Interview with local Asheville tennis pro Alex Zaluzhnyy, originally from Ukraine
Alex Zaluzhnyy
Crimean Champagne is the best. Sacramento sounds sexy in Russian. Vodka is for shots not sipping. You can no longer breathe normally, for fear of not being able to stop the war. Enjoy and absorb this story from local Asheville tennis pro Alex Zaluzhnyy, originally from Ukraine.
Alex, now age 63, came to Asheville 21 years ago and now lives here along with his girlfriend, daughter and two grandsons.
He played for the former Soviet Union in the 1970s on the junior tour. At that time, tennis was not an Olympic sport and was only for aristocrats in the Soviet Union. There were no clubs, it was only supported by the government. Kids could play if they wanted, similar to doing art or music, but all of these required money. Alex’s first sport was swimming, he says he was not very good. His talents lay with tennis and he was selected to play for the Soviet Union.
In the Soviet Union, if you played well you could travel wherever you wanted. The government decided whether you would play and tried to arrange winning matches... This article from NY Times in 1976, Tennis in the Soviet Style, perfectly describes what Alex remembers.
He played in the Championship of Europe twice, starting at age 16 until he was 20. He won a Monte Carlo tournament, made a final in Europe, and played in doubles years later in Poland, Bulgaria, and other socialist states. He lived in modern day Lviv and represented Ukraine, a Soviet Republic at the time. He played with German tennis player Sascha Zverev's father for a national team.
He left Ukraine for a while, working in Germany as a tennis pro, and played in the pro tennis league. His wife during that time did not want to stay so he went back to Ukraine. He lost his work visa for Germany, and was in Ukraine when the Soviet Union collapsed in the 1990s.
His daughter was 17 when this happened, and part of his decision-making process to leave involved prioritizing their daughter’s education. Other contributing factors weighed heavily - it was a difficult time in Ukraine, the economy faltered after the collapse of the Soviet Union. His work, his job was gone. The corruption was intense. The living conditions were rough. He lost the ability to heat his tennis clinic to stay warm so demand diminished for lessons. He was pushed to clean store floors for a job, and was still young, around age 40.
He tried to move to New Zealand, then Canada, but the entry requirements were too tough. He was able to get a green card for the US 21 years ago, and he and his family gave that a try.
How did he pick Asheville? When he received a green card, they had a short time to make a decision. He had friends who worked in NYC and Miami, but he didn’t want a big city. His wife opened a map of America and pointed, with her eyes closed. Her finger landed on Sacramento, which he says sounds very sexy in Russian. But it was too big a city for him.
His journey to Asheville ended up being as many things are, through connections and word of mouth. Someone at his dentist’s office went to school with his wife and had a sister in small town Asheville. They helped organize his family getting here and assured them we have tennis clubs. He started working at Asheville Racquet Club and 21 years later is the oldest employee, lasting through two different owners.
Alex’s daughter was 19 when they came to the US. She worked to receive her PhD and is a professor at UNC Chapel Hill. She lives in Asheville now, with her husband and two sons. One of Alex’s grandsons comes to play tennis, but he hates tennis like Alex hated playing piano when his mother taught him as a child.
His parents have both passed, and he has only distant relatives in Crimea, and in eastern Ukraine. Several of his relatives live on farms - one cousin stayed behind to take care of his brother who is sick. They are hoping they will not be killed.
Alex usually goes to Ukraine each summer for vacation to see family and friends when things are less busy at work. He still has a flat from his mother, and is unsure of its status with the bombings and lootings.
He talks to his friends in Ukraine on the weekends. They were all in shock when the invasion began. For the first three days after Russia invaded it was difficult for him to function and work under the stress.
His contacts in Ukraine have lost their jobs. There is no work to go to. Everyone able has been called to stay to help fight. Some older people stayed to wait. Even the Ukrainian tennis star Sergiy Stakhovsky stayed to fight, put on a uniform and went to war.
Alex appreciates the world's support for Ukraine, but feels they need more assistance with air defense. He understands the political complications of that, but Russia has the reserve and resources to prolong the fighting.
He says most Russians do not live well compared to Americans. They have nothing to lose in the deep villages in Russia. They don’t have gas nor wood for fires, sometimes no phone connection, and only one TV station which is filled with propaganda. He thinks sanctions will work but they will take time. He worries if Putin is not stopped now, he will come for the Baltic states as well.
Alex laments, you can no longer breathe normally, for fear of not being able to stop the war. He listens to the Russian radio in his car on his phone - listens for one minute and it’s enough for him. Russia says it’s white, the world says it’s black. He says people are crazy and believe America is hell. Russia thinks they are correct and everyone else is not.
Despite the protests we hear about in the US news that are happening in Russia, he questions their effectiveness in the long-term. Russians have never known what democracy is enough to fight for it, they’ve never even smelled it. Their reality is whatever the czar or general secretary says. If a Russian says one thing against the army or government, they go to jail. He says they never fight.
Alex describes that when the invasion started, Putin thought Eastern Ukrainians would support him. He thought Russia would be welcomed with open arms, like bread and salt, a phrase and food tradition meaning hospitality and long friendship. The problem is that the Russians came in like the enemy and on the third day decided they would kill civilians. Eastern Ukraine speaks the same language as Russia but now treats them as the enemy.
We asked Alex if there was anything about Asheville that reminds him of home…nothing. The trees are different, the architecture, even when he lived in Ukraine the tennis balls were different. They were white or pink.
Favorite vodka that he can get here? Any! There are so many kinds. Vodka is not like whiskey or rum or wine, it’s not meant to be drunk like these. Vodka is not for tasting, but for use as a shot. He’s had our moonshine and says it’s similar to vodka where there’s no smell.
When he visited Ukraine in the summers, he would always bring back Champagne from Crimea. That is his daughter’s favorite. When Ukraine lost Crimea, they lost the Champagne.
Alex says what has kept him in Asheville are the people. Alex’s friend Ned Cabaniss helped to translate when Alex got excited or the topics were difficult. Ned was at Alex’s first lesson 21 years ago and speaks Russian from his days in the military. He was the only one who could understand him when Alex first arrived, and then he brought his friends to learn tennis from Alex and their friendship has become history now. Alex himself speaks Polish, German, Ukrainian, Russian, and now a hearty English.
______________________________________________________________________________
This interview was conducted by Jeff Joyce, past-President of Asheville Tennis Association (ATA) and Shelley McNeill, ATA Secretary. Our gratitude goes to Ned Cabaniss for his translation assistance, and most warmly to Alex Zaluzhnyy who graciously shared his story with us.