Charging the Nyet : Players More Concerned About Cars Than Patriotism as Russia Goes After Its First Davis Cup Championship

Russia is preparing for its first appearance in the final round of the Davis Cup in difficult times. The nation is stumbling in its efforts to make sense of new-found freedom. The economy is in a hyper-inflation spiral. Zhirinovsky nationalism is on the rise.

Amid the snowdrifts and freezing temperatures, people are looking for something to lift their spirits. Ordinarily, a first showing in the battle for the Davis Cup would provide let’s-come-together impetus.

But the Russian team, which will play Sweden Friday through Sunday on the fast, pale blue carpet at Moscow’s Olympisky Stadium, is a team in name only. Confusion, dissension, suspicion and mistrust abound.

“All’s not happy in the dovecote,” Gene Scott, a U.S. Davis Cup player in the 1960s, said during the Kremlin Cup in early November. “There seems to be a number of things distracting the team as it gets ready for the final.”

Scott, tournament director of the Kremlin Cup, watched the Russian national team--Yevgeny Kafelnikov, Alexander Volkov, Andrei Olhovskiy and Andrei Cherkasov are also the Davis Cup team--compete in the season-ending ATP Tour event at Olympisky. Scott is also a member of the USTA Davis Cup Committee and was in Goteborg when the United States was upset by Sweden in this year’s semifinals. Russia defeated Germany in the other semifinal.

“The Davis Cup means everything,” said Vadim Borisov, Russian Davis Cup captain, as he watched his players at the Kremlin Cup. “Maybe it’s wrong to make it so important. Maybe there should not be such emphasis. But for us it’s historic. We have reached the first final for either the USSR or Russia. It’s a step, a chance to show what Russia can do. When the younger generation looks at our players and sees what has happened, they have hope.”

Russia’s astounding 4-1 victory in Germany, largely the result of Kafelnikov’s play, should have left Kafelnikov, the talented 20-year-old, on a career high. It didn’t. Before naming his team Nov. 22, Borisov had done little to dispel rumors that the 11th-ranked player in the world would not be involved in the match against Sweden.

“Speaking about the Davis Cup, I’ve heard rumors I’m not going to play,” Kafelnikov said during the Kremlin Cup. “I’m revealing a secret here, I do not have a real good relationship with the team captain.”

Friction between Davis Cup players and captains is nothing new, but this situation has two additional twists. Borisov has also gone a few rounds with the team’s No. 2 player, Volkov, ranked 25th in the world. He is also the personal coach of Cherkasov (who is on the team but doesn’t play). Many say that Davis Cup veteran Andrei Chesnokov, ranked No. 32, was more deserving of that fourth spot on the team than Cherkasov, No. 184.

“People are always saying something,” Borisov said. “Last year it was about Volkov, then (Volkov) and I got to be friends. I do not know what I would have done in Germany without his help. Yevgeny is very good and has been a big part of our success, but it is my team, my responsibility.”

As a player, Borisov was fiery, passionate. He used emotion to lift his performance level. He said, “It was a dream to become captain after I finished my career,” and is passionately crafting a team.

“As captain you must be ready for everything,” he said. “You decide everything. You have it in your hands. It’s your team, your life. For all the captains it is like this.

“No one expected the U.S. to lose to Sweden. (Tom) Gullikson made the decision to play Sampras. It was his team. He did not know Sampras would injure his leg. Being Davis Cup captain is a very difficult position. If the team wins it’s because the players did a good job. If the team loses it’s because of the captain. For the captain it’s a very dangerous job.”

Relations between Kafelnikov and Volkov are as edgy as their status is with the captain. Matters were further confounded when Volkov, who at the start of the tournament said, “I always play with difficulty in Moscow,” defeated Chuck Adams of Pacific Palisades, 6-2, 6-4, to win the $156,000 first prize at the Kremlin Cup. Kafelnikov lost to Marc Rosset, the defending champion, in three sets in the quarterfinals.

“When I made it to the national team, some people didn’t feel I fit in,” Kafelnikov said. “When I became No. 1, it was the same. For the last six months, I think my rating has gone up in Volkov’s eyes. It seems like he is beginning to respect me.”

Whether it’s his erratic point-by-point or match-by-match approach to playing or the honesty with which he expresses his thoughts, Volkov is rarely far from controversy. During the Kremlin Cup, after being asked by Russian journalists if he would be playing for home and country, Volkov said, “I’m playing for money.”

The comment primed the pump for questions about the BMWs that had been promised the Davis Cup team after the victory in Germany. At the closing dinner, an official with the Russian delegation made it known that BMWs would be awaiting the victors in Moscow when they played the Kremlin Cup.

“It’s a little premature to make conclusions,” said Volkov, who like his teammates was without a new automobile at the conclusion of the tournament. “I just want to wait and see what happens.”

This is what Moscow, in general, and the nation, as a whole, are doing with regard to the Davis Cup. Having had the media cover the personality conflicts, the team makeup and the bonus structure (either money or cars) with great interest, the public is waiting.

Throughout this year’s Davis Cup campaign, Borisov has made a point about tennis lacking financial support from the state. There is no money for travel. The only reason Borisov sees national team members play ATP Tour events is because Cherkasov and Olhovskiy cover his expenses.

The National Fund of Sports now finances all sports teams in the country, soliciting businesses from outside Russia by offering special incentives. The fund’s involvement helped increase the prize money in the Kremlin Cup from $350,000 in 1993 to $1,125,000 this year.

Putting the issues of players and financing aside, Borisov’s goal is to leave a mark. The only way to do it is by winning.

“The most important thing is to create something,” Borisov said. “Results tell you what you have created. Results mean history.”

Can the Russians win the Davis Cup for the first time in the event’s 94-year history?

“I see our chances at 50-50,” Borisov said. “(Magnus) Larsson played a fantastic match against (Todd) Martin. He is always dangerous. While some say he is in decline, (Stefan) Edberg can still make surprises. Edberg is still Edberg.” Edberg is ranked No. 17 in the world, Larsson No. 19.

To win, Kafelnikov will have to put aside the slights and overlook the pressure of playing in Moscow. “It gives me added responsibility playing in front of so many people,” he said. He will play two singles matches and, more likely than not, doubles with Olhovskiy against Jan Apell and Jonas Bjorkman. Volkov will play the other two singles matches.

The Russians will play before expected capacity crowds of about 13,000. “The crowd will not be a factor,” said Olhovskiy, who said he thinks the match will hinge on the doubles. “We are professionals. If you put all your emotion in one contest and lose, you are zero. A professional cannot do that.”

For Russia, it’s not a matter of people, feelings or bonuses. It’s a first-time appearance in the final. “It will be the first, last and only time Russia can win the Davis Cup,” Gene Scott said. “The circumstance that led to this year’s final will not be repeated.

“On paper, Russia is not favored. Edberg should win two singles and Apell-Bjorkman should take the doubles. Having said that, Russia will win 3-2.”