“My heart is not free.” Who conquered the spectacular Russian tennis player?

Love stories in professional sports are far from uncommon. So in the world of tennis, apparently, a new beautiful couple has appeared. 22-year-old Anastasia Potapova on social networks actually admitted that she was dating compatriot and colleague Alexander Shevchenko.

Sasha has not yet become a star, but perhaps feelings for Nastya will become the very motivation that will help him make a breakthrough in his career.

Powerful progress and scandal with Spartak

Anastasia Potapova is a representative of the new Russian generation in women’s singles. At the moment, the 22-year-old athlete is already ranked 24th in the ranking of the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA). Now she is the fifth racket of the country after Daria Kasatkina, Veronika Kudermetova, Lyudmila Samsonova and Ekaterina Alexandrova. However, if Nastya continues to progress at the same pace, then in the foreseeable future she is quite capable of pressing out her compatriots.

Already in the youth competitions, it was clear that a great talent is growing in Russia. Potapova won prestigious junior competitions, including one grand slam tournament (Wimbledon 2016). She also led the junior rankings of the International Tennis Federation (IFT) for some time. Last year, Nastya won the WTA 250 tournament in Istanbul, defeating her compatriot Kudermetova in the final (6:3, 6:1). And in February of this year, Nastya took the WTA 250 title in Linz, defeating Petra Martic in the decisive match (6:3, 6:1).

In March, Potapova was at the center of a scandal. She went to the match of the prestigious tournament in Indian Wells against the American Jessica Pegula in the T-shirt of the Moscow Spartak, which caused outrage in the West. Some even called for Nastya to be excluded from the list of Wimbledon participants, where Russian tennis players should be allowed this year. They were especially unhappy in Poland, where a whole campaign was launched against the athlete, led by the first racket of the world, Iga Swiatek. But Potapova adequately responded to the attacks of her Polish colleague.

– As for the behavior of Schwentek, I don’t think that she has the right to condemn people for any actions. Every person has the right to choose: it was my personal choice to go to the match in a Spartak T-shirt. She condemned me, but her complaints make me neither hot nor cold! If she wants to reproach me for something, then I wish her good luck. I don’t pay any attention to it,” Potapova quotes “Championship”.

Photo: © FC Spartak

Novel declassified

Having closed the topic with Spartak, Nastya found another way to stay in the spotlight: curious hints about her personal life began to appear on the Internet. First, Potapova and the 103rd racket of the world, Alexander Shevchenko, flirted on social networks. Potapova published a post about reaching the fourth round of the tournament in Miami, and Alexander wrote “best” in the comments, adding emoji “heart” and “bomb”.

“I (heart emoji) you,” Potapova replied.

The Russian tennis player on March 30, on her birthday, published a joint romantic photo with Shevchenko and added a heart to it. Finally, doubts about the novel disappeared when Nastya said in an interview with Sport24: “My heart is not free.” At the same time, the athlete called Alexander the most beautiful tennis player in the world.

Photo: © NurPhoto / Contributor / Getty Images Sport / Gettyimages.ru

An unexpected choice, because the general public does not know much about Shevchenko. By the way, he also participated in the Masters tournament in Miami, but lost in the qualification.

However, the 103rd position is not such a bad place in men’s tennis. A few good tournaments can significantly raise an athlete in the rankings. In addition, Shevchenko is only 22 years old, his entire career is still ahead of him. And since he was able to win the heart of such a spectacular beauty, he will also conquer sports peaks.