Former citizen of the Russian Federation tennis player Mikhail Kukushkin now very adequately defends the honor of Kazakhstan on the courts.
Losing Equals Victory
Enormous pleasure was received not only by fans from Kazakhstan and Serbia, but also by all those present on March 7, 2016 at the Pioneer sports complex in Belgrade at the eighth final stage of the World Group competitions for the Davis Cup.
On this day on the court, Mikhail Kukushkin and Serb Novak Djokovic showed something unimaginable. An intriguing match lasted for five hours. Despite the loss of the Kazakh representative, the Serb had to use all his skills to win and make his fans seriously nervous, but he is positioned as the best tennis player in the world.
After the match between the national teams of Serbia and Kazakhstan, N. Djokovic unexpectedly declared that Mikhail Kukushkin could well have won a well-deserved victory in this fantastic match, and called this mast one of the most difficult in his career.
Mikhail himself noted that at first the enemy made some gross mistakes, but later he significantly improved the game and it was difficult to counter anything with the best racket in the world, although there was literally one step left before the victory.
Mikhail Kukushkin, biography
Mikhail was born in Volgograd on December 26, 1987. From a young age, his father was addicted to tennis for a child, who himself was a good athlete and trained his son until the age of seventeen.
Already in 2006, Kukushkin managed to get into the final part at the IFT Futures series competitions. The following season, fans of the cities of Saransk and Samarkand witnessed his two victories in the ATP Challenger series.
2008 was a turning point for him: winning in Italy (Barletta, ATP Challenger) and at home (IFT Futures), participating in the APR tournament (Barcelona, Umaga, Moscow, Peter), he also became a citizen of Kazakhstan.
By March next year, Mikhail Kukushkin, whose rating was steadily growing, was already playing at the Masters series tournament in Miami (second round, main draw). A similar result was shown to them a month later in Spain (Barcelona).
In May, he was selected to participate in games in Portugal (Estoril, main draw). July - victory at the Challenger tournament in the Russian Federation (Penza). In September - participation in the main grid games of this tournament in Malaysia (Kuala Lumpur).
In October - participation in the semifinal of the Kremlin Cup, where in the semifinal match he was defeated by Russian tennis player M. Yuzhny.
Recent achievements of a professional tennis player
In 2010, Mikhail Kukushkin, having won the Challenger in Germany (Braunschweig) and Russia (Penza), reached the first hundred in the ranking of professional athletes in tennis.
At the end of the same year, he first became the winner of the ATP tournament, having managed to win back against M. Yuzhny in the final match in St. Petersburg.
In January 2015, Mikhail Kukushkin in Sydney won second place in the ATR tournament, winning two games against L. Mayer. Only the representative of Serbia V. Trotsky was stronger than him. It is noteworthy that both finalists reached the main draw, having qualified, what happened for the first time in the draw of such a tournament.