Tennis, Everyone?

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And so day in and day out Zhbanova practices with her brother Alexei, 11, and two dozen schoolmates. She is relentless, as if each whack of the ball brings her closer to the world of money, fame and freedom. "Tennis to me means prestige in Mordovia and the way to society," Zhbanova says, a smile lighting up her broad, healthy face. Her goals: becoming a tennis coach in Moscow or, failing that, in Saransk. Before tennis brought her there three years ago, Saransk had seemed as distant and inaccessible as Paris or Moscow. "Now, once a week in winter, we get to train on an indoor court in Saransk," she says proudly.

In 1990, the U.S.S.R. had less than 200 courts; today, Russia alone has over 2,500. "The erstwhile chamber sport has become new Russia's national game and way of life," says Shamil Tarpishchev, president of the Russian Tennis Federation (RTF). Last year, the Russian Tennis Tour had 1,020 tournaments in 81 cities, compared to 120 in the U.S.S.R. in 1990. But the real boom among young people has happened in the last few years. In 1999, Russian tennis clubs enrolled just 9,000 players under 18. Now, they enroll 19,000.

The tennis binge is most conspicuous in Moscow, where the Dinamo Tennis Palace operates nine outdoor courts and two indoor ones, and has four more under construction to accommodate new clients "who are coming in droves," says director Grigory Maly. The state-of-the-art Valery tennis club, launched by Tarpishchev in 1998, offers 18 indoor and 22 outdoor courts that host both élite players and a children's tennis academy.

But the boom has spread even to small cities that can hardly afford it. Three years ago, the Mordovian government drained a huge swamp that had lain for ages in the center of Saransk. Now, the six outdoor courts of the Saransk Tennis Stadium and a children's tennis school occupy the site. "Just a couple of years ago a tennis player would seem as out of place in Saransk as an extraterrestrial," says Larisa Saulina, news anchor for Mordovia's state-run TV station. "Now, tennis comes as a habitual part of life."

Mordovia spends just $3 million of its meager budget of $183 million on sports. To help build the courts and sponsor tennis events, Nikolai Kalinichenko, Mordovia's Foreign Economic Relations Minister and president of the Republican Tennis Federation, asked local businesses — like Talina, the leading agricultural holding company — to chip in. In return, they get free advertising and favors from the regional government. Last month, the Russian Tennis Tour (RTT), an umbrella body launched by the RFT, held a $25,000 prize-fund international challenger-class tournament on the new Saransk courts.

Zhbanova wished she could have played at that tournament, which might have taken her a step closer to her dream of winning the coveted Russia's Cup and eventually a scholarship. "But I couldn't afford a week in Saransk," she says, unable to hide her frustration. Though she's not a child prodigy, her coach, Tyurin, believes she has the ability and perseverance to make it as a professional. But, he says, "her progress is contingent on the money, and this is where it hurts."

Teaching drawing and Russian language at Perkhlyai's school pays Zhbanova's parents some $130 a month for their family of four. "We are ready to sell all we have just to give our kids a chance," says her father, Alexander, 40. Adds his wife, Yelizaveta, 36: "I don't want them to waste their lives cleaning pigpens here, the way we have."

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