That's the lady: Gukhman and Kozlovsky presented a new sports drama

Fedor Bondarchuk, Polina Gukhman, Danila Kozlovsky, Lisa Shakira and other stars of Russian cinema presented the new sports drama "The First Racket". The secular premiere of the series took place on April 29 at the Khudozhestvenny cinema in Moscow. The heroes of Russian sports became special guests of the closed screening. What a trick Polina Gukhman went to for the role, why some of the footage remained unreleased and what football player Pavel Pogrebnyak dreams of — in the Izvestia report from the red carpet.

"At the auditions, I said that I'm awesome at playing tennis."

In the center of the plot of the sports drama "The First Racket" is an ordinary girl Katya, who has problems with anger control. She's bold and doesn't go into her pocket for a word, and if anything, she can slap her cheeks. The teenager had to grow fangs early: because of her wayward mother, she was responsible for raising her younger brother. You have to scrape together a living on the tennis court: she beats the rich for money. There she is noticed by the outstanding dream coach Igor, who has already traveled all over the country in search of a genius - Mozart in the world of sports.

In the role of an athlete, one of the most sought-after actresses of her generation, 20-year-old Polina Gukhman. The viewer remembers her from the teenage melodrama "14+. Continuation", the series "Combination", the image of a Mouse in the recent "Alice in Wonderland". Fans of the theater — based on Danil Chashchin's hit play "Karenina". The third season of "Fisher", where Gukhman plays the main role, will soon be added to the portfolio. Because of an innocent deception for the "First Racket", she had to master this sport from scratch.

"At the auditions, I said that I was awesome at playing tennis, but in fact I had never held a racket in my hands," Polina confessed to Izvestia before the show.

At the premiere, she appeared in the company of a young man, Igor Vernik's son Grigory, also an actor. He is on the same team as Joseph Prigozhin, who takes pictures of his wife Valeria on his phone at every social event while she poses for photographers on the red carpet. So while Gukhman was talking to reporters, Wernick was proudly walking around with a smartphone.

Kozlovsky did not come to the premiere

Danila Kozlovsky played the role of coach. This is one of his first roles in Russian cinema over the past few years. But to the disappointment of the press, he did not appear at the screening, only recorded a joking video message for the first audience.

In the story, Kozlovsky's character and his new ward begin their journey to world fame. Intrigues and setups await the coach. Katya's rivalry is not only on the court: in the world of big—time sports, she will have to face social inequality and bullying. The culmination of the story is the Masters match in the UAE. Part of the project was filmed in Dubai. The team was there at a time of geopolitical tension, when there was a conflict between the United States and Iran.

— We took them out a little bit at a time, somehow we got out. We managed to shoot almost everything," director Evgeny Korchagin recalled in an interview with Izvestia.

According to his idea, the cast included active athletes.

— Initially, it was my decision to shoot as much live tennis as possible, real equipment, and take people who can hold a racket. Alina Yuneva played Ksenia Shablinskaya, a professional tennis player, a junior, who specifically went to an acting coach," said the director.

However, the actual game of tennis and the game in the framework of the filming process are fundamentally different things.

— Very often we shot something without the ball, so as not to get into the camera. It was a bit difficult," said actress Valentina Malygina, who plays the daughter of Kozlovsky's character, who is also a tennis player.

Shamil Tarpishchev, coach and president of the Tennis Federation, became a consultant to the project. He also attended the premiere.

— I am glad that such a film took place! Tennis deserves it. In 2025, we won 686 international tournaments in 69 countries. We are optimistic about tennis," he said.

Former world number two Svetlana Kuznetsova came to support the project. Football player Pavel Pogrebnyak turned out to be an unexpected tennis fan.

— I really like lawn tennis. If I hadn't become a football player, I might have been playing tennis. I follow all the tournaments, our athletes. I'm on topic. And my son plays tennis. My dream is to see him at a Grand Slam somewhere," Pogrebnyak told Izvestia.

Fyodor Bondarchuk, Lisa Shakira, Vladimir Mishukov, Dmitry Chebotarev, Khetag Khinchagov, and Aglaya Tarasova also attended the private screening. The online premiere of the series will take place at the Wink Cinema on April 30.