Alex Ovechkin is already the father of two adorable children, but recently, he admitted he hopes to have an even bigger family.
While speaking to Hello Magazine Russia in a Russian language interview, Ovechkin said that he hopes that he and his wife Nastya have two more kids.
“To have at least five of us (in the family), and preferably six, this is my dream,” Ovechkin said via a Google Translation.
Three years ago, when the couple was previously interviewed by the outlet, Nastya said they hoped the Ovechkin family would be four members large by the next time they all chatted, which ended up being true.
Both mom and dad made sure to gush about their two sons, too, four-year-old Sergei and two-year-old Ilya. Sergei is already a prodigy at hockey, but neither parent has made the sport a requirement for either child.
“Sergei really likes hockey, but we never forced him to play,” Nastya said in the interview.
“Yes, we are not tied to any kind of sport,” Alex added. “Whatever he chooses, he chooses. As soon as he began to walk well, he almost immediately picked up a stick. We even have a video of him tossing the puck on the hook at two years old, it flips in the air, and he catches it. Even adults do not always succeed in this trick.”
Nastya observed that Sergei seeing his dad live his life as a professional hockey player made him instantly exposed and intrigued by the sport.
“Of course, dad played a big role here,” Nastya said. “Sergei has been going to matches since he was a baby, he is very interested in it. He is a sports boy with us: he loves football, tennis is easy for him, and, of course, his grandmother plays basketball with him.”
Tatyana Ovechkina is a two-time Olympic gold medalist in basketball.
According to the two parents, Sergei is more introverted and serious, but his personality comes out around people he knows.
“[O]ur friends and relatives always say that he is well-mannered, friendly, and developed beyond his years,” Nastya said. “He is a little shy, but if he understands that a person can be trusted, then he immediately liberates himself. That is why he loves it very much when our friends come to us.”
“He is also a mountain for his brother,” Alex said. “We recently vacationed in Turkey, and the sons were with my mom in the kids club. A boy came up and wanted to take a toy from Ilya. At that moment, Serezha stood in front of him and began to shout: ‘Don’t you dare touch my brother!’ Although the boy was older than him. So Seryozha can stand up not only for himself, but also for Ilya.”
While the two brothers love each other, that doesn’t mean they don’t have their moments.
“Sergei is very affectionate towards Ilya, he often comes up to hug him, kiss him, all the time he says, ‘You are my beloved brother’, and Ilya, one might say, pushes him away. He does not like these tendernesses very much,” Nastya said smiling
“Ilya always needs exactly the toy that Sergei has, although we try to buy them everything the same,” Alex said. “I think as soon as Ilya begins to speak better, it will be easier for them to negotiate, and there will be fewer quarrels.”
Nastya also relayed to the magazine that the couple tried to put Sergei into school last year while they were in the United States, but eventually had to withdraw him from class.
“Many warned me that at first, children can cry when their mother leaves, but then they are distracted, and everything is fine,” Nastya said. “I brought Sergei, and left, but after 40 minutes they called me and said, ‘He is hysterical, come back.’ When I told my mother-in-law about this, she laughed and replied, ‘Sasha was exactly the same!'”
Photo courtesy of @nastyashubskaya/Instagram
