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The 24-year-old Medvedev is the oldest of the
three and ranked the highest at fifth, while Rublev, 22, is
world number 14. Khachanov is a year older than Rublev and
placed a spot below in the rankings.
In 1999, Kafelnikov became the first Russian man to reach the
top of the tennis world rankings. Marat Safin matched the feat
the following year.
"When I became a top-10 player, Marat was six years younger than
me and he wanted to catch up with me. So we had healthy
competition between each other and one was driven by another,"
Kafelnikov said on Friday's episode of Tennis United.
"We've got three guys who are in the top 20 and all three are
competing with each other. That's the reason why tennis in
Russia is very successful at the moment."
Kafelnikov won two Grand Slam Singles titles - the 1996 French
Open and the Australian Open in 1999 - and won gold in men's
singles at the Sydney Olympics in 2000.
Medvedev, Rublev and Khachanov have known each other from their
days as junior players and engaged in banter during the Tennis
United episode, which was started during the sport's forced
shutdown due to COVID-19.
"It's a healthy competition because they are still friends,"
said Safin, who won the U.S. Open in 2000 before claiming the
Australian Open in 2005.
"They go out for dinner together and they are very nice guys,
which is good. And they are ready to learn, which is also good."
(Reporting by Sudipto Ganguly; Editing by William Mallard)
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