Mikhail Kukushkin ends a 20-year career at home in Almaty as Stefanos Tsitsipas asks him for a signed shirt

Mikhail Kukushkin played the last match of his career where he wanted to: at home in Almaty. The 38-year-old Kazakh wild card lost 6-1 6-2 to seventh seed Stefanos Tsitsipas in the second round of the Almaty Open on Wednesday, 21 October, in just over an hour, and was then honoured by his opponent and the home crowd.

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Stefanos Tsitsipas vs Mikhail Kukushkin Highlights | Almaty 2026 Round 2 — ATP Tour · YouTube, plays on click

A day dedicated to him

Before his own on-court interview, Tsitsipas walked over to an emotional Kukushkin and asked him to sign a shirt. "This day is entirely dedicated to him," the Greek said, according to the ATP and Tennis Now, admitting that facing a player in his final match "hits you a little bit hard". On social media he later described Kukushkin as "a trailblazer for Kazakh tennis in the 2010s".

Kukushkin, ranked No 389 this week, had given himself one more match in front of the Kazakh fans by beating Stefanos Sakellaridis 7-6(4) 7-6(3) in the first round. He even saved three match points at 5-1 down in the second set against Tsitsipas, Tennis Majors reported. "It's like a dream coming true to finish at home with the home crowd," he said.

Twenty years on tour

Kukushkin turned professional in 2006 and spent nearly two decades on the ATP Tour. His only title came in St Petersburg in 2010, and he reached a career-high ranking of No 39 in February 2019. He beat four top-10 players, the biggest of them world No 4 Stan Wawrinka in Basel in 2014, and recorded 175 tour-level wins, according to the ATP and Tennis Now.

His best Grand Slam runs both ended in the fourth round: at the 2012 Australian Open, where he was the first Kazakh player to reach that stage, and at Wimbledon in 2019 after a five-set win over John Isner, Kazinform and Tennis Now noted.

A pillar of Kazakh tennis

Originally a Russian player, Kukushkin switched to Kazakhstan early in his career and became one of the faces of its rise as a tennis nation. He played Davis Cup for Kazakhstan every year from 2008 to 2022, the ATP said. In an interview quoted by Tennis Now, he recalled that almost no one played tennis in Kazakhstan when he arrived, and credited the federation's work for the sport's growth since then — a growth that today includes an ATP 250 in Almaty and players such as Alexander Bublik and Elena Rybakina at the top of the game.

What's next in Almaty

Tsitsipas, back to good health this autumn and chasing Grand Slam seeding for 2027, meets Australia's James Duckworth in the quarter-finals. Top seed Daniil Medvedev, the defending champion, opens his campaign against Sho Shimabukuro on Thursday as he chases a place at the ATP Finals; our Race to Turin guide explains what is at stake, and the ATP rankings show the current top 100.