Top 10 Russian Tennis Players!! Tennis is not just a sport played by striking a ball with a racquet but also a combination of power, athleticism, grace, and style. Tennis players need a great deal of endurance and physical and mental strength.
Russia is the birthplace of many great tennis players. After the tennis boom in the 1990s, the sport has become one of the most popular sports in the country, and many great tennis players come from the beautiful land of Russia.
So who are the top Russian tennis player in the world? Stick around because we have just the compilation for you!
We have compiled a list of ten of the top and best Russian tennis players. These players are not only some of the most prominent tennis figures in their home country but also in the sport.
Looking at their career achievements, we have created the rankings for the players. We have prepared our list by looking at the player’s Grand Slam and career title wins as reference.
Let’s get straight into our list of the top 10 Russian players worldwide without further delay!
Top 10 Russian Tennis Players In The World
We have taken TennisPredict as our primary reference source for our article. But before the details, let us take a sneak peek at the overall ranking of our list!
| Tennis Player | Grand Slam |
| 10. Elena Vesnina | 0 (1 Semi-final) |
| 9. Vera Zvonareva | 0 (2 Finals, 2 Semi-finals) |
| 8. Dinara Safina | 0 (3 Finals, 2 Semi-finals) |
| 7. Elena Dementieva | 0 (2 Finals, 7 Semi-Finals) |
| 6. Daniil Medvedev | 1 |
| 5. Anastasia Myskina | 1 |
| 4. Yevgeny Kafelnikov | 2 |
| 3. Svetlana Kuznetsova | 2 |
| 2. Marat Safin | 2 |
| 1. Maria Sharapova | 5 |
10. Elena Vesnina
Elena Vesnina is a 37 year-old player who is a former World No. 1 in doubles.
Vesnina made her professional tennis debut on October 2002. She received direct entry into the qualifying draw for her first $10k tournament held in Giza, Egypt.
In her tennis singles, Vesnina reached her career-high World No. 13 in March 2017. Similarly, she has won three WTA singles titles. Meanwhile, she became World No.1 in women’s double in June 2018.
Compared to her singles career, Vesnina has had a more successful career in doubles. She has won four Grand Slam championships in the women’s double, which include the 2013 French Open, 2014 US Open, 2017 Wimbledon Championships, and 2016 Australian Open.
Since 2006, Vesnina has represented Russia in the Billie Jean King Cup and has competed at the Olympic Games four times. She and her partner Makarova won gold at the 2016 Rio Olympics and silver in mixed doubles with Aslan Karatsev at Tokyo 2020.
9. Vera Zvonareva
On number 9, we have 39 year-old professional tennis player Vera Zvonareva. She made her tennis debut at the ITF Women’s Circuit in 1999 in Tbilisi, Georgia.
Zvonareva’s mother introduced her to tennis at the early age of six. She made her professional debut in 2000, and in 2002 she reached her first singles final on the WTA Tour held at Palermo.
Zvonareva reached her career-highest World No.2 on October 25, 2010. She has won twelve WTA Tour singles titles and reached the finals of the 2008 WTA Tour Championships, 2010 Wimbledon Championships, and 2010 US Open.
Similarly, she won a bronze medal for Russia at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Zvonareva also has had a successful doubles career. She has partnered with other Russian players like Nathalie Dechy, Svetlana Kuznetsova, Laura Siegemund, etc.
Zvonareva has won five major titles in doubles, the 2006 US Open, 2012 Australian Open, 2020 US Open, and 2004 US Open and 2006 Wimbledon Championships in mixed doubles.
8. Dinara Safina
Dinara Safina is a 37 year-old former professional tennis player who made her debut in the main draw of a WTA Tour tournament in May 2002.
Safina is the sister of former World No.1 men’s tennis player Marat Safina. So one can say that tennis runs in the family. After her professional debut, she won her first title in Sopot in 2002.
During her singles career, Safina was runner-up at the 2008 French Open, 2009 Australian Open, and 2009 French Open. Similarly, she won a silver medal in women’s singles at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing.
However, she could not win any Grand Slam title in her singles career. Safina and her partner Nathalie Dechy won the 2007 US Open in women’s doubles.
Since the 2011 tour, Safina has taken a lengthy break from the sport. It ultimately led her to retire in 2014. She won 9 titles during her playing career and reached her highest ranking of World No.8 on May 12, 2008.
7. Elena Dementieva
Elena Dementieva is a 42 year-old former tennis player turned professional in 1998 and made her professional debut in 1999.
Dementieva started playing tennis at an early age, enrolled in Spartak Tennis Club at seven, and then moved to Central Red Army Club at eleven. She won her first international tournament at age 13 at Les Petits As in France.
Since her professional debut, Dementieva has won 16 WTA singles titles. Similarly, she reached the finals of the 2004 French Open and 2004 US Open. She also reached the semi-finals of seven Grand Slams.
At the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, Dementieva won a gold medal in women’s singles for Russia. She won the silver medal in singles at the 2000 Sydney Olympics. She reached her career-highest World No.3 on April 6, 2009.
Dementieva also had a successful doubles career where she won the 2002 WTA Championships with partner Janette Husárová and was the runner-up in two US Open doubles finals.
6. Daniil Medvedev
On number 6 on our list, we have Daniil Medvedev. The 28 year-old was 13 years old when he played his first junior match in July 2009.
Medvedev enrolled in tennis school at age six, from where he began playing tennis. As a junior tennis player, he received his highest ranking of World No. 13 in 2014. He made his senior tennis debut in men’s doubles in the 2015 Kremlin Cup.
In 2019, Medvedev got a breakthrough in his career when he made his top ten debuts after Wimbledon and reached six consecutive tournament finals. He has won 14 ATP Tour singles titles and a Grand Slam.
He is the first player in the Open era to beat world number one to win his first Grand Slam, ATP Finals, and Masters 1000 titles.
He defeated former World No.1, Novak Djokovic, to achieve his first career Grand Slam. Similarly, Medvedev is the first and only player to defeat the top three ranked players in the world en route to the year-end championship title.
Medvedev became the first player outside Big Four to become World No.1 in February 2022 since Andy Roddick in 2004.
5. Anastasia Myskina
Anastasia Myskina is a 42 year-old former professional tennis player. She has not officially retired but has remained inactive on the WTA Tour since May 2007.
Myskina became a professional tennis player in 1998. The same year, she broke into the WTA top 500 and won her first WTA title in Palermo in her second appearance in the main draw of a WTA tournament.
In 2002, Myskina had her breakthrough season, where she scored her first top ten wins and entered the top 20. Similarly, she also won her first Tier II 2002 Brasil Open – Women’s singles titles.
Myskina became the first Russian woman to win a major singles title after winning the 2004 French Open. After the win, she became World No.3 and the first Russian female tennis player to achieve that feat.
On September 13, 2004, she reached her career-highest World No.2. She has won 10 career titles.
Likewise, Myskina has won 5 career titles in her doubles career and is ranked World No.15.
4. Yevgeny Kafelnikov
The fourth Russian tennis player on our list of top 10 worldwide is 50 year-old Yevgeny Kafelnikov. He is a former World No.1 who turned professional in 1992.
After turning professional, Kafelnikov got his career breakthrough in 1994. He won three titles and reached the Hamburg Masters gina, beating the world’s top five players on six occasions.
Consequently, his ranking rose from 102 to 11 at the year-end. Kafelnikov won two Grand Slam singles titles in his career, the 1996 French Open and the 1999 Australian Open. He has a total of 26 career titles won.
Similarly, he also won a gold medal for Russia at the 2002 Sydney Olympics. He has won four Grand Slam doubles titles and 27 career titles in the doubles.
Kafelnikov is the most recent tennis player to win the men’s singles and doubles titles at the same Grand Slam tournament in the 1996 French Open. He was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 2019.
3. Svetlana Kuznetsova
The 38 year-old Svetlana Kuznetsova is number 3 on our list. She is inactive in the tennis world but has not officially retired.
Kuznetsova started playing tennis at seven. She made her junior career debut at the ITF tournament on January 2000. Similarly, she turned professional and played in games on the ITF circuit the same year.
In 2001, Kuznetsova appeared for the first time at the Madrid Open WTA tournament. Similarly, she made her first Grand Slam appearance at the 2002 Australian Open.
Kuznetsova has appeared in four Grand Slam singles finals while winning two events. Likewise, she has played in seven doubles Grand Slam finals and won twice.
Her career highest ranking is World No.3, which she achieved on June 7, 2004. Kuznetsova had a successful single and doubles career, winning 18 WTA singles titles and 16 WTA doubles titles.
2. Marat Safin
On number 2, we have 44 year-old former tennis player Marat Safin. He is a former World No.1 and brother of former WTA World No.1 tennis player Dinara Safina.
Safin began playing tennis early and moved to Spain at age 14 to access advanced tennis training programs. He turned professional in 1997; the following year, he defeated Andre Agassi and Gustavo Kuerten at French Open.
At age 19, Safin won his first ATP title in Boston. He reached the ATP World No.1 ranking on November 20, 2000. He remained in the number one ranking for nine weeks between November 2000 to April 2001.
Along with his sister, they are the only brother-sister tandem in tennis history to achieve the No.1 ranking. Safin has had two Grand Slam win, which includes the 2000 US Open and 2005 Australian Open.
Similarly, he has won 15 career singles titles and two doubles titles. He is the first Russian male tennis player to reach the Wimbledon semi-finals. Safin achieved the feat at the 2008 Wimbledon Championship.
In November 2009, Safin announced his retirement from the sport. In 2016, he was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame and was the first Russian player to be inducted.
1. Maria Sharapova
Maria Sharapova is the number 1 Russian tennis player on our list, with five Grand Slam win. She is a 36 year-old former World No.1 tennis player.
Sharapova began her junior tennis career in November 2000 and made her professional debut in 2003. Just a year after her professional debut, she won Wimbledon, which immediately helped her to climb to the top rankings.
At age 18, Sharavapo reached the World No.1 ranking. It made her the first Russian woman to top the singles rankings. At the 2012 London Olympics, she won a silver medal in the women’s singles.
Sharapova’s five major title win includes two French Open, an Australian Open, Wimbledon, and US Open. She is the only Russian female tennis player to win the career Grand Slam. She has a total of 36 career titles won.
In her doubles career, Sharapova has won three doubles titles. Given her successful career run, she was one of the highest-paid female athletes in the world for 11 consecutive years.
On February 26, 2020, she took retirement from the sport.
Conclusion
These Russian tennis players have proved that Russia is a tennis powerhouse. They are some of the most prominent figures in the tennis world and have further helped to make the sport popular in Russia.
The country has produced winners across all grades in both the male and female tennis categories in the last 20 years.
What do you think about our list of the top 10 Russian tennis players in the world? Who do you think is the top Russian tennis player?
