Экскурс в историю, давайте вспомним когда в последний раз шарасекту так бомбило как после новости о том, что Соболенко станет второй ракеткой мира:


Every day, Tennis Majors takes you back in time to relive a tennis event which happened on this specific day. On May 3, 1999, Yevgeny Kafelnikov, aged 25, became the first Russian to become world No 1 in tennis history

On May 3, 1999, Yevgeny Kafelnikov, aged 25, became the first Russian to become world No 1 in tennis history, knocking over American Pete Sampras. It was a big surprise for the general public, who did not necessarily understand how the ATP ranking system worked, as “Kalashnikov” was going through one of the lowest moments of his career after losing seven matches in a row.

And so it was that “Kafel” became world No 1 on May 3, although he had just lost in the first round in Prague against Richard Fromberg, ranked 72nd in the world (6-4, 2-6, 6-4). But not only did he lose in Prague, the Russian was actually on a losing streak of six first-round losses in a row, which started in Indian Wells against Gustavo Kuerten, and culminated in Monte-Carlo where he was defeated 6-1, 6-2 in only 44 minutes by world No 196 Croatian Ivan Ljubicic. Not exactly the results generally expected from a world No 1.

Despite the peculiar circumstances, it was a huge achievement for Kafelnikov, the first Russian player to ever sit on top of the ATP rankings. The next day, on May 4, he even received a message from Boris Yeltsin, president of the Russian Federation and a well-known tennis enthusiast:

“For the first time in the 122-year history of tennis, a Russian sportsman has become the world’s top player. The victory is a great achievement for our sport. As a person who plays tennis, I understand how difficult it is to achieve such a result.” (на фото: Евгений Кафельников с дочерью на фоне Шараповой и других российских теннисисток) #Мария Шарапова #Элина Свитолина