alysha
Junior Member
maybe we'll wake up and itll all just be a dream
Posts: 198
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Post by alysha on Mar 30, 2005 6:16:37 GMT 3
thank yall
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Post by annie on Mar 30, 2005 9:41:11 GMT 3
a little official post on the official site about Marat's comments on the Nasdaq and his plans for the near future. Lucky Spanish fans wait for the man!!!! LOL
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Saskia
Full Member
A boomerang that doesn't come back is called a stick ;-)
Posts: 227
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Post by Saskia on Apr 2, 2005 14:07:50 GMT 3
Don't know i fthis is posted somewhere, but I ran into it and thought it might be interesting to read.
Safin can't help himself
By Barry Flatman
April 2, 2005
THERE are those who believe that Marat Safin is the most sublime of tennis talents and the player best equipped to wage a serious threat to the imperious Roger Federer.
Others genuinely fear for the Russian's sanity, so often does his inner psyche suffer peaks and troughs that don't affect his peers.
Both schools of thought hoped that his triumph in the Australian Open, which included a truly epic semi-final victory over Federer followed by an emphatic win over Lleyton Hewitt to capture a long overdue second major title, would finally exorcise the demons that have tormented Safin for so long.
Two months on from his Melbourne victory, however, such expectations seem to have been blown away. A first-round exit in Dubai has been followed by disappointing third-round exits at the prestigious Masters Series events in Indian Wells and Miami.
Are those wondrous few days at Melbourne Park really still so fresh in the memory? Listening to Safin's lament, it seems as though it all happened an age ago.
"Everything is becoming more difficult," Safin moans with the hang-dog look of a man struggling to recollect what it's like to win a match, let alone lift major prizes.
"It's difficult to go out there on court without the confidence, but it's almost inevitable. After Australia, there was always going to be a period when I went downhill again."
Less tangled minds than Safin's would have sat back for a week or so after winning the year's opening major event, savoured every aspect of what he had achieved and then used it as a platform of self-esteem from which to build. But not this young man; he is almost using the trophy as a weight to drag himself down in self-doubt.
"I am not like Roger (Federer)," insisted Safin, apparently paying no heed to the five-set victory he scored against the Swiss. "He's way too high and has all the skills. Even when he is not playing well, he has enough feeling and talent to cover it up. Me, when I'm not playing well, I just suffer a little bit more and my game sinks because most of the time it's a risk."
Unlike Federer, who was utterly pragmatic after his loss in Australia and has regrouped superbly to collect successive titles in Rotterdam, Dubai and, most recently, Indian Wells, a handful of post-Melbourne defeats were all that was required to wreck Safin's poise.
Like many artists before him, Safin seemed to be set on a course of self-deprecation. "I'm a perfectionist," he claimed. "It's really difficult for me, you know, to admit or to accept that I'm not playing really well."
Had his Miami Masters opener against Irakli Labadze ended in another defeat instead of the extremely close 6-4 2-6 7-6 win, there is no telling how much Safin would have sunk. After all, he was facing the world's No.105-ranked player, a man who really does have problems; Labadze has a kidney stone that regularly demands the strongest of painkillers, not to mention a subpoena from an Austrian court on the issue of possible match-fixing.
Safin, despite winning his first major title at the 2000 US Open, has long struggled with simply existing in America.
He has never progressed past the third round in seven attempts at Indian Wells, and apart from once making it to the quarter-finals, he has been similarly ineffectual in Miami.
Repeatedly he has tried different approaches to overcome his alien feelings. Hotels have varied, along with the size of his travelling entourage. This year Safin was attempting to prove the more the merrier.
In an attempt to get back to family values, he has his girlfriend, his mother, Rausa, and his younger sister Dinara (a competitor on the WTA Tour) along for company, as well as coach Peter Lundgren and fitness trainer Walt Lammers.
"Everybody's here on my shoulders because I need the support," he said. "There are times when you bring people you know to carry you, and that's what I'm trying. If that doesn't work, next time I'll try something different again."
Yet all the regular hallmarks of the 25-year-old's frustrations have been there to see. He mangled two racquets after losing his temper in one match, and then ripped his shirt down the line of his breastbone before tugging it off his shoulders and tossing it away on the court in disgust. Of course he received the obligatory warning for his behaviour; it wouldn't be a true Safin struggle without a little enforced discipline thrown in.
The continuing disappointment is that he needs to resort to such indiscretions. We hoped that Australia would represent a new dawn for this undeniably hugely talented individual. Sadly, that doesn't seem to be the case.
The Times
The Australian
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Karen
Full Member
Posts: 493
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Post by Karen on Apr 2, 2005 20:29:01 GMT 3
I just don't understand why he's so hard on himself? Why he needs so much support to help him get through tournaments. There has to be a side of Marat we will never understand I guess. It just makes me want to grab him and start shake him until he believes in himself. It's frustrating me to read these things so I can't imagine what's in his head right now. I just don't get it, why he's so down on himself.
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Post by SAFINNO1 on Apr 2, 2005 23:03:57 GMT 3
It just makes me want to grab him and start shake him until he believes in himself. It's frustrating me to read these things . I know how you feel, but i think marat is a kinda guy that will admit he played a terrible game and doing that you know that the game is history is look forward (at his level anyway) he knows he is going to get another chance(God Willing) dont wanna jinx him. |
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Post by tall_one on Apr 2, 2005 23:20:27 GMT 3
I just don't understand why he's so hard on himself? Why he needs so much support to help him get through tournaments. There has to be a side of Marat we will never understand I guess. It just makes me want to grab him and start shake him until he believes in himself. It's frustrating me to read these things so I can't imagine what's in his head right now. I just don't get it, why he's so down on himself. it is just the way he is, all of us have personality traits that we just can't change - some people are shy, some can't shut up, some believe in themselves, some don't. You can't change personalities by snapping your fingers and Marat's personality sure isn't going to change simply because he won another slam. Periods like this are going to happen, all we can do is just hope that the happen at the right time - the past few weeks have been a good time for them to happen. He has gotten it out of his system and now he can get refocused and hopefully do well at RG. Marat puts way too much pressure on himself to live up to the potential the journalist (and some of his fans) seem to think he should be reaching and he doesn't seem to deal with that pressure very well. |
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Post by ARMgirl55 on Apr 2, 2005 23:51:52 GMT 3
I totally agree with you , I don't understand too. He seems so sure in himself in his personal life and life offcourt. I just don't understand why he cant realize that he is a great tennis player. Well I guess tall-one is right people do have different characters and marat has two .lol.
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Karen
Full Member
Posts: 493
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Post by Karen on Apr 3, 2005 2:40:33 GMT 3
Marat puts way too much pressure on himself to live up to the potential the journalist (and some of his fans) seem to think he should be reaching and he doesn't seem to deal with that pressure very well. That does explain a lot. I know how he feels about the media, can't blame him there. I was thinking that he was under pressure for some reason but I had forgotten about those journalist's. Oh, how I can't stand SOME of those journys. |
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Post by SAFINNO1 on Apr 3, 2005 18:17:57 GMT 3
That does explain a lot. I know how he feels about the media,. why have you had any media attraction? |
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Post by SAFINNO1 on Apr 3, 2005 18:32:03 GMT 3
BTW if rafa wins he will overtake Marat into 3rd place as he is 8 or so point behind
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alysha
Junior Member
maybe we'll wake up and itll all just be a dream
Posts: 198
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Post by alysha on Apr 3, 2005 21:03:25 GMT 3
so as of right now rafael is up 62 76 21...gahh yess he was down 52 in the second and came ack after federer missed a smash overhead and easy volleyy...cmon nadaaaaallll
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Post by SAFINNO1 on Apr 3, 2005 23:09:52 GMT 3
Everyone in the stadium was cheering him but unfortunately he faded in the end, well done Roger ,hard luck Nadal 2-6 6-7 7-6 6-3 6-1 |
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Post by SAFINNO1 on Apr 3, 2005 23:10:39 GMT 3
Everyone in the stadium was cheering him but unfortunately he faded in the end, well done Roger ,hard luck Nadal 2-6 6-7 7-6 6-3 6-1 |
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Post by Teresa on Apr 3, 2005 23:14:58 GMT 3
Safin can't help himself By Barry Flatman April 2, 2005 BTW is it not Landers who is Lammers? and further more..... did Marat not end his realationship with Walt after the AO? Did I miss something in the match against Hrbaty??Did Marat really rip his shirt ? I thought it was Ljubicic who ripped his shirt after he lost to Marat? But yeah, Marat is really to hard on himself, I hate to see and hear him so 'down' on himself and his ability. But this is nothing new, and doubt this is about to change anytime soon. Have to agree with Ruth, some pages back, Marat will settle now he is back in Europe, he likes the clay, he really wants to do well at RG, he is more comfortable, and so hopefully he will achieve solid, positive and consistent results over the next couple of weeks on the clay in the lead up to RG |
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Post by Teresa on Apr 3, 2005 23:25:56 GMT 3
What a disappointment............argh   i really really thought Nadal had Roger beat. Sorry Pau  I really really was hoping Nadal would beat Roger, really because I want some of this Roger rivalry taken away from Marat, you know some of the pressure taken off. It was really good to see Roger make sooooooo many unforced errors and double faults, wow, there were many. For me when Nadal got that bad line call in the 3rd set, when he had Roger at Love 30, he had a chance to break, the ball was definately out, had he not gotten this wrong call I feel sure he would have gone on to win in the 3 sets. In the 5th set I felt like Nadal just ran out of gas, and not so much that Roger improved, now way. Anyway..........its was good to see that there are others out there, Nadal and Ivan, who like Marat who are not intimidated by Roger. |
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who is Lammers?
i really really thought Nadal had Roger beat. Sorry Pau 