Yevgeny Kafelnikov

Began playing tennis at age six...Father, Aleksandre, is a high school volleyball coach, and mother, Valentina...Enjoys fishing in the Black Sea, watching soccer (Spartak Moscow fan), basketball and hockey (Detroit Red Wings fan), and an avid golfer (8 handicap)...Named ATP Most Improved Player of the Year in 1994 after climbing from No. 104 previous year to 11...An avid New York Yankees fan (since 1996) and tries to catch a game when in town during US Open...On May 4, 1999, one day after officially becoming No. 1, President Boris Yeltsin sent a telegram, saying, "For the first time in the 122-year history of tennis, a Russian sportsman has become the world's top player. The victory is a great achievement for our sport. As a person who plays tennis, I understand how difficult it is to achieve such a result."...His Olympic gold medal was presented to him by IOC President Juan Antonio Samaranch...After winning his fifth straight title in Moscow, donated his first prize of $137,000 to families of victims in Oct. 4, 2001 Russian plane crash in Black Sea, near his hometown of Sochi...Has a 44-28 career Davis Cup record (31-16 in singles) in 28 ties since 1993...Daughter, Aleysa (born Oct. 23, 1998).

1993 -- Reached first ATP QF in Barcelona (d. Stich, first Top 10 win)...Won first Challenger singles title in Rogaska and doubles in Dresden (w/Davids)...

1994 -- In Adelaide, defeated Volkov in first all-Russian final in Open Era...Also won titles in Copenhagen and Long Island...Reached Hamburg final...Helped his country to first Davis Cup final with 7-1 singles mark...Won four doubles titles...

1995 -- Won four singles and four doubles titles...The first Russian ever to finish in Top 10 and first player since E. Sanchez in 1990 to finish in Top 10 in singles and doubles...Helped his country to Davis Cup final vs. U.S. for second consecutive year, where Russians lost 3-2...Beat No. 1 Agassi in Roland Garros QF before losing to eventual champion Muster in first Slam SF...Repeated title in Long Island (d. Siemerink)...The first Russian to qualify for ATP World Championship...In doubles, won four titles with three partners...

1996 -- Became first player on tour to finish in the Top 5 in singles and doubles since John McEnroe in 1989...Tied a career-best with four singles titles (in a tour-high 10 finals) and won a career-high five doubles titles (in eight finals)...Made biggest breakthrough by winning singles (d. Stich) and doubles titles (w/Vacek) at Roland Garros...Became first Russian to win a Grand Slam title and first player to win both titles in Paris since Ken Rosewall in 1968...Became first player to compete in more than 100 singles matches in consecutive seasons since Lendl in 1981-82...Only player during year to reach singles finals on four surfaces (carpet, clay, hard, grass)...

1997 -- Captured titles on three different surfaces: in Halle (grass), New Haven (hard) and Moscow (carpet)...Closed season by reaching final of ATP World Championship (l. to Sampras)...Missed three months of season after fracturing a finger on his right hand during a gym workout on Jan. 9...Won Grand Slam doubles titles at Roland Garros and US Open (w/Vacek) and finished No. 5 in Team Rankings (w/Vacek)...

1998 -- Won three singles titles and finalist in three others while winning two doubles titles...Led ATP in total matches played (150)...Missed first month of action due to a skiing accident on Dec. 28, '97 in Austria where he suffered left knee injury...

1999 -- Finished a year-end best No. 2, highlighted by becoming No. 1 on ATP Rankings in May and capturing his second career Grand Slam title at Australian Open (d. Enqvist)...Won three titles and at least 55 matches for sixth consecutive season and led circuit in total matches played (136) for fifth time in last six years...Captured title in Rotterdam (d.Henman)...Took over No. 1 on May 3 and held position for six weeks...On July 26, began first of 16 consecutive weeks played in Kitzbuehel and advanced to SF...Following week, reached final at TMS Montreal (l. to Johansson)...During five-tournament hard court stretch, compiled an 18-5 mark with final in Washington and SF at US Open (l. to Agassi)..Closed regular season by winning his third straight Moscow title (d. B. Black)...In doubles, won title in Barcelona (w/Haarhuis)...

2000 -- Played in most singles and doubles matches (156)...Played in over 100 singles matches for third time (101) in career...Reached his third career Grand Slam final at Australian Open (l. to Agassi) and final at London-indoor (l. to Rosset)...Won gold medal in singles at Sydney Olympics with five-set victory over Haas....Helped his country to its first ATP World Team Champ. final in Dusseldorf (l. to Slovak Republic)...Reached QF at Roland Garros and collected title in Moscow for fourth consecutive year (d. Prinosil), had his 23-match winning streak in Russian tournaments come to an end with SF loss to Hrbaty in St. Petersburg and reached final in Stockholm (l. to Johansson)...In doubles, won his 20th career title at TMS Monte Carlo (w/W. Ferreira) to become 10th player in Open Era to win 20 singles and doubles titles during his career...Earned a career-high $3,755,599...

2001 -- The ATP's workhorse played in most singles and doubles matches (142) for seventh time in eight years... Won two ATP titles in three finals...Also compiled consistent Grand Slam results by reaching QF or better in three of four tournaments for second time in his career (1995)...Opened first two months of season with an 18-5 match record, winning title in Marseille (d. Grosjean) reaching SF in Milan and QF in Doha and Australian Open...At ATP World Team Championship in Dusseldorf led his country to final (l. to Australia) with three match wins...Continued success at Roland Garros with QF, losing to eventual champion Kuerten for second straight year...His best stretch came from beginning of US Open until rest of season as he compiled a 27-7 record...He advanced to SF at Flushing Meadows (d. Kuerten in QF, l. to Hewitt), reached final in Tashkent (l. to Safin), won his fifth straight title in Moscow (d. Kiefer) and reached consecutive SF at TMS Stuttgart and St. Petersburg and final at TMS Paris (l. to Grosjean)...Closed season by reaching SF at Tennis Masters Cup in Sydney (l. to Grosjean) after going 3-0 in round robin play...Went 4-1 in five-set matches during year)...Only player to win 60-plus matches in each of last three seasons...Won an ATP-best 29 indoor matches (29-8) and went 13-0 vs. left-handed players...Finished No. 3 in aces with a career-high 669...Compiled a personal-best 44-17 record on hard, 11-8 on clay, 9-1 on carpet and 5-2 on grass...

2002 -- Captured two ATP singles titles and won his fourth Grand Slam doubles crown during an up-and-down campaign...He extended his streak of having won at least one title for nine straight years, longest active on tour...He played well for his country, leading Russia to Davis Cup title (d. France 3-2) and ATP World Team Championship runner-up showing in Dusseldorf (l. to Argentina)...In June, captured grass court title in Halle (d. Kiefer) and finished campaign by winning 22 of his final 33 matches...In September, won Tashkent for first time (d. Voltchkov in F) despite playing with a dislocated fourth finger in left hand...Followed with 8-6 in fifth set victory (saved two match points) over Gaudio in Davis Cup SF in Moscow...After winning 4:10 marathon, next day lost a 6:20 doubles battle to Arnold-Nalbandian (w/Safin) in longest doubles match in Davis Cup history (19-17 in fifth)...Had a 3-2 singles mark in Davis Cup play and went 3-0 in five-set matches (17-2 since 1998)...During European indoor circuit, had his Moscow winning streak of 28 straight matches snapped with SF loss to Schalken...In doubles, won his 25th career title (fourth Grand Slam) at Roland Garros (w/Haarhuis)...One of eight players in Open Era to win 25 singles and 25 doubles titles.

2003 -- The Russian failed to win an ATP singles title for first time in 10 years and finished with his lowest ATP Ranking since 1993...Reached one ATP singles final and captured two doubles titles...In February, advanced to his lone final in Milan (l. to Verkerk) and ended month with QF in Rotterdam...His best stretch came in April-May when he reached QF in Estoril and back-to-back SF in Munich and TMS Roma (d. Moya, Verkerk, l. to Mantilla)...Did not win consecutive matches rest of year, compiling a 9-12 match record...Compiled 13-14 record on hard, 11-7 on clay and 5-3 on carpet...In doubles, won titles at TMS Indian Wells (w/Ferreira) and Washington (w/Sargsian) while reaching finals at Roland Garros (w/Haarhuis) and Stuttgart (w/Ullyett)...Finished No. 17 in doubles...Stands No. 4 all-time in career prize money with $23.8 million.