Karen Abgarovich Khachanov (born 21 May 1996) is a Russian professional tennis player. He has been ranked by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) as high as world No. 8 in singles, which he achieved on 15 July 2019, and No. 53 in doubles, attained on 29 January 2024. Khachanov has won seven ATP Tour singles titles, including an ATP Masters 1000 event at the 2018 Paris Masters. In doubles, he has won one title at the 2023 Madrid Open, with compatriot Andrey Rublev.
His most notable career achievement is a silver medal in singles at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. He also has reached three major semifinals at the 2022 US Open, the 2023 Australian Open, and the 2026 US Open.
Khachanov started playing tennis at the age of three in kindergarten when his parents put him into the tennis group. His father Abgar, an Armenian from Yerevan, played volleyball before studying medicine, while his mother, Nataliya, a Russian, also studied medicine. Khachanov's maternal grandfather was also half Armenian. Despite having been born in Russia, Khachanov tweeted: "I always say that I have Armenian roots."
He has a sister and a brother. His idols growing up were Marat Safin and Juan Martín del Potro, and favourite sports teams are Real Madrid and the Miami Heat. He decided to become a professional player at 12.
After Khachanov turned 15, he moved to Split, Croatia, where he trained under Vedran Martić, Goran Ivanišević's former coach. Later, he moved to Barcelona and was coached by Galo Blanco.
Khachanov won the Under-18 European Championship title in Switzerland in July 2013. Together with Andrey Rublev he won a silver medal in doubles at the 2014 Summer Youth Olympics. They lost in the final to Brazilian players Orlando Luz and Marcelo Zormann.
2013–15: Davis Cup debut, first Future & Challenger titles
Still as under 18, Khachanov made his ITF Circuit debut at the $15K event in Russia, losing his first match against compatriot Alexey Vatutin. In September of the following year, he got a wildcard for his first ATP Tour participation at the St. Petersburg Open. There he recorded his first win by defeating Victor Hănescu in the first round. He then faced Lukáš Rosol, but lost in straight sets. A month later he got another wildcard, for the Kremlin Cup. Things got even better there, as he defeated Albert Ramos Vinolas and top 30 Janko Tipsarević. In the next round he lost to Ivo Karlović. The following week he made his debut for Russia at the Davis Cup, and at age 17 years and 157 days he became the youngest Russian tennis player in the pro series, surpassing Mikhail Youzhny. There, he defeated Dean O'Brien of South Africa to help Russia advance in the 2013 Davis Cup Europe/Africa Zone Group I. He finished the season by playing at the two Challengers, reaching the quarterfinal in Geneva and then the first round in Helsinki.
After a slow start at the Chennai Open and two lower-ITF tournaments, Khachanov then played at the Davis Cup. He lost to Jerzy Janowicz of Poland in the first round of the 2014 Davis Cup Europe/Africa Zone Group I. He then continued with no success at one ITF event and Challenger events in Kazakhstan. However, he then made his Masters debut, after receiving a wildcard entry to the 2014 Miami Open, but lost in the first round to Daniel Gimeno Traver. In August, he achieved his first significant result, winning his first ITF title at the $15K event in Kaohsiung. Two weeks later, he won another ITF title at the $15K event in Mulhouse. For the second year in a row, he got a wildcard for the Kremlin Cup, but again lost in the first round.
Despite playing at a few ATP Tour events in previous years, in 2015 Khachanov played mostly at ITF and Challenger tournaments. In the first half of the year, he won two $10K/15K events in France, both in March. In April he reached the semifinal and won the title at the $15K events in Uzbekistan. After that at the Challengers, in June, he advanced to the quarterfinal in Fergana and then the semifinal in Marburg. His next step was Wimbledon, in his first Grand Slam qualification appearance. He lost in the first round of qualifications. Later, at the US Open, he also failed to qualify for the main draw, this time losing in the second round of qualifications. In mid-July, he faced Pablo Andújar in the second round of the 2015 Davis Cup Europe/Africa Zone Group I. He lost that match in three sets. In September, Khachanov won his first ATP Challenger Tour title in Istanbul, where he was unseeded. In the final he defeated top seed Sergiy Stakhovsky. He followed up this performance and finished the year with four consecutive Challenger quarterfinals, in Mons, Rennes, Brest and Mouilleron-le-Captif.
2016: First ATP title, Major debut
Khachanov had a slow start in 2016 with only a first round at the Chennai Open and the final stage of Australian Open qualifications, as well as failing to reach the main draw at Open Sud de France and Open 13. His following matches were on the Challenger Tour, making it to the quarterfinal in Cherbourg and later the final of Jönköping and the quarterfinal in Kazan. He then entered the qualifications for Monte Carlo as his first clay Masters 1000 appearance. He lost to Taro Daniel in the first round. The following week he qualified for the Barcelona Open, beating Ramkumar Ramanathan and Marco Trungelliti. In his first-round match he came back from a set down to beat Aljaž Bedene. In the second round he beat fifth seed Roberto Bautista Agut, also in three sets. He eventually lost in the third round to the eleventh seed Alexandr Dolgopolov. After that he played at the Istanbul Open as a wildcard player. In his first match, he beat Aljaž Bedene for the second time in the month. In the following round, he lost to Albert Ramos Vinolas, despite winning the first set. He then at Challengers reached the quarterfinal in Qarshi and won the title in Samarkand the following week.
Playing in the qualification of the French Open, Khachanov completed his appearances at all four Grand Slams, but with no qualifications into the main draw. Two Challenger semifinals in Prostějov and Moscow followed, as well as another loss in the qualifications of Wimbledon. In July, at the Kitzbühel Open, he defeated Filippo Volandri and Philipp Kohlscreiber to reach his first ATP Tour quarterfinal since the 2013 Kremlin Cup, before losing to Dušan Lajović.
At the US Open, he made his main draw debut after passing the qualifications. In the first round he recorded his first Grand Slam win, over Thomas Fabbiano, but lost in the second round to Kei Nishikori. After that, he lost in the first round of the St. Petersburg Open to Alexander Zverev. However, he progressed further the following week at the 2016 Chengdu Open. He defeated João Sousa, Adrian Mannarino, Feliciano López and Victor Troicki to reach his first ATP Tour final. By reaching an ATP singles final, Khachanov became the first Russian in an ATP Tour final since Mikhail Youzhny, who beat David Ferrer in the final at the 2013 Valencia Open 500. Khachanov won his first ATP tournament there, beating Albert Ramos Viñolas in three sets. He finished the year with his first ATP 500 quarterfinal run at the Vienna Open, where he recorded wins over Andreas Seppi and Nikoloz Basilashvili, before Ivo Karlović defeated him.
2017: First top 10 win, first Major fourth round
Thanks to big progress in the past, he was now able to avoid qualifications. He started the year with a win at the Qatar Open, but then lost to Ivo Karlović in two tie breaks. He performed no better at the following Auckland Open, losing in the first round to Yen-Hsun Lu. He then made his main-draw debut at the Australian Open. His first opponent was Adrian Mannarino, whom Khachanov defeated in four sets. Against Jack Sock in the following round, he attempted to reach his first Grand Slam third round, but without success. His next step was participating at the Davis Cup against Serbia in the World Group. He lost his match against Viktor Troicki in five sets. Losses then continued for the next four tournaments: Open Sud de France, Rotterdam Open, Open 13 and Dubai Championships. At the Indian Wells, he passed the first round after defeating Tommy Robredo. In the following round, he lost to David Goffin.