it will be a game ruled by the giants in the future:
jerzy is 6 foot 8
del potro is 6 foot 6
this Russian teenager is 6 foot 6
At a time when there are 29 players over 30 years of age in the Top 100 in the Emirates ATP Rankings, it is refreshing to witness a teenager making headlines on the ATP World Tour.
Karen Khachanov (pronounced "Karen Hachanoff") only left high school in May this year. But aged 17 and 6’6”, the Russian is already being touted as a star of the future.
Former World No. 1 Yevgeny Kafelnikov, who now works as a Kremlin Cup by Bank of Moscow tournament manager, told ATPWorldTour.com, “He will be Top 20 [in the Emirates ATP Rankings] by end of 2015, and that’s my prediction.”
This week, Khachanov has beaten Albert Ramos and Janko Tipsarevic en route to the Moscow quarter-finals. It is just his second ATP World Tour tournament and the third senior-level event of his career.
The last 17 year old to reach the last eight of an ATP World Tour event was Kei Nishikori in July 2007 at Indianapolis.