Australian Open Men | Karen Khachanov, the Russian leader that we had ended up forgetting

Would Karen Khachanov become a Grand Slam man? Or even only Grand Slam. The Russian is one of the Stakhanovists of the courts. He likes to chain, week after week. But in recent months, he knows above all how to choose his moments to shine. In his last 18 tournaments, since April 2022, he has only reached the semi-finals twice. Nothing extraordinary, then. But he prioritizes quality over quantity. The two halves in question? The US Open and the Australian Open.

It is all the more paradoxical that he had never before appeared in a last major square until this sequence. Where does this sudden appetite for capital scenes come from? “The constancyreplies the interested party. It’s a question of small details, all these little things, these small steps that make the difference and allow you to achieve your goals..”

Seeing him in the semi-finals in Melbourne is less surprising after the previous New Yorker. “Doing this result at the US Open gave me a huge boost of confidence.avoue Karen Kachanov. It showed me what I could do and who I could be when I was really at my best. It all fell into place, those little details I was talking about, and it got me to where I am today..”

A tough time, let’s call it that

That he is there is not necessarily a huge surprise. Let it happen now, a little more. The Muscovite emerged quite young at the top level. From his entry into the Top 100 in 2016 to the Top 10 two years later, he seemed at 22 destined to play the leading roles on the circuit in the years to come. When, at the end of 2018, he won the Bercy Masters 1000 by beating Novak Djokovic in the final, his future looked rather bright. But after that, it plateaued. And if this Parisian coronation remains his greatest trophy, it is also the last to date. Since then, nothing, not even a small 250.

From the leader of Russian tennis, carrying the hopes of his country to take over from Yevgeny Kafelnikov and Marat Safin, he has become not the second but the third man. The emergence of Andrey Rublev and even more that of Daniil Medvedev, whose explosion at the top level took place from 2019, when he himself fell into line, gradually brought down Karen Khachanov in a form of polite indifference.

“In recent years, Daniil had passed in front ofhe confirms. But I was still Top 15, Top 20. At some point, I had to go down, 25 or 28 (he was 31st at the lowest, just before the US Open 2022, editor’s note), at the time when I had some personal problems. A tough time, let’s call it that“Khachanov is right, he never sank into the depths of the hierarchy. But probably more was expected than him after the promises of his early twenties.”I have never lost confidence in my possibilities and even if it has not always been easy, with my team, we have always believed in it and today, I am again in the right direction.“, he believes.

Again, it’s hard to fault him. We do not chain two Grand Slam semi-finals by pure chance. At 26, Karen Khachanov already has behind him a first half of a career that would be enviable in the eyes of the vast majority of players. He was Top 10, won a Masters 1000, he also won an Olympic medal (silver) at the last Tokyo Games, and there are now his two Grand Slam semi-finals. The course is very respectable but given its weapons and its versatility (it is part of the closed club of players who have reached at least the quarter-finals in the four major tournaments on the circuit), there is still a but.

In much better condition than in Flushing

The stakes are therefore anything but neutral this weekend in Melbourne for the Russian. A victory, or even a final would allow him to take on a new dimension. In the event of a victory against Stefanos Tsitsipas on Friday, he will return to the Top 10 and, above all, would join the circle of Grand Slam finalists, while perhaps waiting for something better. At Flushing Meadows, four months ago, without being ridiculous, he had missed his semi-final against Casper Ruud a little.

This time, he wants to believe that he is otherwise better prepared. “It’s another tournament, an opponent, it’s very differentaccording to him. In New York, from the beginning, I had difficult matches. Two matches in four sets in the first two rounds. Afterwards, Draper had given up but we had still played almost three hours. In eighth, against Carreno, five sets. Then the quarter-final against Nick (Kyrgios) finished me off because we finished at 1:30 in the morning. I remember going to bed at 5 o’clock that night. Even with two days of recovery, I was physically too tight. This time I feel very good. It’s the beginning of the season and I haven’t had too long matches. I might take three sets but I’m in much better shape.”

Stefanos Tsitsipas is therefore warned. The Greek remains the logical favorite for the first semi-final to be held next night, but he will face a confident player, in form, with experience of a Grand Slam semi-final and relatively fresh physically . That’s a lot of reason to be wary of this Khachanov perhaps far from definitively removing the specter of relative oblivion. It’s better than that.