Roger Federer's Ukrainian Conqueror Sergiy Stakhovsky Swaps Racquet For Kalashnikov
In 2013 he achieved one of the great shocks in tennis history, knocking defending champion Roger Federer out of Wimbledon. Today, the Ukranian player Sergiy Stakhovsky is a volunteer fighter on a military patrol in Kyiv, which he vows to defend "to the end" against Russian forces. Now 36, he looks much the same as the journeyman player ranked 116 in the world who lay stretched out in his tennis whites on the hallowed London turf after toppling Federer in the second round nine years ago. But his outfit now could not be more different as he patrols Maidan Square, symbol of Ukraine's "fight for democracy", armed with a Kalashnikov, a pistol in his belt and his 1.93 metre (6 ft 4 in) frame dressed in khaki camouflage.
