Australian Open 2005

[sirius]

MARAT!!!!!! AHHHHHH!!!!

nicki!!! uy shouold have stayed with us!!!!!

ruth...i don't think that was denis...it looked too short to be denis. but ten again. what do i know!
MARAT THANK YOU!!!!

[Jasmine]

Ok, I can catch my feet to the ground now.

I'm here a bit late, coz some friends called me to say congratulation!! ;D Ha ha! I dedicate all to you, Marat.

CONGRATULATION ;D ;D ;D

Wow!! I waited for this moment more than 4 years. Thanks to your service games on 3rd and 4th set.

BTW, Marat's so adorable on the ceremony, wasn't he? The way he made people laugh, that's so him.

Go! CHAMPION Go!!

[MariaV]

Safin beats Hewitt to win Open
Sunday, January 30, 2005 Posted: 1210 GMT (2010 HKT)

MELBOURNE, Australia (Reuters) -- Fourth seed Marat Safin stared down the challenge of local hero Lleyton Hewitt to win the centenary Australian Open.

His 1-6 6-3 6-4 6-4 victory on Sunday earned the big Russian a second grand slam crown after his 2000 U.S. Open triumph.

Runner-up here in 2002 and 2004, Safin hugged third seed Hewitt and raised his arms in triumph after crashing an unreturnable serve on the final point.

Hewitt, winner at Wimbledon in 2002 and the U.S. Open in 2001, has now lost the last two grand slam finals after he was beaten by world number one Roger Federer in the U.S. Open last year.

The disappointed Australian however will rise to number two in the world after reaching his first home final.

Safin had got off to a slow and nervous start but changed the course of the match in a drama-charged third set, when he staged a stunning comeback after being down 3-0 to Hewitt, who was buoyed by his home crowd on Rod Laver Arena center court.

Safin had two chances to break Hewitt's serve in the first game of the third set but Hewitt saved both break points and then held his own serve after the Russian made two sloppy errors in a game which typified the early stages of the match.

Controversial game
Hewitt in turn broke Safin in a controversial second game of the third set. He set up his first chance when he outfought Safin in a long rally and then hit a forehand winner when Safin failed to put away a smash.

The tenacious Australian exploded in anger when, at deuce, a Safin forehand on the line was called out by a baseline judge but the call was over-ruled by chair umpire Carlos Ramos, who ordered the point to be replayed.

"Don't be a hero here, mate," Hewitt said to Ramos.

Hewitt seemed to be spurred on by the incident and broke Safin, who put a forehand wide at deuce. Hewitt then got a lucky break when he blocked a half-volley past the stranded Safin.

Safin in turn became enraged with his own game and slammed his racket into the court as Hewitt held serve for a 3-0 lead.

Safin then called for a trainer at the change of ends to massage his thighs. He in turn got angry over a corrected line call in the next game, arguing with Ramos in Spanish.

Hewitt desperately scrambled to save a break point in the sixth game but Ramos gave him a code violation for unsportsmanlike conduct when the Australian aggressively pointed his finger at a baseline judge after hitting a forehand winner to get back to deuce.

Safin eventually broke Hewitt when he crunched a backhand winner down the line. After the point he argued again with Ramos, who warned both players they risked a point penalty if there were any further outbursts.

Remarkable turnaround
In a remarkable turnaround, Safin then broke Hewitt again in the ninth game for a 5-4 lead when Hewitt served a double fault on Safin's second break point.

The Russian had his big serve back on track and wrapped up the set in just under an hour, with Hewitt calling for his thighs to be massaged at the end of the set.

Safin served 17 of his 18 aces in the last three sets and by the fourth set he was winning most of the long rallies that Hewitt had dominated in the first set.

Safin grabbed the decisive break of serve in the first game of the fourth set when, during a 30-shot rally, he drew Hewitt to the net and whipped a backhand past his 23-year-old opponent.

Safin beat world number one Roger Federer on his 25th birthday to reach the final in a match being hailed as probably the greatest ever played at Melbourne Park.

That win had been sweet revenge for Safin after he was beaten by Federer in last year's final.

[Jasmine]

annie said:

how bout now? one more win and i'll really believe the stuff about the chinese animal zodiac thing...that if it's your year you won't be so lucky...
see it's also Lleyton's year this year..year of the Rooster...

annie, your theory worked.

[Tita]

One more title to our Champion

[MariaV]

Triumphant Safin pays tribute to Hewitt
2005-01-30 12:16:18 GMT (Reuters)
By Julian Linden

MELBOURNE, Jan 30 (Reuters) - Russia's Marat Safin paid a glowing tribute to tenacious Lleyton Hewitt after wearing the third seed down in front of his home fans to win the centenary Australian Open on Sunday.

The 1-6 6-3 6-4 6-4 victory earned Safin his second grand slam title and ruined Hewitt's dream of winning his national championship but Safin was full of praise for the Australian's fighting qualities.

"Congratulations Lleyton, you had a brilliant two weeks," Safin said after receiving the winner's trophy from Australian great Ken Rosewall.

"You are such a great fighter and you have an amazing talent that God gave you to fight until the end."

Hewitt, who rode a wave of patriotism fuelled by his never-say-die attitude to reach his first Australian Open final, said Safin deserved to win because he had beaten world number one Roger Federer in the semi-finals.

"I'd like to congratulate Marat on a hell of a tournament. He's one of the best players in the world," Hewitt said.

"He had a great finish to last year and knocked off the guy who's been nearly impossible to beat (Federer) so he thoroughly deserved it.

"I'd never made it past the round of 16 here before...but I'll try and go one step further next year."

[sirius]

hey guys! there's an A to Z of the aussie open here...marat gets mentioned a few times of course but it's too long to post..so go read it here! if u're interested!

www.australianopen.com/en_AU/news/articles/2005-01-30/200501301107087639580.html

[Teresa]

CONGRATULATIONS MARAT
No one....absolutely NO ONE does it as well as you do it! You do it 'Marat's way' and there is no better way than 'Marat's way' ;D

First you take out Roger Federer the number one player in the world, you stop his 6/8 month..whatever run, you did against Roger what no one else has been able to do in 8 months. ;D

Then against Hewitt the home favourite, before his home crowd, you take out Hewitt, and do so during Australia's 100 year celebration, you clinch the centenary and you clinched the 3 time lucky streak. ;D

This truly was your time, your destiny, the first and second AO finals could NEVER be as SWEETas this one ;D

Nobody, NOBODY deserved this win more than Marat.

I am soPROUD of Marat and so proud to be a fan of Marat's. My admiration of Marat has no boundries, no depth, no limits, I am so proud of him.

No one brings to tennis the excitement, charm, fun, yes fun, heartache, nailbiting, thrill, and sheer pleasure as Marat does. I am SO looking forward to 2005, there is no pressure, Marat can relax, get out there and really go for his game, play his matches 'Marat's Way' and believe me its going to be something to witness, and yes we are going to the year end. ;D

And last but by no means least, a big *hug* , lots of *kisses* and a BIG thank you to Peter.
Long may your relationship with Marat last.
Congratulations and 'thank you' for a coaching job well done!

I am soooooooo very happy for all the fans, this is indeed a wonderful, wonderful day, and a wonderful start to a new year.

Wishing Marat a well deserved couple of weeks off, I hope he has lots of R&R, lots of love, lots of fun and lots of champagne or vodak or beer......or whatever he wants lots of ;D

[SAFINNO1]

what can i say it was truly unbelievable , i am just speechless.
He truly dis deserve it, but he got us all scared in the 1st, ever since that it was fairly clean sailing until he got broken again. Anyhoo fairplay to hewitt he played his part but faltered at the the end and had to settle to eunner up.

OKay now my excitement has kicked in WOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOO, YOU WON MARAT YEAH.

[glow=red,2,300]AUSTRALIAN OPEN 2005 CHAMPION IS.......................MARAT SAFIN[/glow]

[annie]

Jasmine said:

annie, your theory worked.

well, well, do i get a title for that then? something like "Annie the Wise"? hee hee...

anyway, i knew he was gonna win...Slow start yes, but what can i say..that's Mr. Unpredictable, The Mercurial, Marat Safin we're talking about....
i have to admit, i felt like i was gonna die of a broken heart with the 1st set goin 1-6! But he just stayed right there in the 2nd and just went all the way...

Thank You Marat for Winning, and thank you God for helping him...also thanks to the Fantabulous Peter Lundgren...

[Teresa]

Annie
According to my chinese book
the Year of the Monkey is Jan 22 04 to Feb 08 2005
So we are actually still in the year of the Monkey

The Year of the Rooster begins on
February 09 2005 and goes thru till Jan 28 06

Now its possible that my book could be wrong

One more thing

January 28 1979 to February 15 1980
was the year of the Sheep

Februay 16 1980 to February 4 1981
was the year of the Monkey

again my book could be wrong

[Annie]

Thanks for the 'yes it's Denis' / 'no it's not!' comments, guys - hopefully getty will have some close up shots of the box and we'll be able to see who he was. I only caught a glimpse, so I'm not sure who he was but he was right in the front row next to Gerard & Allon.

Did anyone see Peter doing a bird impression during the match? They replayed it in slow mo on UK TV and he was making Gerard & Allon laugh - I think it was just after the 1st set. Peter had his arms out-stretched and was flapping them!!

John Lloyd said Marat had kept his word and hadn't touched any alcohol this month (well done Marat! It must have worked!) but he woudl probably drink Melbourne dry if he won ;D

Teresa, sweetie, I'm begging you - please don't start the chinese new year/rooster/monkey/sheep thing. I've had chinese fans at each others throats over this and I still get emails about it even now. I personally couldn't care less what it is, because I think all horoscopes are nonsense anyway. But Marat says he's a monkey and that's why he got the monkey tattoo. Lets leave it at that ;D

[sirius]

your book's right teresa..marat's not a monkey...TECHNICALLY, he's a sheep.

[Dee]

Just brilliant.........wonderful end to a wonderful tournament. As i posted on safinator.....he really truly is Magnificent Marat, and at last he escapes the " one slam wonder tag."

I'm so happy for Marat his friends and all of you who support him so faithfully. That match was just spectacular and he was so lovely in his speech afterwards.

I'm so ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D

[SAFINNO1]

M. SAFIN/L. Hewitt

1 6, 6 3, 6 4, 6 4

An interview with:

MARAT SAFIN


THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. When did it start to come around for you? You were down 4 1 in the third set.
MARAT SAFIN: Actually, it was getting better after the first set actually. But even though that I was 4 1 down, but it was a little bit easier, you know, because I was waiting for opportunities, even though that I was a little bit scared, I was nervous, and I couldn't do much over there. But I still had already the hope that I can turn around the match.
But after the first set it was like I couldn't believe that I could play so badly and I could be so nervous and I couldn't just do anything against it. But then I won the second set even though, like I said, and third set. But still, I was hoping.

Q. You cried out in this despair at one point in the third set, "What can I do?" That wasn't your entire quote.
MARAT SAFIN: Of course, you get pissed. You get pissed at yourself because you can see you are so close to win the title. At the same time you are very far away. Like it's going further and further away from you.
And just you can see that you can play completely different tennis, you can play better, much better tennis than I was doing before 4 1. In the third set, just all of a sudden, it all turn around completely in a way I couldn't expect, actually.
Because all of a sudden he made a couple of mistakes, I was a little bit lucky at some point, then again, the confidence again, I was back in the game because I was not break down anymore and I was already playing better and better with more confidence.
And once I got back the break, I could go for a little bit more and could just I could risk it a little bit more than before. Because before I was really passive and I couldn't do much. I was missing all around. I couldn't serve. I couldn't run. I couldn't hit one down the line properly to open the court. Just I was so disappointed, I was just I was really pissed at myself.

Q. It's been a long time since 2000 when you won the US Open. Were you beginning to think that it might not happen again?
MARAT SAFIN: Yeah, it's just in a way more psychological thing. Just it comes because you can 2000, I have to forget about the final in 2000 because everything came so easy and it came in the most unexpectable (sic) way. Then I found myself that I lost two finals, basically two finals here. The first final I should have won. At least in the second one I should have little bit more chances than that, in the first set against Federer.
And just you start to have doubts with yourself, you know, like really I could do this or not. Because it's the third time third time in a final, you playing against Hewitt, you beat Roger Federer. Basically you have a huge chance to beat him. Last time I beat him quite comfortable even though we played in Paris and second set was really tough. But I was really feeling that I can beat him.
Then just I just get so nervous, get so uptight because it's last match. You understand the situation. It's last match, you have to give your best, and I don't want to lose it because then it's like nobody cares about the finalist basically. For me, it's just little bit third time to be finalist and not winning a Grand Slam, it will be like really disappointment huge one.
So for me, that win was just a kind of a relief.

Q. Having beaten Roger Federer, adding a second Grand Slam, is getting to No. 1 for a sustained period of time a particular goal, or you just take it as it comes?
MARAT SAFIN: I take it as it comes. I mean, like you cannot expect you cannot have a lot of expectations. Still long way to go. Of course, it's a huge win. Just for yourself, for your ego, for your career, for your portfolio, to win Australian Open, it's huge thing.
But still, you know, you cannot just think that you can you might be finishing the year No. 1. Just one of the stages that you are getting a little bit closer, and you are working. Basically you are getting there. But still long way to go. You cannot just you have to take it really easy, keep on working, keep on doing the right things, and listen to the coach, I mean, and just keep on working. It's still long way to go until the end of the season where you can see who gonna be No. 1, who gonna be No. 2 and so on.