Gerry Weber Open 2005 (Halle)

[lau]

[lau]

So, Marat won both matches ;D:
Safin d. Santoro 36 76 32 and ret. Poor Fabrice

JOHANSSON / SAFIN d. SEPPI / VICCO 62 64

[lau]

Safin set for Wimbledon despite knee injury

BERLIN, June 8 (Reuters) - Australian Open champion Marat Safin said on Wednesday he was still suffering with a troublesome knee but aimed to play at Wimbledon later this month.

The big Russian had to save a match point before reaching the quarter-finals of the Halle Open in Germany when a leg injury forced France's Fabrice Santoro to retire.

"It's still very painful, I have to think about every movement on the court, cannot hit the balls as I would like to," Safin told a news conference.

"I visited the doctor on Monday, and we'll see what's going to happen. I'll try to play Wimbledon and then I plan to rest for about a month to be fit again for the hardcourt season, because I better should be ready for that."

Second-seed Safin lost the first set 6-3 to the Frenchman who had beaten the world number five in seven of their previous eight meetings.

The Russian saved a match point in the tiebreak before winning it 9-7 and broke Santoro in the third to go 3-2 up before his opponent was forced out of the pre-Wimbledon grasscourt event.

Safin said there wasn't much he was able to change about his game to become a better grasscourt player.

"You can't change much, I cannot become a serve-and-volley player because of my style to play tennis," he said.

"So basically I have to be aggressive from the baseline, try to come in as much as I can and just keep on putting pressure. I'm not able to play serve-and-volley although this would be the perfect game on grass."

Safin will play Belgium's Olivier Rochus in the Halle quarters.

[lau]

Safin through in Halle after Santoro retires

BERLIN, June 8 (Reuters) - Second seed Marat Safin had to save a match point before reaching the quarter-finals of the Halle Open on Wednesday when a leg injury forced Fabrice Santoro to retire.

Safin, himself struggling with a knee problem, lost the first set 6-3 to the Frenchman who had beaten the Australian Open champion in seven of their previous eight meetings.

The Russian saved a match point in the tiebreak before winning it 9-7 and broke Santoro in the third to go 3-2 up before his opponent was forced out of the pre-Wimbledon grasscourt event.

Safin will play Belgium's Olivier Rochus in the quarters.

[Teresa]

Just love these pics

Molodets Marat for winning your doubles

[Teresa]

"It's still very painful, I have to think about every movement on the court, cannot hit the balls as I would like to," Safin told a news conference.

Poor Marat, I really hope he won't have to have any kind of surgery and that just rest will help.

"I visited the doctor on Monday, and we'll see what's going to happen. I'll try to play Wimbledon and then I plan to rest for about a month to be fit again for the hardcourt season, because I better should be ready for that."

Wow, rest for a month.............could that mean he won't play Davis Cup..........OMG .............please he has to
he has to be there, even if he does not play,
he has to give Annie her racquet.

He will skip Sopot I guess........but Montreal, I was so hoping he would play Montreal.

Anyway its all to early to be speculating like this, really.
Time will tell.

Thanks for posting the interview bits lau, lol I just can't get enough of those pics, the last two are great too ;D

[lau]

Interview with Marat Safin

Press-Conference with Marat Safin (RUS) after his win against Fabrice Santoro (FRA).

? It was a very good match with a very surprising end. Were you also a bit surprised??

! Yes, I was surprised, but I was waiting for that moment last two games. He wasn't able to move on any longer because he pulled the muscle in the second game of the third set. I was just waiting to do the break because I knew then he will actually retire.

? On Monday you also complained about your own injury with your knee. Is it ok?

! No, it isn't. It's still very painful, I have to think about every movement on the court, cannot hit the balls as I would like to. Every movement is painful for me, but I already want to continue playing, I want to win matches. I visited the doctor on Monday, and we'll see what's gonna happen. I'll try to play Wimbledon and then I plan to rest for about a month to be fit again for the hardcourt season, because I better should be ready for that.

? Do you think you've chances to win here?

! Well, this is just far away now to think about winning the tournament. There are a lot good players in the draw, I have a tough match next round against Rochus, he's always tough, so we'll see which way the week is gonna go.

? Do you enjoy it to play on grass?

! The way I played today was pretty good, pretty clever. But unfortunately I cannot always play this kind of tennis because sometimes the courts are in a bad shape, then there are a lot of bad bounces and you can't enjoy it. And sometimes the court is slippery, so the ball bounces very low. It depends on the court's condition to be able to enjoy it.

? What do you have to change to become a better grass court player?

! You can't change much, I cannot become a serve-and-volley player because of my style to play tennis. So basically I have to be aggressive from the baseline, try to come in as much as I can and just keep on putting pressure. I'm not able to play serve-and-volley although this would be the perfect game on grass.

? How would you rate the winning chances especially of Nadal and Federer here?

! Nadal, he's really on top, you know. The way he's performing on the court is quite tough. We'll see how he's gonna go, he has a tough opponent. Federer of course, he's playing great tennis even when he has not his best days. Maybe others have the chance to lose against somebody, I think he has no chance to lose against anybody.

? Santoro isn't convenient to beat, is he?

! No, you always start to get frustrated every time you miss a point or you have the opportunity to make it because then he makes you crazy. That is what he wants. He wants to make you crazy, he wants to make you unsafe on the court, and then he plays his tennis. That's the way he wins his matches.

[juli]

annie said:

the article on the website is still only in German, so will have to post it once they do a translation

Hope this will help:

Safin with luck in the quaterfinal!

Wednesday, 08.06.2005-06-08



It was a very entertaining and most of the time very high class fight between those two players that had one thing in common: a strong will to reach the quarter final in Halle!

The entrance of the 32-year-old Frenchman was faultless, that was already proved in the lawn-Championat where he was in the final. That showed already that he likes to play on grass. Noteworthy is also Santoros balance against Marat Safin: eight times the Frenchman encountered the Russian, seven times he left the court as the winner!



Also in the ninth duel of both, it first looked like a triumph of the "whittle-king"(I'm not sure whether this is right translated!) from France. With 6:3, Santoro won the first run and in the second set, he lost in tie break with 7:8. After a longer treatment in the third set and the break to 2:3, Santoro abandoned finally. "He said, that he can’t run no longer ", declared Safin the end of its contractor after 2:21 hours game time on demand of the journalists.



In that quarterfinal the belgian Olivier Rochus waits for the Russian now. "That will also be a very tough Match", believes Safin.

Rochus defeated the spaniard Feliciano Lopez with 7:6, 6:3. Lopez was seated as number eight.

I'm really happy about his success right now! ;D

[piucca]

[piucca]

oh forgot!
HE WON! HE WON! HE WON!
APPLAUSE APPLAUSE APPLAUSE

[lau]

[lau]

Don`t you think he looks skinny lately??
Remember those photos training in Israel? ;D ;D

[Annie]

I still can't get over his hair.....

Well done Marat - always nice to get Santoro out of the way But a little bit worrying about his knee.... still, it's only grass court season, eh Marat.... ;D

[Teresa]

lau said:

Don`t you think he looks skinny lately??
Remember those photos training in Israel? ;D ;D

Yes.......he does look skinny-er (sp)
and who could forget those pics from Israel

Ruth......... I LOVE the hair......I really do

JUST PATHETIC I know I know

[Teresa]

Thanks juli and lau
for the interview, report etc