Yevgeny Kafelnikov is the vice president of the Russian Tennis Federation and director of the new ATP tournament of St. Petersburg, which will make be played on the ATP tour starting on September 21 on the indoor courts of Play Global Stadium in Russia.

The former World No 1 has already been assured that both Tomas Berdych and Milos Raonic will be competing in the tournament this year. Pleased, but unwilling to settle, Yevgeny got in contact with the management team of Swiss's two major tennis stars: Roger Federer and Stan Wawrinka.

According to the Russian, the requests made by the managing team of both players have been too high to comply with. "I tried to get in touch with Federer, but his team told me that in order to ensure his presence at the tournament I will have to pay a total of $2 million.

Same thing for Wawrinka" revealed Kafelnikov to the Russian press. "Those kind of contracts expect you to pay that sum even if the player you have invited loses in the first round. Thus we are not willing to exaggerate our expenses on things that are not indispensable".

The market for ensuring tennis players at tournaments has been growing over the years. This year Federer asked 800.000$ to play in Brisbane and his request was welcomed by the organizers. Rafael Nadal "only" asked for 500.000€ to play in Hamburg last month.

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