Russian tennis player Andrei Chesnokov was shot twice on Sunday after a dispute in a Ukrainian restaurant turned violent, local media reported.

Chesnokov, formerly the world's number nine men's tennis player, was treated in hospital but his life was not in danger, Russian news agencies said.

"The Russian sportsman was relaxing in a restaurant with a friend when, after a disagreement, an unknown man shot him several times with rubber bullets," RIA Novosti news agency quoted a spokesman for the Ukrainian police as saying.

Ukrainian officials were not immediately available for comment on the reports of the shooting, which took place in the early hours of Sunday in the central Ukrainian city of Dnipropetrovsk.

The highlight of Chesnokov's career was in 1989, when he reached the semi-finals of the French Open. He also won seven less well-known singles events.

The 39-year-old retired from the professional tour in 1999, although Russian sports paper Sovietsky Sport reported he had been in Dnipropetrovsk to play in a local tournament.