Shamil Tarpishchev will again take our team to the Davis Cup final Russia-Argentina, which will be held on December 1-3 in Moscow. He has been captain for 32 years, he is considered the father of the tennis boom in the country, he is one of the most prominent figures in our sport. It is customary to admire the blocking man Tarpishchev, to evaluate his actions in complimentary tones. PROport threw off the veil of pathos and, with the help of experts, tried to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of the 58-year-old captain of the Russian tennis ship on a ten-point scale.
Charisma - 9 points out of 10
By the degree of trust and authority among fans and specialists, Tarpishchev has no competitors in tennis. All the tennis successes of Russia in recent years are uniquely associated with his name. But over time, this led to the fact that other heavyweights from tennis either found a separate niche, like Alexander Metreveli, or even retired, as the former president of the All-Russian Tennis Association, director Nikita Mikhalkov. Perhaps Tarpishchev did not want to usurp power, but the posts of the head of the national federation, as well as the captain of the male and female national teams themselves fell into his hands. The result of such supercentralization was the current appearance of the tennis authorities in Russia - confused and slurred. Some of the functions of the federation are confined to Tarpishchev’s personal assistants, and some to the Kremlin Cup directorate. And most tennis players, tournaments, schools and clubs generally exist on their own. Today Tarpishchev in all his forms looks indispensable. So after his retirement, the tennis motto “We are doomed to success” threatens to be reduced to the first two words.
Alexander Metreveli, leader of the USSR national team in the 60–70s, now a television commentator: There are no similar precedents in the world - for a person to be president of the federation and lead two teams at once. But I believe that while Shamil gives the result, nothing needs to be changed.
Anna Dmitrieva, director of the NTV Plus sports channels, in the 60s - the country's leading tennis player: I once wanted Metreveli to take the place Tarpishchev now occupies. But that was many years ago. Now each of them goes his own way. Tarpishchev is a very successful captain, one of the few in the world who rarely receives rejections from stars for invitations to the national team.
Olga Morozova, the most successful tennis player of the Soviet Union, was the head coach of the women's team in the 80s : Tarpishchev has a lot of connections, he knows all the mechanisms and can not afford to have a clear plan of action. There is no alternative to him anyway. But the person who comes in his place must have an idea. His vision for the development of tennis should be more perfect.
INTUITION - 8 SCORES
The ability of Tarpishchev to discern talented players even before they entered the elite, and his ingenious instinct in determining the composition is the subject of worship of fans. True, upon closer examination, it turns out that not all of his proteges live up to their expectations. For example, from the appeal of the men's team of recent years, neither Stolyarov nor Gabashvili really showed themselves. And tennis players usually stop talking about the captain’s miraculous intuition with stories that Tarpishchev’s decisions look illogical only from the outside. Our captain often has no choice but to take risks. Be that as it may, all the professionals interviewed by PROport agreed that Tarpishchev is a good psychologist and teacher, as well as a passionate and very lucky coach.
Andrei Chesnokov, holder of the Order of Courage for playing in the Russian national team, in the late 80s - the country's best tennis player: Tarpishchev never loses control over himself. Inject him with a psychotropic drug, so he will automatically come out of any situation clean. He is a true sorcerer who can subjugate anyone. And he has an amazing gift to predict the result. Once we watched football with him, and I jokingly said: “Well, Shamil, who are you for?” He chooses a team and says: “2: 1 will be.” I bet. And he wins.
Anna Dmitrieva: Tarpishchev, as a gambler, sometimes cannot deny himself the pleasure of making a replacement at the last moment. And, strangely enough, these risky replacements were justified. These cases became history: Yuzhny's exit in a match against the French for a decisive point; Tursunov’s exit in the recent semi-final is again in a decisive situation.
Yevgeny Kafelnikov, former first racket of the world, leader of the Russian national team in the 90s: In the final of 2002, the decision to put Yuzhny to the decisive match was made more likely at the initiative of Misha himself. Tarpishchev did not decide anything here. He could only agree and approve. In the end, the players are always better than the coaches, they feel what they are capable of.
STYLE - 7 points
For a leader who began his career in the 70s in the Soviet Union, Tarpishchev is surprisingly liberal. He is correct with the players, never screams and skillfully settles all conflicts. Only in tennis can players criticize the federation, but continue to receive invitations to the national team. Tarpishchev appears in a team with an exceptionally positive mission - to support, adjust, cheer up. Giving up and pumping up is not his style. Perhaps for such an egotistical sport like tennis, this is the only option. Although the federation, the absence of a firm hand is clearly not good.
Svyatoslav Mirza, former coach of Anastasia Myskina, formerly the head of the USSR delegation in the Davis Cup: Tarpishchev is a very liberal person. But discipline in the team does not suffer due to the lack of rigidity, because Shamil has high authority among tennis players. Players perceive him, though not as a senior comrade, but as a good boss. The atmosphere in the team is very good, they often joke ... I think Tarpishchev is able to yell at the player just to get him out of a stupor.
Olga Morozova: Tarpishchev's job is to set up a team before the match: it is unrealistic to change something fundamentally in the form of players or equipment in three days. Shamil has a good sense of humor, he knows how to communicate with people. At the penultimate Federation Cup, I saw how he set up the girls. And it was clear that the current generation of tennis players was simply afraid of him. Because it respects.
STRATEGY - 3 POINTS
Possessing fantastic lobbying opportunities, Tarpishchev never created the material basis for the development of tennis in the country. When a former head of the State Sports Committee, a member of the IOC, a personal friend of Yeltsin and Luzhkov for 10 years refers to economic conditions, is waiting for state support and cannot find investments of $ 8-10 million that are not so big by the standards of Russian sports, this looks strange. All the last years of Tarpishchev were fascinated by the problems of the national team and the Kremlin Cup. And the Samaranch National Tennis Center in Moscow, which he had conceived, was never brought to mind - eight clay courts on the Leningradskoye Shosse operate in the usual permanent rental mode for the country. All of the country's tennis infrastructure is put on commercial footing and is aimed not at helping young talents to pump money from their parents. In terms of working with novice players of the Russian Tennis Federation to tennis superpowers - France, England, the United States - as to the moon. Most of our tennis players are left to their own devices, and the easiest way to solve problems for them is to go abroad, where the conditions for training are better, the courts are cheaper and the scholarship is paid.
Andrey Chesnokov: They are trying to pump out as much money as possible from tennis. Here is an example: I came to the tennis club "Star" in Fili. I say: “Do you have courts? They want to practice Kafelnikov and Safin. ” They answer me: "Well, but they have to pay - or look for another place." Abroad, such players will never be asked for money. The very appearance of such tennis players is prestigious, but our mentality is different. Therefore, Tarpishchev has something to work on.
Dmitry Vikharev, vice president of the Russian Tennis Federation, one of the founders of the St. Petersburg tournament Petersburg Open: Russian tennis was successful not because of, but in spite of the economic conditions prevailing in the country around this sport. The reverse side of the success of our tennis players is the distortion of information on the state of affairs in Russian tennis. When the federation interacts with representatives of the business community on the topic of sponsorship, partnership, and so on, they say: you are tennis players, everything is fine with you, you are all millionaires. But so far, in addition to the stadium under construction, the federation, in fact, has nothing of its own. The real situation is this: to become Sharapova, you need to leave Russia. The image of Russian tennis with his success works against himself.
Oleg Shamonaev, Ivan Kalashnikov, Ekaterina Gradoboeva, Alexander Belyaev