Varvara Gracheva, 24-year-old Russian tennis player, began her professional career in sports at the age of 17. So far, she has7 ITF career titles and has been on the top 100 lists in the singles category.
In just 2019, Varvara qualified for both the 2019 Ladies Open Lausanne and the Washington Open. As of 2023, her worth consists of over $1M in prize money and a WTA ranking of No. 66.
Know These 10 Facts about Varvara Gracheva
1. Varvara Andreyevna Gracheva was born in Moscow
The current world’s number 586 was born On August 2, 2000, in Zhukovsky, a region in Moscow, Russia. She is the older of 2 children born to Natalia Kazakova, (mother), and has a younger brother. Unlike Andreyevna and her mother, her younger brother does not play tennis.
Gracheva studied at the meteor sports center in her hometown of Zhukovsky before she moved to Germany where she continued to train and work hard with the aim of being a professional tennis player.
2. Her Mother worked as her Coach
Varvara’s mother, Natalia, is a tennis coach who works at a sports academy located in Zhukovsky. Amongst other aspiring tennis players, Kazakova also coached her daughter from when she began her tennis training till Gracheva was aged 14 years old.
After her daughter moved to Germany, Varvara began to train with Nina Bratchikova.
3. The Tennis Player Began her Professional Training before the age of 17
Varvara started to train professionally when she was still very young and would go to work with her mother.
Before Gracheva started her professional career in 2017, she had reached a career-high of 19 in her junior career. Then, she also won 4 Grade-2 events before eventually getting to the point of playing professionally, albeit unranked.
At the end of 2017, Varvara had gotten 3 consecutive $15k tournaments in Tunisia. She then continued playing at the junior tournaments in 2018 for about 6 months. She however ended the year with a win on the professional tour, ranking in WTA as the world’s No. 447.
4. Varvara Gracheva Reached a Career Rank of 59
In 2019, Gracheva rose swiftly through ITF and WTA tours and tournaments. Despite the slow start to the year, she ended it as the world’s No. 105, moving 342 steps ahead. By 2020, she reached the final round of the Australian Open at the age of 19.
It was however the first time she also lost a total of 5 consecutive times before Covid 19 pandemic struck.
Nonetheless, since then, Varvara played in many different tournaments and tours. She was consistent on the WTA tour, played at the US Open third round, and rose in the world ranking.
Moving on, the following year (2021), Gracheva had her first complete WTA Tour season and first WTA semifinal and finished the year as part of the World’s top 80.
By 2023, the Russian-born tennis player had her career-high rank of No. 59 which she reached on July 18, 2022.
Still, in 2023, Varvara reached the third round of the Australian Open for the first time ever. She also had her top 10 wins in the year’s first quarter and got to her first final and WTA 1000 fourth round.
Following predictions for the game with Daria Kasatkina on March 14, 2023, the Russian tennis player who is currently ranked No. 66 on the WTA rankings, would go up in ranks yet again. She is likely and be placed at a new career-high WTA world ranking of about 57th position.
5. Gracheva Prefers to play on Clay
Despite playing on a couple of surfaces in her years of professional career, Varvara still prefers to play on clay. Since she has won most of her tournaments on clay, this is a no-brainer.
The 5 feet 10 inches athlete who plays right-hand, 2-handed, and backhand admits that her favorite shots come with her good forehand. Additionally, she has a solid short crosscourt and a backhand down the line. Ultimately, she is more of a baseliner.
6. Who is Varvara’s Coach?
She is currently in Cannes, a city in France, and trains at the Academy of Jean-Rene Lisnard. While at Cannes, the young tennis player trains under the coaching of Eric Dimaggio who serves as her coach for some of her tournaments.
Her main coach is Jene-Rene but she sometimes trains with Gerard Solves and other tennis coaches who supervise her.
7. When she’s not Playing Tennis, she Focuses on her Artistic Side
When asked what her pastime hobby is, Andreyevna admitted that she loves drawing. She is a huge Van Gogh fan and his favorite picture of her is a self-portrait with a severed ear.
She also enjoys listening to alternative rock music and gets inspired by the Skillet.
8. What is Varvara Gracheva’s Net Worth?
With a stipulated monthly income of $12,000, the 24-year-old has an estimated net worth of about $2 million. With her current singles ranking of No. 66 on WTA, she has prize money of $191,728.
Considering Gracheva’s career high of No. 59, she earned prize money of $1,707,338. With this, the Moscow athlete who is considered to be one of the best out in the region makes quite a fortune as a tennis player.
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9. Is Varvara Gracheva in a Relationship?
It isn’t certain yet if Gracheva is in a relationship or not. She probably is more focused on her career as a tennis player at the moment.
In spite of this lack of personal information, it is known that she is committed to her 3 companions – her pets.
Varvara has 2 dogs named Tutsi and Yen and a Parrot named Boy. The dogs are Yorkshire Terrier and Parson Russell from the Griffon family.
10. She Doesn’t Look up to Anyone
When asked if the Russian tennis player looks up to anyone in her line of sports, she responded in the negative. Varvara Gracheva stated that she doesn’t have an idol and isn’t really inspired by any other professional athlete.
She however pointed out that her mum is an inspiration and she admires Rafael Nadal and likes how he behaves on and out of the court. She admires his simplicity despite winning so much as a tennis player.
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