ATP Cup: Russia's joker Alexander Shevchenko - one from the Bresnik school
Daniil Medvedev has appointed Alexander Shevchenko as a substitute in the Russian team for the ATP Cup 2022 at short notice. The 21-year-old has been training with Günter Bresnik for many years.
by Jens Huiber
last edit:
Jan 02, 2022, 01:20 pm
When Russia won the ATP Cup, which was held in Melbourne at the time, almost a year ago, team leader Daniil Medvedev turned a little to the side at the award ceremony and predicted a great 2021 season for his colleague Aslan Karatsev. A few days later, Karatsev was in the semifinals of the Australian Open. The Russian was not known to the general public at the time, but in the fall before that, Karatsev had already hinted at what he was made of with one or the other challenger. Like a win against Stan Wawrinka.
We know even less about Alexander Shevchenko than about Aslan Karatsev. Which also applies to Daniil Medvedev. Because the second in the world rankings has only had virtual contact with Shevchenko so far, the first personal meeting now took place in Sydney. And was born out of necessity: After the failures of Andrey Rublev and Karatsev, substitutes had to be found for the defending champions. And Medvedev struck gold with Roman Safiullin and Alexander Shevchenko.
Bresnik praises forehand and the first serve
The 21-year-old is currently at number 328 in the ATP charts. And is trained by Günter Bresnik. And that for many years, as Bresnik explains in an interview with tennisnet.com. "Alexander has been with me since he was ten," said the Austrian star coach. “I think he's a very good player. Physically he is not as advanced as some others, but has developed well in the last two years. "
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What does Shevchenko bring with him? “Technically, a huge forehand, a very good, solid backhand. He has problems completing it. The second serve is not great, but the first is very quick. He's very quick on his feet. ”So it's no wonder that Bresnik always takes his protégé with him to the training camp in Tenerife. "There I can see how good he is in relation to the really strong players."
Monfils impressed by Shevchenko
The biggest confirmation is from one of the stars of the ATP tour. Bresnik took Shevchenko with him a couple of times in Geneva to train with Gael Monfils . "And when Gael said: Günter, in order to bend him, I have to unpack my A-game, I knew that Shevchenko was on his way to making it into the Top 100."
Bresnik would be very happy if Alexander Shevchenko actually came into play. “I think it's very nice that Daniil Medvedev has nominated him again.” And this also shows that Shevchenko has not completely disappeared from view in Russia. At the first appearance of the Russians in Sydney in 2022 there was no action for Shevchenko: Instead, front man Medvedev had to play in doubles again after his lost singles against Ugo Humbert. At least with success: Russia beat France 2-1.