Aslan Karatsev has been voted the Most Improved Player of the Year in the 2021 ATP Awards. Karatsev started the year at world 112 in the ATP Rankings and rose to a career-high number 15 in November.
Karatsev beat Brandon Nakashima in the opening round of qualifying at the Australian Open last February when he was ranked world number 114.
Karatsev beat Diego Schwartzman, Felix Auger Aliassime and Grigor Dimitrov before losing to Novak Djokovic in the semifinal. The Russian player rose from world number 114 to number 42 following the Australian Open, becoming the first player in Open Era to reach the semifinals in Grand Slam main draw debut and the first qualifier to reach a Grand Slam semifinal since Vladimir Voltchkov at Wimbledon 2000. He was also the lowest-ranked Grand Slam semifinalist since world number 125 Goran Ivanisevic at Wimbledon 2001.
“I am really happy to win this award. It means a lot to me and I am really happy to get this. Thank you very much”, said Aslan Karatsev.
The semifinal at the Australian Open was a confidence booster for Karatsev, who claimed the first title of his career in Dubai, beating South Africa’s Lloyd Harris in the final. Karatsev ended the 23-match ATP 500 winning streak of his compatriot Andrey Rublev en route to winning the Dubai title.
Karatsev also finished runner-up to Matteo Berrettini in the final of the Serbian Open in Belgrade. He beat top two players Novak Djokovic in Belgrade semifinal and Danil Medvedev in the Rome Masters 1000 second round and achieved his career-high number 15 after beating his compatriot Karen Khachanov en route to his second ATP Tour title at the Kremlin Cup in Moscow.
Karatsev teamed up with Elena Vesnina in the mixed doubles at Roland Garros, where they lost to Joe Salisbury and Desirae Krawczyk.
At the Olympic Games in Tokyo Karatsev won the silver medal in mixed doubles with Elena Vesnina losing to Andrey Rublev and Anastasya Pavlyuchenkova in the final.
At the 2021 BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells he reached the fourth round at a Masters 1000 for the first time in his career
“It’s not just happening right now, there is a lot of work that was done before to get here. I had some injuries before and some troubles, and now we are doing a good job with my job. It’s been two and a half years and itit’s just paying off in 2021. It’s coming from the hard work every work, and it’s a long process. You have to be there and work hard”, said Karatsev.
