Yevgeny Kafelnikov

July 26, 1999: The day Pat Rafter began the shortest stint as world No 1

Every day, Tennis Majors takes you back in time to relive a tennis event which happened. On this day, July 26, 1999, Pat Rafter became the first Australian to reach the world No 1 ranking since John Newcombe, in 1974

Alexandre Sokolowski

July 26, 2025

May 3, 1999: The day Russian Yevgeny Kafelnikov – surprisingly – became world No 1

Every day, Tennis Majors takes you back in time to relive a tennis event which happened on this specific day. On May 3, 1999, Yevgeny Kafelnikov, aged 25, became the first Russian to become world No 1 in tennis history

Alexandre Sokolowski

May 3, 2025

December 3, 1995: The day Pete Sampras found his feet on clay and won the Davis Cup

Every day Tennis Majors takes you back in time to celebrate a great moment in tennis history. Today, we go back to 1995 to witness how Pete Sampras closed an exceptional weekend, defeating Yevgeny Kafelnikov to clinch the Davis Cup, having already won in singles and doubles on the previous days

Alexandre Sokolowski

December 3, 2024

October 30, 1996: The day Cedric Pioline showed the Paris public the finger, 26 years before being named tournament director

Every day Tennis Majors takes you back in time to look back at an iconic moment in tennis. Today, we go back to 1996 to witness how Frenchman Cedric Pioline, defeated by Yevgeny Kafelnikov at the Paris-Bercy Masters, showed his own crowd the finger as he left the court

Alexandre Sokolowski

October 30, 2024

Kafelnikov: “Olympic gold is as important as a Grand Slam title”

In an exclusive interview, the former world No 1 and 2000 Olympic gold medalist tells Tennis Majors that Novak Djokovic is among the best three athletes of all time