hey everyone...this is an article that i wrote for a website that i someitmes write for. I am gonna post the link here and in the hamburg thread but in case the link does not work or you don't feel like being bothered you can read the article here...
www.e-sports.com/articles/1335/1/An-open-letter-to-Marat-Safin-%28aka-Mulan-Man%29Dear Marat,
You may not know this, but we've been through a lot together. From the Paris Masters Series in 2004 and the Australian Open triumph that followed few months later, to the slump that lasted until injury put a premature end to your season.
After seven months out with a knee injury, you have no idea how good it is for tennis to see you back on the courts. Not just because of your game either.
We missed you Marat, that’s all there is to it. We missed your presence on the court, the racket smashing, the outbursts in Russian, and the females among us have simply missed drooling over your gorgeous body.
I used to think that watching tennis, and by tennis I mean watching you, could not possibly be as stressful as watching football. Ha! What did I know. You've taken me on more ups and down and turned me inside out more times than Arsenal ever have (mind you this is being written before the Champions League final between Arsenal and Barcelona).
There is no denying though that you've given me pleasure. Watching you play your best tennis is like something out of a fairly tale (no pressure, I'm just pointing out the facts) There is not a sweeter two handed back hand on the ATP tour.
And even in the moments when your tennis has gone missing (remember Rome in 2005?) you can put on quite the one man show but never with any disrespect. I like that about you. You can get mad on the court, and mostly people don't get mad back because they understand that if you are angry it's usually with yourself.
The doubters will continue to say that you are inconsistent, that you have your demons, that you hear voices in your head that make you self destruct. Well, that's a load of rubbish now. You could have self destructed lots of times since coming back and you have not. You may have lost matches, but always with the feeling of having given all you had at the time.
You and I both know Marat, that the reason behind those infamous (and now dead I assure you) demons, is that you set high standards for yourself. Who can blame you after you beat one of the games all time greats in straights sets in a Grand Slam final at barely 20 years old. I refer, of course, to the US Open in 2000 against Pete Sampras.
Asking yourself not to at least try, to reproduce that mind-blowing tennis would be like asking Da Vinci to draw stick figures after finishing the Mona Lisa. But you are over that complex now, over trying to play perfect tennis every single time you step on a court. Your win in Australia proves that.
I have often thought it funny that people take the semifinal against Roger Federer as the reference match for that tournament. That's the match they say, that shows that Safin's turned it around. I disagree to an extent.
You must be aware that you are a man of subtleties and contradictions Marat (and if you are not, then I am telling you), because it is often the smaller things that are the true indications of your state of mind.
Overcoming Oliver Rochus, the tiny Belgian in four sets (the score was 4-6, 7-6, 7/-6,7-6), was as far as I was concerned at the time ,the real proof that you had learned to resist the temptation of doubt. For someone as talented as you are Marat, I am often amazed at how easily you are willing to doubt yourself.
But a few years spent with Peter Lundgren, the man that made Roger Federer … well Roger Federer, and you are starting to understand Marat. You understand that one forehand gone wide or even a dozen, does not mean you know longer know how to play tennis or that one loss does not make you the worst professional player in the world. Peter is only part of the puzzle though, because forgive me for saying so Marat, but you strike me as the stubborn sort. If you decide to do something, you do it and vice versa.
So here we are, approaching Roland Garros 2006, nearly a year since your knee began forcing you onto the sidelines. When you first came back I think we can all say we were amazed at the level of tennis you were playing.
And not just against any old players either. You beat your compatriot Nikolay Davydenko, who was world number six at the time, twice before he finally got the best of you in Estoril. You beat Carlos Moya at Indian Wells and then Richard Gasquet in the first rubber of the Davis Cup quarter finals against France.
I can already hear you saying, "yes but," Marat. So I admit losing to players like Jarkko Niemenen or Nicholas Almagro isn't great for your confidence, but it doesn’t take away from the good things you’ve done since coming back.
Marat, now more than ever, you have to resist the temptation to doubt yourself. I know that it’s hard. In fact I cannot imagine how hard it must be. You want desperately to get back to the ranking that your talent deserves. The top 10 for sure, and probably the top 5. You've said yourself that ambition is burning a hole in your gut.
Again, to me at least, it's the little things that prove your determination. It's chasing the down balls that you never used to, it's not giving up games when you are 40-0 down on your opponent's serve, it’s not letting yourself go to pieces when you miss an easy shot. This might sound simple to other people, but these tiny things are important breakthroughs for you, even if, as I said you started making them awhile back.
You may wonder, Marat, why I am writing this letter now as opposed to some other time when it seemed like your were in a crisis of confidence. I am writing it now because my heart never hurt so bad for you as it did in the first round of the Hamburg Masters series after your loss to Flavio Saretta. No offense to Saretta, and maybe he’ll prove me wrong, but I would not be surprised to see him seem sink back into the depths of anonymity from whence he came.
It’s not the loss that worried me, to be honest it's not even your tennis in and of its self -- 32 winners, 53 errors, give or take -- I’ve seen you win matches with those kind of stats. It was not even the knee, which sported for the first time in a while some sort of a bandage, although that is a major concern. Staying fit is going to be hugely important if you are going to get your confidence back.
What worried me most Marat, was that you played without conviction. Now I would not dare pretend to be inside your head and know what goes on there. Maybe I'm overreacting and the knee was really bothering you and you knew beforehand that you were not going to be able to play to the best of your capabilities. In which case I hope you feel better soon and that will be the end of it.
Unfortunately, I get the feeling that it goes deeper than that. You spoke not long ago of how much you wanted to get back to your best and fast. I wonder then if part of your problem now is fear. Fear that the longer it takes to get back to your best the less likely it is to happen, fear of sinking into mediocrity and not being able to claw your way out.
I don’t mean it in a bad way, so don't be angry. Although if you feel the need to break it Marat, go ahead. I can only imagine how it must feel to know in your mind the kind of tennis you can produce and find the rest of you unwilling to cooperate on the court.
You know what they say though Marat, it's not brave if you're not scared. How many of your problems now are due to lack of confidence and how many are related to the knee, I have no idea. The two are probably linked together.
I could end this letter by saying something like -- Come on Marat, stick with it, everything will be ok, tennis needs you, don't leave us. But I won't. I have always believed that your tennis and your talent belongs solely to you to do with what you will.
I believe in that talent and in you (hopefully, that will start rubbing off soon). I know that you are capable of great things, but at the end of the day I’m just here to enjoy the show.
Sincerely,Mulan Lady: High Priestess of Deviousness
hey everyone...this is an article that i wrote for a website that i someitmes write for. I am gonna post the link here and in the hamburg thread but in case the link does not work or you don't feel like being bothered you can read the article here...
