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Tennis fans on the internet have been caught off-guard at the news of Russian tennis players Anastasia Potapova and Alexander Shevchenko getting married.
Potapova and Shevchenko tied the knot on Friday, December 1 during a ceremony in St Petersburg, Russia. The pair started seeing each other in January 2023. They exchanged rings in September this year.
The majority of tennis buffs came to know about their marriage only after Potapova shared photographs from the ceremony online. Interestingly enough, the duo are making an appearance at the Northern Palmyra Trophies exhibition tournament in Russia as well.
Popatova and Shevchenko were spotted at the Russian event in the company of Kazakhstan's Alexander Bublik, who himself is among the participants. A confused fan posted the trio's photo and wrote:
"What on earth is going on at this wedding"
Notably, Potapova is 22 years old and Shevchenko recently turned 23. Moreover, Shevchenko's childish appearance prompted a fan to take a dig at the timing of them getting hitched.
"Even just getting married is already crazy nowadays, imagine doing it at 10 years old," the fan wrote.
A third fan voiced a similar opinion saying:
"Nah they went from soft launching relationship to marriage within 6 months."
A user stated that the Russians have eclipsed another tennis couple, Stefanos Tsitsipas and Paula Badosa (collectively called Tsitsidosa) in terms of hype.
"Yes!!!!! They have left Tsitsidosa in the dust," the user said.
Tsitsipas and Badosa have been quite vocal about their relationship on social media platforms since they officially declared association during Wimbledon in July 2023.
Here are a few more reactions from X (formerly Twitter):
"I didn’t know how it was going to work because scheduling in tennis is never easy" - Anastasia Potapova on her relationship with Alexander Shevchenko
Earlier this year, Anastasia Potapova had expressed her reservations about the longevity of her relationship with Alexander Shevchenko.
"Obviously, I didn’t know how it was going to work because scheduling in tennis is never easy," Potapova said in an interview during the 2023 French Open.
The 22-year-old, however, stated that they held on to each other by spending time together. She said:
"But somehow we’ve been able to manage it and in fact it’s like we’ve spent every week together and we see each other a lot, which is a very good thing," she added.
Potapova is currently ranked 28th in the world among the women, while Shevchenko finds himself at 49th spot in the ATP rankings.
