Throughout the fnal decade of the 20th century, one could always fnd Boris Yeltsin serving up sets on a hard court in Moscow, usually between working hours. Depending on the weather, he’d likely be dressed in Wimbledon whites—shorts, headband, and all—or a navy blue tracksuit with the Russian fag emblazoned across his chest.
Wilson racquet in hand, Yeltsin played with ferce passion and surprising stamina for someone with such generous proportions. Though plagued with health issues that limited his time on the court, he gave the impression of a man who never let go of his glory days as a Soviet volleyball professional—someone who was far happier as a sportsman.
Apart from being in stark contrast to the suited ofcials of the Communist era, the powerful imagery of the president wielding a tennis racquet altered the public’s perception of the sport in the post-Soviet space. Tennis, once considered feminine, foreign, and bourgeois, was now mainstream and culturally acceptable.
The frst president of the Russian Federation had a singular infuence on the sport. “From the moment Yeltsin publicly came out in shorts and with a racquet in his hand, tennis began to be treated as good as football and hockey.
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