page_title: Sport in Russia
section_title: Tennis
hierarchical_section_title: Sport in Russia / Tennis
caption_attribution_description: Português: Maria Sharapova at US Open 2012.
context_page_description: The most popular sport in Russia is football. According to Yandex search analysis results rating of the most popular sports among Russians: "Football topped the list of the most popular sports in Russia" with 5 to 10 million requests. Ice hockey came in second with handball, basketball, futsal, boxing, auto racing, volleyball, athletics, tennis and chess rounding out the top ten rankings. Other popular sports include bandy, biathlon, figure skating, weightlifting, gymnastics, wrestling, martial arts, rugby union, and skiing.
  The Soviet Union competed in the Olympic Games for the first time at the 1952 Summer Olympics. Soviet and later Russian athletes never finished below fourth place in the number of gold and total medals collected at the Summer Olympics in which they competed. Russia has the most medals stripped for doping violations, the most of any country, four times the number of the runner-up, and nearly a third of the global total. The Russian team was partially banned from the 2016 Rio Olympics and 2018 Winter Olympics due to the state-sponsored doping scandal.
context_section_description: Since the end of the Soviet era, tennis has grown in popularity and Russia has produced a number of famous tennis players. In recent years, the amount of top Russian women players has been considerable, with both Maria Sharapova and Dinara Safina reaching number one in the WTA rankings. Other Russian women to achieve international success include Elena Dementieva, Ekaterina Makarova, Svetlana Kuznetsova, Anastasia Myskina, Nadia Petrova, Vera Zvonareva, Elena Vesnina, Anna Chakvetadze, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and Anna Kournikova. The Russian Federation has won the Fed Cup 4 times, in 2004, 2005, 2007 and 2008.
  At the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Russia swept the women's tennis podium with Elena Dementieva winning the gold, Dinara Safina and Vera Zvonareva the silver and bronze, respectively. As of 16 October 2009, two Russian women were ranked in the WTA tour's top 10; with an additional two in the Top 20.
  Russia also boasts two former number 1 men's players—Safina's older brother Marat Safin and Yevgeny Kafelnikov. Other Russian men that have made the top 50 include Nikolay Davydenko, Igor Andreev, Igor Kunitsyn, and Mikhail Youzhny. The Russian men won the Davis Cup in 2002 and 2006.
  Among Russia's new talents helping to continue the sporting tradition includes, Daria Kasatkina, Andrey Kuznetsov, Margarita Gasparyan, Andrey Rublev, Sofya Zhuk, and Roman Safiullin.
caption: Maria Sharapova is Russia's most successful tennis athlete. She is also the highest earning female athlete.
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