Aslan Karatsev is a Russian professional tennis player who was born on September 4, 1993, in Vladikavkaz, Russia. Born to footballer father Kazbek and doctor mother Svetlana, the sporting pedigree in his family paved the way for the Russian to be a good sportsman.
The family moved to Israel when Aslan was three years old, with the Russian starting to play tennis there. The family then returned to Russia nine years later due to funding limitations from Israel so that he could continue his training.
After a junior career mixed with ups and downs, Karatsev made his ATP Tour debut in 2013 at the St Petersburg Open. During the next eight years, progress was harder to come by than what the Russian would have hoped for when starting out as a pro.
He managed to get into the main draw of very few ATP tournaments but was still going deep at the ITF and Challenger levels. After getting into the Australian Open qualifying as normal in 2021, this is where Karatsev would really make a name for himself.
After progressing through the three qualification rounds, the Russian quickly racked up the wins. In the third round, he continued his stellar run by beating Diego Schwartzman before seeing off Felix Auger-Aliassime and Grigor Dimitrov in the following two matches.
This set him up for a Grand Slam semifinal with all-time great Novak Djokovic, whose expertise Down Under did end up proving too much for the Russian, losing in straights. Such a formidable run to the semifinals of a Grand Slam was just the result he needed to springboard his career to the next level, giving him the chance to showcase the talent he has on offer.
Just a couple of months later, he won his first ATP title at the 500 event at the Dubai Championships. More finals came, and his second title came in his home capital, Moscow, in October of the same year.
After having an outstanding 2021 season, he was keen to back this up in 2022, which is what he did. He won another event down in Sydney in early 2023, setting himself up nicely for the season ahead. This dazzling run gave him an all-time career-high ranking of 14, a far cry from when he was playing on the ATP Challenger Tour.
