Teen teaches cocky Kafelnikov a lesson

On the eve of the Davis Cup tie with Australia, Russia's Yevgeny Kafelnikov predicted a 3-1 victory for his team. He dismissed the chances of 18 year old Lleyton Hewitt, and Davis Cup rookie Wayne Arthurs. However, Kafelnikov was made to eat his words as the second string Australian line up handed Russia a semi-final thrashing.

Yevgeny Kafelnikov began a war of words with the Australians by criticising the state of the court. He referred to the grass-court prepared as being a "rugby field". Aussie Davis Cup Captain John Newcombe was more than a match for the Russian in the mind games being played, responding that the courts looked much like Wimbledon in its second week of play...noting "I guess Yevgeny wouldn't know because he hasn't been around for the second week."

The Russian was not deterred by this, predicting that he would easily beat the Aussies' Davis Cup rookie Wayne Arthurs. Amazingly, Kafelnikov's attitude was not changed after the Australians raced to a 2-0 lead, with Arthurs beating the Russian number 1 in a brilliant display. In the post match press conference, Kafelnikov said:

"I'm not going to give any credit for that." He went on to say that it was the worst performance of his life, and that: "...that guy can only play on this surface and no other surface."

Arthurs himself wasn't bothered by this, responding that: "I don't care what he thinks, we're the ones leading 2-0. He can go home crying if he likes."

The Russians were able to save some face by winning the crucial doubles match, albeit by 8-6 in the final set. This seemed to boost Kafelnikov's bruised ego, as he declared that in the reverse singles:

"I'm going to teach him (Hewitt) a lesson, he's going to learn the hard way."

Subsequently Kafelnikov crashed to a straight sets defeat against the teenage superstar, handing Australia a place in the Davis Cup final.

John Newcombe remarked that: "I think what we saw is that underneath all the bravado he's a little brittle underneath."

Aussie number 1 Pat Rafter weighed in, stating that the Russian was "...disrespectful, not just of his Russian teammates but of the game of tennis. He's given a bad example but no one's listening."

Amazingly Kafelnikov still refused to eat humble pie after his straight sets annihilation at the hands of Hewitt. He said that the teenager's game had failed to impress him. "He doesn't create any specific situation, his serve is mediocre. He had a

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