PARIS/MOSCOW, June 1 (RIA Novosti) - Boris Yeltsin, Russia's tennis-loving first president, arrived in Paris Thursday to cheer on Russian tennis players at the French Open, his press secretary said.
Vladimir Shevchenko said Yeltsin and his wife, Naina, had been invited to the French capital by President Jacques Chirac and they would have dinner with him later.
The former president, who was well known during his time as Russian leader for taking to the courts, will watch the eight remaining Russian players at Roland Garros on June 2-3 in their bid to progress in the season's first Grand Slam tournament.
The remaining Russians in the $18.2-million competition are 2004 champion Anastasia Myskina and defeated finalist from the same year Yelena Dementyeva, ex-world no.1 Maria Sharapova, former U.S. Open champion Svetlana Kuznetsova, Dinara Safina, Maria Kirilenko, Dmitry Tursunov and Nikolai Davydenko.
