Two million an hour! The coolest breakthrough of a Russian tennis player

The beginning of the week may give Russia another world-class star in men’s tennis. Roman Safiullin, whose career had been stalled for many years, reached the final of an ATP tournament for the first time, and did it in a brilliant manner.

There is only one step left to the title.

“I can’t afford to buy something big”

Experts and tennis journalists started talking seriously about Safiullin back in 2015. Then Roman was the first Russian tennis player to win the Australian Open among juniors. He was predicted to have a great career, but time passed, and the athlete could not break into the top hundred of the rankings. First of all, numerous injuries and operations interfered.

Only in 2021 did Roman play in the main draw of a Grand Slam tournament for the first time and win his first victory. Australia was once again the place where the breakthrough occurred.

In 2022, already an experienced tennis player, Roman found himself in the top 100 for the first time, and a year later he broke into the first fifty dollars after a sensational appearance in the quarterfinals at Wimbledon. For eight years, the athlete literally played in order to pay for travel and training. He couldn’t even save up for a car.

— I spend everything I earn on the team, trips, to travel and earn even more. Well, involve specialists: psychologists, physiotherapists. The kind of people who help development. Am I breaking even? In general, yes. I can’t afford to buy something big: an apartment, a car. There is no such thing,” Safiullina is quoted as saying by “Championship”.

Roman Safiullin / Photo: © Shaun Botterill / Staff / Getty Images Sport / Gettyimages.ru

New career record

The first big prize money was brought to Safiullin by that same Wimbledon. Getting into the top eight players of the tournament allowed him to become richer by 304 thousand pounds (almost 36 million rubles) and rise to a record 43rd place in the ranking.

New success did not have to wait long. Last week, Roman started at the ATP-250 tournament in Chengdu (China). The serious composition of the participants did not allow Roman to be among the seeded, but this did not stop our tennis player. In the first round, the American Brandon Nakashima was confidently beaten (6:4; 6:4), and then the fourth seeded Briton Daniel Evans, the 27th racket in the world, was waiting for Safiullin. But he also turned out to be powerless under the pressure of the Russian’s attacks – 6:3; 6:3. In the quarterfinals, Roman was a little lucky: Jordan Thompson from Australia withdrew after the first set due to injury.

In the semi-finals, the Russian faced another difficult test. The second seeded Lorenzo Musetti played one less game due to his high place in the ranking. However, Roman set the pace of the game, acting much more confidently than his opponent. The Italian often made mistakes on serve, but our tennis player earned nine aces. In terms of actively won goals, Safiullin’s advantage was also observed (30:20).

As a result, Roman defeated one of the tournament favorites in two games – 6:3; 6:4 – and for the first time in his career he reached the final of an ATP tournament. Safiullin has already secured $102 thousand (9.79 million rubles) in prize money and at least 41st place in the updated ranking. By this point, he had spent 5 hours and 39 minutes on the court in Chengdu.

In the final, Safiullina faces another severe test. The main favorite of the tournament, Alexander Zverev, seeded number one, will compete with him for victory. I would like to believe that Roman will not give up in front of a more titled opponent and will be able to win his debut title.