Kafelnikov Charms Twitter Fans

In the past, Yevgeny Kafelnikov would often go out of his way to avoid being interviewed, but not any more. More than ten years have passed since the Russian reached World No.1, and in Zurich today he could barely contain his excitement at being invited to take part in a live, on-line Twitter chat on the official ATP Champions Tour Twitter page.

Miguel Seabra, a Portuguese journalist who had fired questions at Kafelnikov throughout his career, joined the chat session to ask him why he used to behave the way he did. Seabra's question was: "Why did you used to play tricks with the media and have a difficult relationship with journalists?". Kafelnikov didn't flinch. He just replied honestly. "It was in self-defence. I didn't want to let people into my life so I used to isolate myself from media. I'm completely different now though," he said, in 140 characters or less. How right he was. Years away from the limelight and the task of raising his daughter have changed Kafelnikov for the better.

Katie in the UK wanted him to describe an average day in his life. "At 7:45 I get a knock on my door from my lovely daughter and then I drive her to school. Then after that I come back and sleep for another hour or so and then I go to my workout which is an hour of tennis. In the evening I play either badminton or pingpong with my friends. Then at the end of the day I usually have a drink in the pub. Having children is definitely a lot of responsibility. My ego is not as big as it used to be because I have to look after a child."

He was asked about his greatest achievements, his tennis idols, his predictions for the tennis world in 2010, and his favourite food. With all the questions, Kafelnikov smiled, and answered enthusiastically. He then walked onto the court against Michael Chang feeling good about himself, and won 6-4, 6-4. What a difference a decade makes.

To read the full transcript, click twitter. To follow Kafelnikov and the rest of the champions on twitter, click: http://www.twitter.com/championstennis.