolas and Pablo Carreno Busta(both of whom are in the top 40 of the ATP Singles Rankings now).
The biggest surprise came in the quarter-finals, where they beat the top seeds and the "Indo-Pak Express" of Rohan Bopanna and Aisam Qureshi in a humdinger of a match that saw them prevail 7-5 2-6 12-10 over their much fancied opponents.
Their run was finally halted in the semi-finals by the eventual winners, Johan Brunstrom and Frederik Nielsen.
4) Announced himself by reaching the quarter-final of the Kremlin Cup as a 17-year old
Before the semi-final run in doubles at the 2014 Chennai Open, Khachanov had already created a bit of stir by reaching the quarter-finals in the singles event of his home tournament, the 2013 Kremlin Cup.
He had beaten Janko Tipsarevic in straight sets in the 2nd round, who happened to be the 3rd seed and the world number 27 then. He lost to Ivo Karlovic in the quarter-finals there, but had already given the tennis world a glimpse of what's to come in the future.
5) Does not want to pressurize himself by setting ranking goals
Post his unlikely title run at Chengdu, Khachanov cracked the top 60 in the ATP Rankings. He will thus have a lot of expectations on his young shoulders, from Russians and global tennis fans alike.
To counter this, Khachanov said "I don't want to make any goals, because there are no limits. You can try to go for more and then see what is your real ranking is. I'm trying to push myself as hard as possible and then we'll see."
And if he indeed manages to do that, then sky is the limit for this young lad.
