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Post by jenhatter06 on Jul 3, 2008 19:02:33 GMT 3
5-Set Marathon Battle of the Veterans .... isn't over YET!! 2 hours of play last night, plus 3 hours today (including a short rain delay) -- it 6-all Deuce in the final set, when it started absolutely POURING for the first time this tournament ... (and Bob & Mike are Match Point down (!) in their doubles semi -- talk about bad timing -- eeep) no matter what happens with Rainer-Arnaud ... given the fatigue factor (and Rafa's dominance), you feel that Rafa is gonna tear whoever to pieces  and Marat better not start tomorrow the way he did yesterday -- he may not get the benefit of a rain delay -- otherwise Fed will tear him up too  hope for a decent match -- at least give Fed a run for a money for some of it  |
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Post by jenhatter06 on Jul 3, 2008 19:23:27 GMT 3
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Post by justsafin on Jul 3, 2008 19:53:19 GMT 3
Thanks so much for the vid, jenhatter!! ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D It's interesting to watch and boy, Marat is way too hot for my eyes!! ;D ;D I didn't even blink at all, wide open thru out! Also it's good to know he is relaxed and smiling with cute dimples, still has his own Maratish sense of humor, is content with the results in Wimby so far, will stick around for a few more years ;D, gives big credits to Gumy and acknowledges/appreciates Roger's great achievements in tennis. ps: Is there anyway to download it? |
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Post by jenhatter06 on Jul 3, 2008 20:18:26 GMT 3
ps: Is there anyway to download it? i don't think so, which is a shame ... *crosses fingers* maybe someone watching it last night will have recorded it and stick it up on youtube  (i missed it, so I was glad that they've been putting the vids on the site) |
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Post by sabz on Jul 3, 2008 20:21:50 GMT 3
thanks for the vid - he seems really relaxed which is good! loved the comment "hopefully he has an argument with his girlfriend" ;D loved what he was wearing - chair looked too low for him though lol and what was with the british pub setting?  |
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Post by sabz on Jul 3, 2008 20:25:54 GMT 3
really interesting article on wimbledon website:
Safin Blasts Back From the Past
The big buzz surrounding the build-up to Wimbledon was which half of the draw Novak Djokovic would find himself in. The man who had broken the Federer-Nadal duopoly was very much the Djoker in the pack, capable of knocking off either the undisputed world No. 1 or the undisputed world No. 2 in the semis, or so the theory went.
And then along came Marat Safin, or rather back came Marat Safin – the last man to win a Grand Slam before the Hispano-Swiss hegemony was established (and of course before Djokovic came along and upset the apple-cart in Melbourne this year).
The Australian Open was where Safin had what cynics believed would be his final hurrah. The lofty (6’4”/1.93m) Russian overcame Lleyton Hewitt in the 2005 final, rounding off an awful 18-month spell blighted by injury but which also ushered in what many thought was a terminal decline.
Since that victory, he had not gone beyond the fourth round of any of the Slams, and any thoughts of Wimbledon glory – where he had fallen in the third round or earlier in seven out of eight attempts – were dismissed as a pipe dream.
And then the 28-year-old went and beat Djokovic. In the second round. In straight sets. He then went on to add four more seeds to his list of victims – No. 29 Andreas Seppi, No.13 Stanislas Wawrinka and No.31 Feliciano Lopez, to the delight of his semi-final opponent.
“Marat and I know each other well,” said Federer after his second round win over Robin Soderling. “We trained lots together in Paris and it’s always nice to see him. I’m glad he’s done well. This is a big tournament and he’s a big player, so it’s great for him.
“It’s amazing that he’s come good on grass. Mind you, I played him here last year in the third round and that was tough [Federer won 6-1, 6-4, 7-6] and at Halle [on grass in 2005, Federer won 6-4, 6-7, 6-4].
“Marat’s one of the bigger players, along with Ferrero, Roddick, Hewitt. These guys who have been No. 1 in the world and have won Grand Slams, you can take them like they are No. 1 in some ways because one day anybody can play great, especially the former greats like them. So I never looked at Marat like No. 89 in the world. He’s finally showing again what he can do.”
Federer leads the head-to-head 8-2, with a 2-0 advantage on grass – a surface on which he is unbeaten in 64 matches, as compared with Safin, who coming into the tournament had only played 38 times on the surface, winning just over half (21). The Russian reckons that SW19’s lawns are getting slower, however, and with the majority of players rarely venturing beyond the baseline, he is enjoying a sudden and unexpected Indian summer, which he attributes to a change in his entourage.
“Nothing worked until I changed the coach,” said Safin of his new mentor Hernan Gumy. “I’d been losing first rounds left and right. I was really desperate and I didn’t know what to do. Then all of a sudden just out of nowhere I started to play better in the clay court season and the confidence started to come.”
He is also a member of the mutual respect society (as illustrated by Federer’s quotes above). “I’m playing in the semi-finals but that doesn’t mean that I have a chance there, because the guy has won how many times already here?” said Safin. “It’s my first semi-final, so the levels are a little bit different. I think it would be just a little bit too difficult for me to beat him.”
Self-effacing stuff from Safin, but Federer did not win five consecutive Wimbledon titles by underestimating his opponents – particularly ones capable of beating Djokovic in straight sets.
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Post by jenhatter06 on Jul 3, 2008 20:28:02 GMT 3
and what was with the british pub setting? that's just been their little set-up for the program -- who knows who thought of that, LOL ..... and the rain stops, they play for 5 minutes and Rainer wins 8-6 in the 5th! |
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Post by sabz on Jul 3, 2008 20:31:59 GMT 3
yay for rainer - a repeat of euro08 footie lol - germany vs spain - and i think the outcome will be the same rafa must love the fact that the match lasted this long |
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Post by alesalessandra on Jul 3, 2008 21:27:49 GMT 3
Still thinking that it is a dream!! lots of articles on him, nice!!  But I think that not even the best and well informed reporter can describe how all the fans, haging in here or there for a long time, are feeling now!! I was reading all the posts and articles and i'm just glad to be here sharing this moment with all!! And finally tomorrow, after hundreds of heart attacks in front of a pc fowlloing Sb we will get the chance to see him playing live on real time!! ;D DAVAI MARAT!! Hugs to all!!  |
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Post by Alya10 on Jul 3, 2008 21:58:53 GMT 3
OOP is out. Centre Court - 1.00 pm start Roger Federer vs Marat Safin followed by Rainer Schuttler vs Rafael Nadal Davai Maratika, it's all gain now |
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Post by sabz on Jul 4, 2008 0:08:56 GMT 3
to get us in the mood.........like we need it! Day 11 Preview Will the men's singles final end up as predictable as the women's? With the Williamses in possession of their first-class boarding cards for Saturday on Centre Court, it is now up to Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal to confirm, if confirmation were necessary, that they are the world's best two male tennis players. Or, perhaps more accurately, it is up to maverick Marat Safin and Germany's Rainer Schuettler, at 32 the oldest of the semi-finalists, to overturn what would be a very large apple cart. It is mightily difficult to see anything other than a Federer-Nadal clash on the ultimate day of the tournament, and it would be a final with so many fascinating aspects. Can Federer win a sixth straight title? Will Nadal, the Rocky Marciano of the fuzzy ball game, sock it to the Swiss? But first, Safin and Schuettler are necessarily permitted their own tilt at fame in Friday’s semi-finals. And fame is a state to which Safin, especially, is no stranger, having two Grand Slam statuettes to show for it on his trophy shelf at home in Moscow. How he wishes the shelf could also contain the dangling scalp of Federer. He has, of course, defeated the world number one, but only twice in 10 encounters, and the only one of those 10 that he will remember with a smile is the semi-final of the 2005 Australian Open. Safin scraped through 9-7 in the fifth set and went on to win the whole thing. It was a second Slam to go with his 2000 US Open, that unforgettable straight-sets humiliation of Pete Sampras that lifted him to the summit of the rankings. Talking of the 2005 Australian, that was the last time Safin won five successive matches until now. Clearly, then, Marat has suddenly found form. He has lost his way a little of late and came into Wimbledon bearing a ranking of 75 and lingering resentment about playing on grass. Little has been heard of that latter complaint over the past dozen days as Safin staged a personal re-run of All Our Yesterdays by eliminating four seeds, including the third favourite Novak Djokovic. By getting this far, Safin is guaranteed a place back in the world's top 40, and an upset over Federer would elevate him to among the leading 25. It is Safin's first Wimbledon semi-final in his ninth appearance, and by getting this far he has brushed away a few cobwebs in the Russian record books. Not many tennis followers will remember the last Russian man to light up Wimbledon: Alex Metreveli, Georgian-born and operating under the flag of the Soviet Union, was runner-up in 1973. Even so, that is better than Switzerland had managed until Federer parked his tank on the lawns of the All England Club. No man from the land of the Alps had ever done much here previously, but how Roger has made up for that. In going for his sixth straight title, he has dusted off another heap of cobwebs and old bones. Nobody has won six straight Wimbledons since William Renshaw in 1886, and Renshaw was only required by the weird regulations of those days to turn up for the following year's final rather than make it through the preceding rounds. Federer’s record is well documented, though the mathematicians among us may be a little surprised to learn that, if he wins the title again, he will equal Bjorn Borg's record of 41 consecutive victories at Wimbledon. But Borg lost the 1981 final, so shouldn't that be 42? No, because Federer received a walkover en route to the 2007 title, when Tommy Haas tore a stomach muscle, and walkovers are not counted as part of a streak. So there. Nadal comes into the other semi-final on a 23-match winning streak, on both clay and grass, and is aiming for his third consecutive Wimbledon final. How the young man from Majorca would love to add a Wimbledon championship to the four he has amassed at Roland Garros. First there is the immediate task of subjecting Schuettler to his pugilistic approach. Nadal leads their personal head-to-head series by three wins to one, Schuettler's victory having come four years ago against an 18-year-old Nadal. Ranked at 94, Schuettler is Wimbledon's lowest-rated semi-finalist since Goran Ivanisevic, a wild card and 125th in the world, went on so memorably to lift the title in 2001. But, of course, this particular fortnight, Schuettler's finest since reaching the final of the Australian Open in 2003, will lift him comfortably back inside the top 50. All that is left to say is...... DAVAI MARAT!!! ;D |
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Post by newmaratfan on Jul 4, 2008 11:55:35 GMT 3
I´ve found that:
Marat Safin with another mountain to climb
By Jim White
Last Updated: 1:43am BST 04/07/2008
It is a multilingual place, the world of Marat Safin. On the practice courts yesterday, the Muscovite was exchanging tactics with a coach in Russian, talking to his warm-up partner in Spanish and, with the Australian veteran on the court next door, bantering in English.
"What's that show called? The reality thing you were watching in America?" the vet wanted to know.
"The Age of Love," replied Safin.
"That's your show, big fella."
Well, it isn't a bad description of the Safin orbit. This is, after all, the man who generally runs to a number of blondes in his support team, one of whom was Daria Zhukova, until she decided that the $13,185,531 he has won in his career wasn't quite enough to maintain a lifestyle and left him to buy art with Roman Abramovich. Safin is a player, in every sense of the word. Too much of a player, it has been suggested by some - including several of his previous coaches - to realise the greatness lurking within him. The 28-year-old has everything required to win every tournament he enters: a blunderbuss serve, powerful groundstrokes, a lightness of movement that belies his 6ft 4in frame. What he doesn't possess is the temperament of the man he is due to face in his first Wimbledon semi-final.
When Roger Federer turned up to practise yesterday, Safin followed his every step to the court with studied interest, as though hoping to discover in the Swiss champion's easy stroll the secret of success. Federer, meanwhile, gave him only the most cursory nod of acknowledgement, of the sort an executioner might afford his next appointment.
The two men define the opposite ends of the temperament thermometer. Federer plays as though his veins were filled with ice. Safin arrives on court apparently with molten lava bubbling round his system. In his quarter-final against Feliciano Lopez on Wednesday, raging at a false stroke, he launched a ball so far into orbit over Court No 1 it might still be up there. He has smashed more rackets than Federer has played with. And his fragility extends to self-doubt.
Last autumn he was so disillusioned with his tumble down the world rankings he gave up tennis and joined a Russian expedition seeking to conquer Cho Oyu, an 8,201-metre (26,906 feet) peak on the Nepal-Tibet border. He reached 5,000 metres, where he decided that abusing balls might not be too bad a way to make a living, turned round and headed back to Moscow to pick up his rackets again. He brought down from the mountain a new attitude to his craft.
"I started to think I'd lost it completely because of the way I played the past year. I was really desperate and didn't know what to do. Then all of a sudden, out of nowhere, I play better. I needed this," he said of his march to the semis. And it has been a march, one to rival his Himalayan adventure: the former world No 1 was ranked 75th and unseeded at the start of the fortnight, yet has dispatched Novak Djokovic among others during his assault on the summit.
The irony is, grass had never been his favourite surface. He has moaned about it ever since he first appeared here in 1998.
"Yes, s*** happens," he smiled, when asked about his sudden renaissance on the turf. "It's my first semi-final, so levels are a little bit different. To beat Federer you need to be Nadal and run around like a rabbit and hit winners from all over the place."
Federer, meanwhile, after practising with the British hopeful, Chris Eaton, was diplomacy itself when asked about his opponent. "I won't underestimate him. I know all about Marat's game. I have to be very careful about him."
It will be fire and ice on Centre Court this afternoon. And whatever might be suggested by the great sage, Derek Smalls of Spinal Tap, when the two collide, the result is unlikely to be lukewarm water.
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Post by tinuviel on Jul 4, 2008 13:06:25 GMT 3
Nice article with quite a few humerous touches - there have been some nice ones around this week. Makes a change from all the Marat bashing ones demanding retirement earlier in the year. Interesting that the writer seems to think Dasha was blonde - did I miss something there? |
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wendy
Junior Member
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Post by wendy on Jul 4, 2008 13:36:19 GMT 3
the press have been good about marat some of them has had me giggling and tinuviel you are right the press story about marat at the start of the season was terrible so it is a niece change and the london press can be so cruel and mean . .
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Post by maryb on Jul 4, 2008 13:36:43 GMT 3
Ok my Big Pixie, another day ... another match. You know the ground rules - no mumping and moaning, topspin on the ball, NO racquet smashing, serve wide when you can and approach the net (don't volley the ball straight back at that Fedifurry guy ...). Keep the shoulders loose and inhale your fairy dust between points. Your opponent apparently can be quite good on grass ... but that's your best surface, so thump him.
Right, back to painting the ceiling ... I've only got an hour to get it done.
Finally, keep the shoulders up ... and keep fighting!
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