Australian Open 2021 semi-finalist Aslan Karatsev has announced that he plans to continue his partnership with coach Yahor Yatsyk. Karatsev, 29, enjoyed the best season of his career last season, when he impressively reached the Australian Open semi-final as a qualifier.
Also last year, Karatsev won his first two ATP titles and achieved a career-high 14th place in the world rankings. This year, Karatsev hasn’t really impressed. Karatsev really got off to a strong start to the season capturing the Sydney title in his first tournament of the season and also won his first two matches at the Australian Open.
After starting the year with a 6-0 record, Karatsev finished the year with a 17-27 record at the major level. Furthermore, Karatsev plummeted to No. 60 in the world. “I want to announce that I have resumed work with Yahor Yatsyk.
This year was not easy for me, I made some wrong decisions. Now everything is fine, we are ready to work even harder,» Karatsev announced on Instagram.
Karatsev denied the accusations against him.
In July, German television ZDF published a report stating that Karatsev and Nikoloz Basilashvili were under investigation by the ITF for match-fixing.
Yatsik, who has also worked with Basilashvili in the past, was mentioned as the key figure in the investigation. “I haven’t heard anything about it. I don’t know what you’re talking about,» Karatsev said after the accusations were made.
The news made headlines, prompting a reaction from Russian Tennis Federation President Kamil Tarpischev. Tarpischev described the news as nothing more than a mere rumour. «Funny situation. If there is something official, then it can be discussed.
And so, this is a tabloid chronicle, it is even ridiculous to discuss it, you never know who is saying what. And besides, this is 2019-2020, if there was anything, we would have been informed long ago. And no one told us anything,” Tarpischev said in July.
