In brief
After a history of relying on naturalised players for international success, Kazakhstan is investing heavily in domestic tennis development. The federation has increased courts, coaches, and tournaments, while new academies and public‑access lessons aim to nurture local talent. Promising juniors like Amir Omarkhanov and Zangar Nurlanuly signal the project’s early results.
When a young player in Shymkent woke up at 5:30 a.m. on a Sunday in the late 2000s, he was preparing for a two‑hour session on one of only two outdoor courts in the city. That graffiti‑covered reality is now a thing of the past, according to the Kazakhstan Tennis Federation’s (KTF) vice president and acting CEO, Dias Doskarayev, who told Xinhua on the sidelines of last month’s ATP Almaty Open.
Doskarayev, once a struggling junior, said he and his brother relocated to Almaty to tap the few better facilities; even there, the cost of renting a court could reach US$150 per hour and twenty local clubs would cram around 100 children on two courts each session. He noted, "We would wake up at 5:30 because we were only allowed to play from 7 a.m. till 9 a.m."
"There were around 100 kids on two courts, if you can imagine. It was a rich men’s sport back then," Doskarayev said.
Since President Bulat Utemuratov stepped into the KTF’s leadership in 2007, the federation has launched a broad national development programme centred around infrastructure, coaching, and competition. Doskarayev reports that the country now boasts 412 tennis courts spread across 19 regions, up from roughly 55 before the programme. The number of qualified coaches has leapt from about 20 to an estimated 700, and the federation now sanctions some 300 national tournaments and more than 50 international events each year.
In 2008, the KTF inaugurated a national tennis academy in Astana to gather promising youngsters nationwide, while co‑operating with overseas academies to upgrade coaching standards. The federation claims that the average monthly cost of regular lessons has dropped to a range between US$50 and US$60, making the sport far more affordable than during Doskarayev’s childhood. He added, "The parents no longer see tennis as a sport of the elite; it’s become a more mainstream pursuit."
Even as Kazakhstan’s tennis ranking has improved, Xinhua notes that most of the country’s acclaim has come from players who were born and trained abroad before switching allegiances. Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina and ATP‑tourer Alexander Bublik are cited as prominent examples of naturalised talent. If the nation wishes to host globally recognised champions, the KTF says it must eventually produce elite professionals through its own grassroots system, a goal that the federation says is on the brink of fruition.
The federation’s latest flagship project aims to identify and nurture local talent through a tiered training framework. Two of Kazakhstan’s most promising juniors, Amir Omarkhanov and Zangar Nurlanuly, appear to be the beneficiaries of this new scheme. Doskarayev said that the young prospects are already competing in ATP‑level qualifiers, heralding a potential shift in the country’s tennis culture.
While the KTF remains optimistic that homegrown players will one day match the record‑breakers who came from abroad, the federation acknowledges that the journey will require sustained investment, improvements in coaching, and continued exposure to high‑level competition. With courts increasing in number, lessons becoming affordable, and a solid pipeline of talent emerging, Kazakhstan seems poised to raise the profile of its own tennis stars on the grand stage.
