Gidi Lipkin
Aslan Kratzb in Israel (use under section 27A of the Copyright Law)
About a year and a half ago, Aslan Kratzb, an Israeli tennis player who represents Russia, stunned the tennis world. He reached the semi-finals of the Australian Open in 2021 and the country has already realized that this is a huge miss. Kratzb left Israel at the age of 16 after a first order, when ONE first learned that thanks to the intervention of senior tennis players, he reached an agreement with the army and the issue of his entry into the country was resolved.
After three years, Kratzb came to Israel to visit, and from now on he will be able to come to Israel in an orderly fashion to visit his family. At his peak, the tennis player was ranked 15th in the world (November 2021), when at the Tokyo Olympics he won the silver medal in mixed doubles when he represented the Russian Olympic Committee. Kratzb is now also expected to train in Israel during his stay in order to keep fit.
Kratzev, 28, was born in Buldikwkaz, Russia, but immigrated to Israel with his family as a child. He played tennis with Amir Weintraub at the Jaffa Tennis Center every day and sometimes also practiced at Yad Eliyahu. He was considered a talented player with potential, but suffered from behavioral and financial problems that prevented him from progressing. “He did not have a single worn penny,” said a source in Israeli tennis who knew him closely.
Until the age of 16 he remained in the country and eventually decided to leave back to Russia with his father, while his mother and sister remained in the country. He started training alone in his homeland, as well as in Germany and Spain, and even went to competitions without a coach. For years he traveled around the world on his own, living from hand to mouth and without much success, until he broke out a year ago at the Australian Championships and before that also won the ATP tournament.
