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Oh! those Russians

AFP, Moscow
Svetlana Kuznetsova's triumph in the US Open has completed a remarkable
yearfor Russian players in women's tennis.
The 19-year-old, whose mother won six world cycling championships, defeated compatriot Elena Dementieva, 22, at Flushing
Meadow in the second all-Russian Grand Slam final this year.
Anastasia Myskina, 22, grabbed the Roland Garros title in June when Dementieva was again the losing finalist, while 17-year-old Maria Sharapova became the first Russian to win Wimbledon.
Russia now have seven players in the top 20 of the women's WTA tour.
The roots of the country's phenomenal success can be traced to the rise of democracy in Russia after the fall of the Soviet system that once labelled the game an individualist sport not suited to the collective spirit.
In Soviet times the country's tennis players rarely achieved success with Olga Morozova and Alexander Metreveli causing a stir by reaching Wimbledon finals in 1968.
Morozova's loss to Chris Evert in 1974 at Roland Garros and Natasha Zvereva's record defeat in the 1988 French Open final to Steffi Graf suggested Russia would never be able to compete at the highest level.
But the game bounced back during the presidency of the first Russian president, Boris Yeltsin, a passionate tennis fan.
But it was the men who were first to succeed.
Yevgeny Kafelnikov won Roland Garros in 1996 and followed that with the Australian Open in 1999 and the Olympic Games in Sydney in 2000.
Marat Safin demolished Pete Sampras to win the US Open in 2000 and two years later guided Russia to theirfirst Davis Cup.
Anna Kournikova never managed to win a singles title but at least her sex appeal whetted the public taste for tennis.
And Russian women are now noted for their professional discipline.
"At 15 years old, boys have many temptations - alcohol, cigarettes, girls, - but girls concentrate more on their professional objectives," Vladimir Kamelzon, chief of the Russian Tennis Federation's trainers'council, said.
"They are more disciplined, they mature more quickly and get results earlier," he added.
More than 80 tennis clubs in 44 Russian cities are working currently from early morning until late at night turning out new professionals.
The most talented youngsters receive offers to continue in overseas academies like Nick Bollettieri's Florida camp.
Few of them follow the lead of Tatyana Golovin who now plays for France, although Sharapova, who left Russia at the age of seven for Bollettieri's Tennis Academy speaks better English than Russian.
However, she is always quick to point out she considers herself Russian and dedicates all her victories to the land where she was born.
Kuznetsova, whose training base is in Spain, says her parents made enormous sacrifices and hopes she can repay them.
"I travelled with my mom. She put so much time into me," Kuznetsova said.
"We changed coaches a lot. I remember how my mom suffered. She was crying during the night because I was not doing so well and she wanted so much for me.
"We didn't have much money in the family because it was all going into tennis. She never asked for anything. She never bought anything for herself. It is just unbelievable to remember those things."
The squadron of Russian girls now have an opportunity to bring the curtain down by winning the Fed Cup at home as the tournament finals are being played in Moscow on November 24-28.