Shamil tarpischev biography

As the Russian capital gears up to host the nine-day Kremlin Cup — a professional tennis tournament that kicks off Saturday at the Olympic stadium — The Moscow Times caught up with Shamil Tarpischev, the longtime president of the Russian Tennis Federation, to discuss the state of the sport in Russia.

From 1974 to 1991, Tarpischev served as the team captain and head coach of Soviet national tennis teams.

In the post-Soviet era, the 66-year-old tennis legend trained some of Russia's brightest tennis talent, including Yevgeny Kafelnikov, Marat Safin and Maria Sharapova. Tarpischev, who has held various positions in Russia's sports agencies, also had another prominent tennis pupil: former President Boris Yeltsin.

Q: The budget of the Russian Tennis Federation is much smaller than that of