The generation of tennis players born in the eighties is a generation of talented guys who have extended a lucky ticket. The then president Boris Yeltsin did a lot to develop his favorite sport, which was previously considered bourgeois. The preparation of a professional athlete required from 300-500 thousand dollars. Under Yeltsin, they began to build courts and create tennis schools; since 1990, the Masters - Kremlin Cup tournament began in Moscow. One of the lucky ones was the talented Muscovite Andreev Igor.
Childhood
In 1983, a son was born in a Moscow family that has no relation to sports, who at 4 years old was sent to the tennis section. The choice was completely random. In Sokolniki, where the spouses Valery and Marina Andreev lived , only there it was possible to arrange a child in summer. The father was engaged in business, and the mother - in the household, having the opportunity to carry his son to training. Now the younger brother Nikita Andreev is growing up in the family. Igor, tennis for whom became a matter of life, could not convey to him his love for this sport. Nikita is playing hockey.
Igor’s idol from childhood was Andre Agassi, whom he dreamed of being like. The young man early realized that he was engaged in a truly beloved business in which he would like to improve. Parents provided him with this opportunity, sending him to the tennis academy in Valencia (Spain) on the advice of his mother, Dinara and Marat Safin, a professional trainer. Despite leaving there at the age of fifteen, Igor Andreev is one of the few professional tennis players with higher education. He graduated from RSUFK with a diploma of a trainer.
Sports career
Igor Andreev, whose biography in big sport began in 2002, went to his first victories for three years. In 2004, in Gstaad (Switzerland), in the final, he met with world tennis leader Roger Federer, losing to him in a bitter struggle. In six tournaments in different years, Andreev was close to victory. He won his first title in tandem with Nikolai Davydenko in 2004. This happened in his homeland (Kremlin Cup). A year later, in an uncompromising duel with Nicholas Kiefer (Germany), he will get this title on his own, writing his name in the history of domestic tennis.
Andreev's best performances are related to the ground, training in Spain was not in vain. The first victory in singles (out of three) he won in almost native Valencia. In his asset, a win against ground king Rafael Nadal. Another victory brought him Italy (Palermo). Everything is connected with 2005, which allowed the Russian to rise in the ATP rating to his best indicator - 18th line. The best indicator for the year was 19th in 2008. This was preceded by a recession in the game due to numerous injuries, which threw the Russian to the third hundred ATP rating. Returning to the thirty-third position, Igor Andreev in 2007 received the “Return of the Year” award.
Best Tennis Player of Russia - 2007
In Russia there is a gallery for the development of Russian tennis - the Tennis Hall of Fame, located in Moscow. The NTV + studio carefully stores the story, collected bit by bit by fans of this sport. The introduction to the Hall is accompanied by the presentation of a special diploma and an award figurine. Igor Valerievich Andreev, a tennis player, who wrote his name in gold letters in the annals of the development of domestic sports, was also awarded this honor. This is due not only to victories in the Kremlin Cup tournament, but primarily to participation in team competitions for the Davis Cup.
Playing for the country, Andreev managed to win three times in the fifth, decisive match, winning the third, winning point for the team. It was in a game with France in 2005, with Chile and Germany - in 2007. It was in this year that the Sports Federation awarded him the title “Best Russian Tennis Player”, although the United States lost the first place to the country. The team suffered the same fate in 2008, when the World Cup was lost in the decisive battle of Sweden.
Personal life
A great athlete's personal life is often intertwined with his professional activities. At the tennis academy, Igor met Maria Kirilenko, one of the most beautiful tennis players of our time. The couple lived together for eight years, not only supporting each other, but also performing in the mixed doubles. Their best achievement is the Wimbledon semi-final in 2008. The relationship was so strong that Mary refused to meet Prince Harry, who showed interest in her. She did not accept courtship from other foreign celebrities, hoping for further joint life with her fellow countryman.
07/16/2011, the couple attended the wedding of a friend, tennis player Elena Dementieva. Eyewitnesses say: Maria was upset when she could not catch the bouquet from the hands of the bride, to which the partner did not respond as she would like. There was no suggestion or discussion of further prospects for living together. Alexander Ovechkin, who was present at the wedding, taking advantage of the situation, later began to look after Maria Kirilenko, persuading her to leave for the USA. The new couple even announced their engagement, but today the girl is married to government official Alexei Stepanov and is quite happy. Andreev Igor does not submit his personal life for discussion. In 2012, at the Muz-TV Prize, he appeared arm in arm with the ex-soloist of the Brilliant Anna Dubovitskaya.
Retirement
Having suffered a serious shoulder injury, the tennis player from the end of 2012 until April 2013 did not appear on the court, falling in the ranking to the lowest rates in his career. He still hoped to rise by taking part in Wimbledon. Having flown out in the first round, Igor Andreev announced his desire to end his professional career. Viktor Yanchuk, an honored coach, bitterly lamented that the outstanding athlete could not realize the potential he possessed. During his career, the tennis player earned $ 3.630 million, but is not ready to sit back, he dreams of becoming a real coach.
His whole life is connected with sports. Together with Dinara Safina, he participates in the opening of new courts in the city of Krasnogorsk, with Anna Chakvetadze comments on Roland Garros, advises the young generation of Russian tennis players. His dream is a new tennis academy, where capable guys, whose parents do not have the financial capabilities to invest in a business project called "professional tennis player", can be engaged.
Another scandal in tennis
Today, Andreev Igor Valerievich was involved in the scandal about contractual matches in tennis, bringing fabulous income to bookmakers. Investigations of the tennis authorities revealed athletes who admitted to the crime and received lifelong disqualification. It was said that some Russian athletes were involved in dishonest game. In January 2016, according to the analysis of bets in bookmakers for matches of the Masters series, a list of sixteen athletes who were under suspicion was published. In the list of three Russians, the name of Andreev.
The president of the country's tennis federation, Shamil Tarpishchev, is outraged by the publicity of such a list, not supported by any evidence. It’s also hard to believe because the tennis player proved with all his activity in sports: he is engaged in a difficult but beloved business, which he is ready to devote his whole future life to.