Yevgeny Kafelnikov defended his "friend", Marat Safin refused to discuss a topic that was "not his problem" while Anna Kournikova commented "I have heard of this man. But I don't think I should talk about it. I am Russian and I will have to go back there".
His first three Grand Slam appearances were all in his home event, the French Open, where he made the second round in 1992 and lost five set opening round matches in 1994 and 1995, to Bernd Karbacher and rising star Yevgeny Kafelnikov.
Yevgeny Kafelnikov | Yevgeny Yevtushenko | Yevgeny Khrunov | Yevgeny Nesterenko | Yevgeny Dementyev | Yevgeny Brusilovsky | Yevgeny Bezruchenko | Yevgeny Zavoisky | Yevgeny Zamyatin | Yevgeny Yasin | Yevgeny Tolstikov | Yevgeny Shaposhnikov | Yevgeny Semyonovich Kuznetsov | Yevgeny Rein | Yevgeny Primakov | Yevgeny Pepelyaev | Yevgeny Miller | Yevgeny Malinin | Yevgeny Kychanov | Yevgeny Krinov | Yevgeny Dragunov | Yevgeny Chichvarkin | Yevgeny Burachyok | Yevgeny Akulov |
The competition saw playing ATP No. 7, Australian Open quarterfinalist and recent Milan titlist Yevgeny Kafelnikov, and Dubai champion and Rotterdam defending finalist Wayne Ferreira.
The men singles draw was headlined by ATP No. 1, Australian Open titlist, Masters Cup finalist, 1995 runner-up Andre Agassi, Masters Cup winner, 1995 Wimbledon champion Pete Sampras and Australian Open runner-up Yevgeny Kafelnikov.
The singles line up featured World No. 1, US Open, Canada and Paris Masters champion Marat Safin, Sydney Olympics gold medalist and Moscow champion Yevgeny Kafelnikov and Washington and Toulouse champion Àlex Corretja.
The singles field was headlined by World No. 1, US Open, Canada and Paris Masters champion Marat Safin, ATP No. 7, Sydney Olympics gold medalist, Moscow and two-time Milan champion Yevgeny Kafelnikov and Auckland champion Dominik Hrbatý.
The last occurrence of this had taken place at the 1999 Cincinnati Super 9 event, with Pete Sampras, Patrick Rafter, Andre Agassi and Yevgeny Kafelnikov all reaching the final four.