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Post by Teresa on Aug 6, 2004 22:25:50 GMT 3
I am so sorry for everyone...  Ah well, Marat has has a great week in Cincy and I think its great that he got to the Qtrs, he has to be disappointed, but will hopefully move on. Its time to get out of Cincy and head home, and hopefully to Sopot ......so one good thing...Magda may yet get to see him in Sopot. Wait for Ruth to update us. I just hope we won't have an all american final.... pleeeease!! a Moya Santoro final would be okay. Thanks Christina for that really quick and informative report on the match, hope you have a safe flight home.  Damita thank you so much for the photos, the link etc |
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Post by Annie on Aug 6, 2004 22:33:21 GMT 3
Just spoken to a friend who saw the match and it's good news despite the score! Marat had his left wrist strapped up (the wrist he had injured) and even had the physio on at one point. However, my friend said it was nothing to be worried about: Marat wasn't actually hurt, he just seemed to be taking lots of precautions. It was more psychological than physical, and you could see he was holding back his game as a result. Hewitt wasn't serving very well, but Marat just couldn't attack Hewitt's second serve well enough. But she said when he was playing well, he was unbelievable! Hewitt only managed to break him the once in each set. Marat just wasn't being consistent and was lacking 'something' from his previous matches - that little bit of fight. And there were some awful lines calls against him at crucial points. Hewitt hit the ball out by a clear 1 inch ( replayed on hawkeye) but the linesman called it in. Marat said to Lars Graf (umpire) "When you get home and watch this match again, you'll see that it was out and you'll apologise to me" *LOL* Marat also hit the ball perfectly on the line and the it was called out! The replay proved it was in  Poor Marat! Fortunately, he didn't get too upset about it, altough he bounced one racket and it cracked, so he took it to his chair to change, and broke it with his hands infront of the umpire, who gave him a warning!! But apart from that, she said Marat's tennis was still decent, he just seemed to be holding back to protect his wrist, maybe? At the end of the match he didn't sign anything and he was muttering to himself, so he must have been a bit upset  Even so, he's had a good run at Cincy and he must have so much confidence back as a result. Now for the Olympics (Sopot, even?) and US Open! |
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Post by Vassily on Aug 6, 2004 22:52:43 GMT 3
Ruth I wouldn't agree that it is a good news in any way. But I'm pissed to hell now, so I might be a little biased. Anyway I'm very disappointed with the outcome of the match, although nowadays I realy don't care why he loses. Poor Marat.
I admire how he handed himself on that point though, when he broke aracket infront of the umpire. I'm like Marat, and realy I would have done the same thing. I wonder if the umpire did like Marat told him to do: come and apologize later...
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Post by Myke on Aug 6, 2004 23:05:02 GMT 3
Well, it's sad that he lost. The plan that Elisabeth and I made obviously didn't work  At least he got this far. That's a good thing. Let's not be sad for too long.  |
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Post by Magda on Aug 7, 2004 0:01:19 GMT 3
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zita
Full Member
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Post by zita on Aug 7, 2004 0:21:11 GMT 3
although it's sad he lost , he made it to the QF.That's far much better then ending in first round.From reading the reports he tried his best .Sure hate i didn't see anything of him live i mean.Oh yeah , our sportchannel gives tennis , but they only show us WTA montreal.Don't wanna see this kinda tennis. He looks great and awesome, his body looks very trained (wouldn't mind giving him a massage after his match) Anyway , up to Athens or Sopot,tx evry one for pics and reports .Helps a lot if u'r unable to watch him |
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Steph
Junior Member
The Lilywhites!!!!! (only irish ppl will understand!) Waterford is my hurling team!! Up the Deise!!!
Posts: 127
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Post by Steph on Aug 7, 2004 2:37:25 GMT 3
Hey everyone, well I saw the match and I have to agree that although he lost the match he was still playing some excellent tennis and some of his shots were amazing and some of the line calls were apalling. But I also think that as well as this he was getting really frustrated that that so much was coming back at him, I mean Hewitt was getting some REALLY good shots back, shots that probably 90% of the other players on the ATP tour wouldn't have got back and this was really getting to Marat. I also think that the wrist was mostly pyschological and it was afffecting some of his shots. But I think that alot of positives can be taken from this week and roll on the Olympics & U.S Open cos if he's confident and dosen't get down on himself I think he has a really good chance.
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Post by sirius on Aug 7, 2004 6:14:10 GMT 3
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Post by sirius on Aug 7, 2004 11:08:46 GMT 3
oh no.... i'm doing the monologue thing again...anyway, the FRIDAY REVIEW is out. here it is!! fresh from the cincy site. Roddick, Hewitt, Agassi and Robredo in Semifinal Showdown No. 10 seed Lleyton Hewitt had just three break chances all match against Marat Safin, but the Australian converted two of them to advance to the semifinals for the third time in four years with a 6-4, 6-4 win. Safin served up a double fault to open the fifth game of the opening set, and Hewitt took advantage to break the Russian. Hewitt, who has yet to drop a set this week, took the set despite seven aces from Safin. Hewitt broke Safin in the third game of second set to go up 2-1 and that was the advantage he needed to take the match. Unseeded Tommy Robredo saved nine break points to down Fabrice Santoro 6-2, 6-3 to advance to his second career ATP Masters Series semifinal. Behind two breaks of serve, Robredo jumped out to a 5-1 lead in the first set. He gave one break back, but immediately responded to take the opening set. It was much the same in the second set as he again used to breaks to jump out to a lead, this time 4-1. Again he gave one break back, but then held on to win the match and advance to an ATP semifinal for the first time on U.S. soil. No. 11 seed Andre Agassi persevered through a long first set tie-break, saving six set points, then made quick work of No. 4 Carlos Moya in the second set to move on with a 7-6(12), 6-3 victory. Agassi broke Moya in the third game to go up 3-1, but Moya got the break back in the 10 th game to set the stage for a classic tie-break, which Agassi won 14-12. In the second set, Agassi broke Moya in the eighth game to go up 5-3, then saved four break points to pull out the victory. In the final match of the day, No. 2 and defending champion Andy Roddick defeated wild card Tommy Haas 6-3, 6-3, for his first victory in five meetings against the German. Roddick fired 11 aces and converted four of seven break points to win for the 25 th time in the last 27 matches since June. Roddick, who has yet to lose a set, was broken for the first time in the tournament in the third game of the opening set (has held serve 43 of 44 games).  |
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Post by Myke on Aug 7, 2004 11:08:48 GMT 3
Thanks for that! I actually saw a little piece on CNN. Wow! |
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Post by Damita on Aug 7, 2004 13:01:26 GMT 3
It seems like he remains positive about his week. that's good |
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Post by me on Aug 7, 2004 13:09:02 GMT 3
Marat Safin
THE MODERATOR: Questions for Marat .
Q. You played a lot of good stuff but didn't quite get the result that you wanted. What do you think the main reasons for that were?
MARAT SAFIN: I didn't really felt today really good on the court. It was quite windy for me, and the balls became very small and they were flying, actually. I couldn't have ‑‑ couldn't put my game out. Like I didn't feel comfortable. That's why it was so many unforced errors.
For him was okay. I mean, his type of game, it suits this weather. I mean, he just have to put back and run. I mean, I have to create something, and today I couldn't. I didn't feel the grip, you know. Couldn't control the ball really well.
Q. What was the problem with your wrist?
MARAT SAFIN: No, just was a little bit too, you know ‑‑ taped too strong.
Q. Has that been a problem before with your wrist?
MARAT SAFIN: No, I'm just protecting it by putting all the time the tape, just protecting my wrist.
Q. You got a bad line call as well. Did that have much effect on the match?
MARAT SAFIN: No, not really. But just, you know, just any opportunity today would be great. I mean, 15‑Love, 15‑All, just something, you know. Just wait and wait and wait. It was actually mistake. The ball was out. It was quite obvious. Not even close.
But I'm not blaming him. I just want to prove my point that ‑‑ anyway he gonna see it now on the TV, and he can see that the ball was out. So he apologize to me. But he thought that he was right and the ball was in. So just it was bad but just something, you know, I mean, you never know. 15‑30, for me, it would be good today, some opportunity.
Q. Do you not feel that the match just hinged, as it often does, on one or two shots, the lob for instance that you made when you were about to break serve, just one or two points like that?
MARAT SAFIN: Yeah. I mean, if will be ‑‑ if I could make a break back and it would be a little bit ‑‑ he will be a little bit more nervous on his serve because he knew that ‑‑ he would know that I can break him. But then he get the confidence, and he was serving pretty well.
Q. It must be frustrating to play him because he's just so solid, isn't he?
MARAT SAFIN: Yeah, but that's his game. I mean, the best days, like when I'm playing well and the conditions are a little bit better for me and I'm more feeling like more ‑‑ I have little bit of more confidence, maybe less windy ‑ I mean, for me to play in the wind is little bit tough ‑ it would be different match.
But today for him it was a great weather, perfect conditions to beat me.
Q. What is it like for you? Was it frustrating out there?
MARAT SAFIN: Not frustrating. But just, you know, like I couldn't finish the points and the balls are flying. So when I couldn't have the grip from the backhand, from the forehand, just a little bit uncomfortable on the court. But that's it, just small things here and there that creates whole different picture.
Q. Despite that, you don't look far away from the top group. Do you feel that, and what would it take to get there?
MARAT SAFIN: I'm not focusing on the ranking, I mean, how far I am, how many points I have, and what I have to do to be in Houston and all this actually bullshit story. Just is not most important thing for me.
Just get back to ‑‑ get the confidence and hold the confidence for as long as I can. And just once I will get this, stay there for as long as you can and then squeeze everything what you can from this, you know, from the confidence.
And then if I'm playing well, the points will come. I will not be struggling, you know, being 7th, being 8th, being 10th or we're going to talk about different numbers already. That's my goal.
I mean, once I will start to play well, confidence, and then big tournaments is coming ‑ US Open , we have Olympics still, we have points there. Then we have two Masters Series in Paris and then Madrid .
Q. Do you sense there are a lot of people, spectators, media, who actually want you to do that because you're good for the game?
MARAT SAFIN: Thank you.
I'm also trying. I'm trying. Is not so easy. Is really it's just very complicated. It looks very easy from out of the court. It looks simple, but it's not. It's just day by day ‑ work, difficult times, not playing well, not feeling the ball, struggling, mental problems that you have no confidence and this kind of things.
When you can pull everything together, then you gonna have the results. But you need to work. It's day by day. But it's not really ‑‑ is not easy. It's just difficult to explain to the people how tough it is because they really think it's just you go there, you play your best tennis, that's it. That's how you gain points and confidence.
Q. Do you feel like you're going in the right direction, though, you're getting closer?
MARAT SAFIN: Yeah, I'm working hard. I'm trying and I really want. Once you have motivation, once you want to do it, it's just a matter of just waiting for opportunity. Opportunities will come. It's not the last opportunity that I am having to get into semifinals or winning a tournament. There's still a lot of ‑‑ plenty of months to play.
And once I will have this ‑ and I'm sure I will ‑ there is no chance that you cannot have chances. Take it, and then the confidence will grow, points will come, and the game will improve and the result will come.
FastScripts by ASAP Sports...
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Post by Elisabeth on Aug 7, 2004 17:40:54 GMT 3
Well, it's sad that he lost. The plan that Elisabeth and I made obviously didn't work At least he got this far. That's a good thing. Let's not be sad for too long. LOL!yeah to sad that our plan didn't work..... So now we know that Marat can lost even if we don't see his match.... So next tournament.....it's a obligation : we will follow the match |
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Post by |-Safin_Coria-| on Aug 7, 2004 18:31:39 GMT 3
Q. Do you feel like you're going in the right direction, though, you're getting closer? MARAT SAFIN: Yeah, I'm working hard. I'm trying and I really want. Once you have motivation, once you want to do it, it's just a matter of just waiting for opportunity. Opportunities will come. It's not the last opportunity that I am having to get into semifinals or winning a tournament. There's still a lot of ‑‑ plenty of months to play. And once I will have this ‑ and I'm sure I will ‑ there is no chance that you cannot have chances. Take it, and then the confidence will grow, points will come, and the game will improve and the result will come. yay! now we know he has motivation again this was a pretty optimistic interview  |
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Post by elaine on Aug 7, 2004 19:36:38 GMT 3
i don't think it was hewitt who beated marat. he just wait there for his opponents' mistakes... (BTW, hewitt's games are quite dull  ,hope there is no lyton's fans here.  ) anyway, marat is making progress! entering the quarterfinal is quite a good hit for him compared with resent performance, isn't it? wish marat good luck in the U.S.Open~! |
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Poor Marat! Fortunately, he didn't get too upset about it, altough he bounced one racket and it cracked, so he took it to his chair to change, and broke it with his hands infront of the umpire, who gave him a warning!!
,hope there is no lyton's fans here. 
)