Article by Luminița Paul – published Monday, August 11, 2025, 21:06 / Updated Monday, August 11, 2025 21:06
Karen Khachanov (29 years old, 12th place ATP), recently finalist in the Masters 1000 category tournament, follows the advice of Feliciano Lopez's former coach, the player who kept in the circuit of service-vole until he withdrew in 2023.
When it seems that high performance is moving away from him, Karen Khachanov manages to contradict this idea and silence the contestants. The most recently spent such an overthrow in the Masters 1000 Canadian tournament, played this year in Toronto.
The Russian traveled to the final, only the second of this level in his career, after Paris 2018, when he won. Gave up only two sets on the route and won precious victories against him Casper Ruud and Alexander Zverev. Ben Shelton After all, it turned out better than him in the final.
Khachanov was the player with the most significant jump in the ATP standings following this result, climbing from 16 to 12. Over time, he sought to add variety in an initial quite simple game, and for that he turned to 2020 at Jose Clavet, known under the diminutive Pepo, but also for the fact that in 2012.
Karen Khachanov: “This is the most important addition”
Probably the most atypical Spanish player: offensive, often playing in the style of service (hence the very good results on the grass), left, reverb with one hand and a different slice.
“I would say that the main thing is that when he worked with Feliciano Lopez for seven years, the offensive game was to take you in front, to play more on the net. It is also the most important addition and the issue we have focused on“Karen said in a conversation with Mundo Deportivo.
“Of course, I did a lot of exercises, many workouts on the back line, but this was the base, the nucleus. Then, besides the advancement of the net, especially on short balls, I trained how to take the front. This is the most important addition“, The Russian stressed.
Feliciano Lopez with a lodge on the file in the last match played, at Mallorca 2023 Photo: Imago Images
Feliciano Lopez: “There are no different players anymore”
In addition to the clave, he has two other coaches, on the Croatian Vedran Martic and the former Russian player Evgeny Donskoy. “I don't just work with Pepo, that's why it's a combination of several things. It is not just about what he puts in my game, but that everyone has to agree.
If Pepo says to hit Slică all the time, and the others say to give two hands, it's different, right? After all, this is the whole package, to better understand the game ”, concluded Khachanov. He has collaborated with another Iberian coach, Galo Blancowhile he was a junior and had set his training base in Barcelona.
And Feliciano Lopez, for several years the director of the Masters 1000 tournament in Madrid, was lamenting in a recent interview with Punto de Break that “The most beautiful thing in tennis is diversity, and now there are no different players. Before the surfaces forced you to do different things, you play Roland Garros, Wimbledon, on Indoor Carpet, now the differences have disappeared”.
