Meeting with President of Russian Tennis Federation Shamil Tarpishchev

Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko met with President of the Russian Tennis Federation Shamil Tarpishchev on 13 April.

“It's been a long time since we've seen each other, an eternity,” the head of state said greeting Shamil Tarpishchev, who once helped Aleksandr Lukashenko learn to play tennis. “This is my tennis teacher,” the President added.

“I only looked up to you. That is why I am a student,” Shamil Tarpishchev responded.

“No, no, you taught Yeltsin how to play tennis, and taught me too,” the Belarusian leader said. “I used to play tennis pretty well at one time. But it is a very hard sport. It seems to me that it is the hardest one. It requires both strong mind and physical shape. It is also the most traumatic [sport]. But tennis is a very good thing.”

Aleksandr Lukashenko said that when he learned about his upcoming meeting with Shamil Tarpishchev, he decided to resume his tennis lessons: “When I saw our meeting in my schedule, I thought: I need to go to the court and start playing tennis. I am not going to be too active, but I will resume my game slowly.”

“Let others run,” the head of the Russian Tennis Federation joked. He presented the Belarusian President with his book “Stress Makes Champions. Secrets of Psychology” about typical and sometimes unique examples of how a psychological state makes even a trained athlete give up winning positions or, conversely, successfully emerge from a seemingly hopeless situation. “Fourteen critical examples are examined by a coach and a psychologist,” the author explained. Now he is writing a sequel, since, as he said, the book sold out immediately. The President replied that he knew about the book and considered the topic chosen by the author to be relevant, interesting and important.