The last days of Wimbledon were not very successful for the Russians. However, even after the departure of Daniil Medvedev, we have someone to cheer for. In the junior tournament, the representative of Russia reached the final.

Yaroslav Demin interrupted a long unsuccessful streak of our tennis players.

Important breakthrough

At the age of 17, Demin can already boast of winning the Grand Slam tournament. True, not in singles, but in doubles. At Roland Garros this year, the Russian paired with the Mexican Pacheco Mendez. In the end, the couple won, but that success passed by a wide audience due to the triumph of another potential Russian tennis star, Alina Korneeva.

Alina also came to Wimbledon, but she failed to reach the final. The talented Russian woman made it to the semifinals, but, unfortunately, she lost to Nikola Bartunkova from the Czech Republic (4:6, 6:7 (2:7)). The victory at Wimbledon could be for the tennis player for the third in a row at the Grand Slam tournaments. Previously, in addition to Roland Garros, she won the Australian Open.

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However, Russia will not be left without a final at the junior level – thanks to Demin. Yaroslav’s rival in the semi-finals was the American Darwin Blanche, and to overcome this opponent, our tennis player had to work hard. Demin showed character and managed to break the match, which at first was completely not in his favor (4:6, 6:3, 6:4). In the final, the Russian will meet with Briton Henry Searle.

On paper, Demin looks like the favorite. In the ranking of the International Tennis Federation (ITF), he takes 7th place, while Searle is already on the 27th line. However, in youth sports, surprises happen much more often than at the adult level.

Demin’s entry into the final of the youth Wimbledon is an important breakthrough for Russian tennis. The last time our junior managed to do this was in 2009. Then Andrei Kuznetsov won the English grass tournament.

Nadal’s student

In many ways, Demin owes his success to an excellent school. He started at the Spartak school, then ended up in Barcelona, ​​and now he trains at the Rafael Nadal academy.

– They look at your style, they don’t really change anything. He is an attacker for me: I like to run to the net, I play actively, I serve quite strongly. I have everything: I can play well on the right, the best shot on the left. And I’ve been playing well since the summer. I have everything to succeed. The most important thing is to add physically, – Yaroslav said in an interview with “Championship”.

Once Demin even had a chance to train with the great Spaniard himself. According to the young Russian, the tennis legend gave him some valuable advice. But Yaroslav still cannot feel calm in the presence of Rafa: Nadal presses with authority.

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Demin hopes that in the coming years he will be able to perform at adult Grand Slam tournaments: for this he needs to rise to about the top 300 of the ATP rankings. So far, Yaroslav is not even in the top thousand, he takes 1278th place. But if the Russian continues in the same spirit, he will certainly fulfill his dream.