2005 Cincinnati

[Madou]

Hehe ! Damn I look stupid but I really love to have this silly smile on my face ;D ;D

[lau]

I post this ones for the ones who didn´t see Marat on court for a long time I`ll post the rest later (I want to watch the Nadal/Berdych match)

Nice shirt , nice man *LOL* , awful hair But what really matters is that HE WON!!!

[Laney]

Afwul hair lau??? Now surely you meant to say: "nice curls!"
But yes he won, so I guess these curls bring good luck to him or something! And thanks lau for the pics, now I can go to sleep with these beautiful images of Marat on my mind!

[luxsword]

aaaaah the hair or not the hair, that is the question :-)
maybe he's like samson and if he cuts it, he'll just lose his strengh... lol

[lau]

You`re welcome Laney

The last 2 ones for now.

[sabz]

thnx lau - great pics
i do agree wiv u tho! nice shirt but the hair cud do wiv a trim
looking forward to some more pics!

[Laney]

In those last pics lau posted (thanks again by the way, you're the best lau!!!) it looks like Marat is almost being eaten by those giant tennis balls!!!

[Madou]

Thanks a lot Lau, very nice pictures, as always
Laney, I agree, they look like pacmen ! Run away Marat ;D
I agree with you too, Lau, this new shirt is awesome, this guy is awesome, this hair is horrible

[Jasmine]

Hoo Ray!!, I waked up just early enough to see Match Stat, And Wooppiii.... Marat won. I'm so glad. ;D

Thanks lau, for the pics, especialy for the last two, good shot.

BTW, I love when you say "We're back in business!!" Even, the tourney in America is hard to manage to watch but I still enjoy to see members of TGFR shout and scream again. ;D

[lau]

The next... Andy Murray, who defeated Taylor Dent 7-6 (4), 7-6(1)

Marat won´t play on Center Court tomorrow.


EDIT: The order of play changed after Nadal was defeated (I wonder why...*LOL*) I modified my post..., so this is the actual order of play


ORDER OF PLAY – WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 17, 2005

Center Court start 11:00 AM
G Rusedski (GBR) vs (3)L Hewitt (AUS)
Not before 1:00 PM
(1)R Federer (SUI) vs N Kiefer (GER)
(4)M Safin (RUS) vs (WC)A Murray (GBR)
Not before 7:30 PM
(5)A Roddick (USA) vs J Ferrero (ESP)
Suk/Vizner vs (3)Knowles/Nestor

Grandstand start 11:00 AM
(WC)G Monfils (FRA) vs K Beck (SVK)
(16)R Gasquet (FRA) vs M Ancic (CRO)
(6)N Davydenko (RUS) vs (SE)P Mathieu
(FRA) J Chela (ARG) vs (12)T Henman (GBR)
Not before 7:30 PM
(WC)R Ginepri (USA) vs D Ferrer (ESP)

Court 3 start 11:00 AM
F Gonzalez (CHI) vs (11)D Nalbandian (ARG)
(9)G Coria (ARG) vs (Q)L Horna (PER)
M Youzhny (RUS) vs T Berdych (CZE)
Friedl/Pavel vs Allegro/Federer
(Q)G Simon (FRA) vs C Moya (ESP)

Court 4 start 11:00 AM
O Rochus (BEL) vs F Santoro (FRA)
R Soderling (SWE) vs D Hrbaty (SVK)
J Acasuso (ARG) vs T Robredo (ESP)
(WC)Gimelstob/Leach vs (6)Llodra/Santoro
Massu/Parrott vs Lopez/Youzhny

Court 5 start 2:00 PM
Aspelin/Perry vs Beck/Berdych

[lau]

I can´t find the transcripted interview yet. I really want to read that. I guess I`ll find it tomorrow (Wednesday)....

Safin's return from injury is not what the doctor ordered

By Simon Cambers

CINCINNATI, Aug 16 (Reuters) - Australian Open champion Marat Safin admitted he had played against medical advice after returning to the tour with victory in the first round of the Cincinnati Masters Series event on Tuesday.

The Russian fourth seed beat Czech Jan Hernych 7-6 6-4 to reach the second round, but the left knee injury that caused him to miss seven weeks after his third-round defeat at Wimbledon, is still causing him trouble.

"All the doctors were telling me to stay away a little bit longer, for another two weeks at least," Safin said.

"It still hurts a little bit. I am still afraid to move fast. Hopefully, it will get better.

"I took a risk to come here and start a little bit early to prepare for the U.S. Open. The doctor was a bit scared because the pain can increase. For the moment it's OK, but at some stage I can hurt myself even more.

"Maybe you know the soccer player, Ronaldo, he had the same injury, kind of the same. He continued playing and then he hurt himself and he didn't play for two years."
(Marat, honey, that`s not the best example... )

Safin, who is considering playing in the warm-up event in New Haven next week, said that he had been lucky not to require an operation.

"I've been injected with my own blood. It's just a new system, a new thing," the two times grand slam winner added.

"It's like there is a cut ligament. So basically they injected your own blood with the rebuilding cells so the ligament goes together. And so it's produced a little bit faster because normally it takes like three to four months, this injury.

"I guess it took me one month and a half, but still I think I rushed it little bit. Hopefully I'll be OK."

FAVOURITE EVENTS

After winning the Australian Open in January, Safin struggled to regain his form and concentration, while his knee began to affect him badly, both at the French Open and Wimbledon.

The U.S. Open, where he won his first grand slam title in 2000, is one of his favourite events and Safin admitted he would not have returned to the tour so soon had the year's final major tournament not been less than a fortnight away.

"I didn't really practice before the tournament. Only when I just came three days ago, I played for two hours each day," he said.

"I can see that I have to defend a lot of points (in the indoor season), and I need to do really well if I want to maintain myself in the top ten," he said.

"Hopefully I will be lucky with the draws and I'll be able to get through the first week in the U.S. Open so that it can carry me until the end of the season. Because if you manage to get into the second week, then basically it means that you are playing well.

"And then Asia, Davis Cup. Hopefully I can maintain myself in the top ten or even top five, why not?" (I`m sure he will )

[lau]

[lau]

complete article: www.canada.com/sports/story.html?id=c8ed5b99-0bc8-447b-8818-34ff6f8a10d9

Hewitt, Safin advance in comebacks at Cincinnati Masters

Joe Kay
Canadian Press

Wednesday, August 17, 2005

(...)
Safin also got back onto the court after a much longer absence Tuesday. The fourth-seeded Safin hadn't played since Wimbledon because of a slightly torn ligament in his left knee.

It was better, but still painful.

"I took a risk to come back and play and prepare for the U.S. Open," Safin said. "I decided to try to play, to see if it gets better or if it gets worse."

He opened his match against Jan Hernych with a double fault, and doubled faulted twice while losing the opening game. He eventually got rolling and pulled out a 7-6 (3), 6-4 win.

Safin didn't wear a brace or wrap on the troublesome knee. He moved better as the match went along, getting into a flow when Hernych was serving for the first set with a 5-4 lead. Safin broke him to even it, won the tiebreaker, then broke him again to start the second set.

"It's kind of difficult," Safin said. "It (the knee injury) is still in my head. When you feel some pain in some movements, you try to avoid those. After the first couple of games, I tried to forget about it and focus on the game."

(...)

[alsl]

so glad to see marat in action again<and his unmistakeble red undies>..a lil worried for his knee though..but anyway,onto the match <i woke up @ 5am and watched marat in my pyjamas ;D>

1st set-after exchange of breaks in 5th and 6th game,was v. worried cause hernych broke,but then ofcourse at 5-4,marat broke back.

2nd set-chip and charge for marat..one question though,was it marat who let out this weird luff after playing 2 cross court volleys and hernych returning with a fh down the line winner?

[CaliforniaSuds]

It's clear Marat spent his time on the Beach cleaning out his system and HE IS BACK. I'm just going to enjoy the ride BUTT and I sat BUTT for a reason (Italian Beach), I think he could do the Open. Does it mean I am not a patriot if I would like to see him smack Roddick down? If he can get thru the fat fat Dent boy. Run him around, Marat, he can't really breathe. Thanks for winning today, just for us,.

If Marat willing to fry his knee for a couple of more years, I'm with him. Butt I am hoping to see him play into the later years.