Articles about Marat

[ANNA205]

Safin says linesman was wrong

Russias Marat Safin shows off his Australian Open crown in St Kilda yesterday.



MARAT Safin sympathises with Lleyton Hewitts abuse of a linesman in the Australian Open final, saying the official was wrong to trigger the turning point in the match.

Safin was down a break in the third set of the final when Hewitt abused a linesman who had called the Australian for a foot fault.

From that point in the match, Safin rebounded to take the third and fourth sets to claim the title.

“I understand why Lleyton was upset with the linesman,” Safin said.

“With all the respect to the linesmen that are in Australia, you dont call foot fault on first serve on an ace.”

Safin charmed the Rod Laver Arena crowd after the match with his acceptance speech, particularly when he started by thanking the Hewitt entourage.

He was at his self-deprecating best after the match when describing his dismal first set.

“You go there and you lose first set|6-1, then, you know, like you start to think, “This is not my day. The way Im playing is ridiculous. The people came here to see that?”

Safins long overdue success added to his 2000 U.S. Open crown and transformed one of the sports greatest underachievers into a self-believer once more.

The 25-year-old said his loss to Thomas Johansson as odds-on favourite in the 2002 championship decider at Melbourne Park left him wondering whether he would ever revisit the dizzy heights of grand slam triumph again.

Safin declared this years victory more meaningful than his demolition of Pete Sampras at Flushing Meadows.

[MariaV]

An article from Reuters about the press conf yesterday. Shamil T. and Zhenya were there but no Marat. Sorry guys.

Lack of Safin successors a worry for Russian chiefs
Wed Feb 2, 2005 4:57 PM GMT

By Sonia Oxley

MOSCOW, Feb 2 (Reuters) - Russian tennis chiefs believe the future is not entirely rosy despite Marat Safin's Australian Open success.

Safin's victory over Lleyton Hewitt on Sunday followed a year dominated by the success of Russia's women players, who won three of the four women's singles grand slam titles in 2004.

"At first glance Russian tennis is successful and we are proud of the victories of our tennis players, but nevertheless ...we are already noticing some problems," Russian Tennis Federation vice-president Dmitry Vikharev told reporters.

He said the main problem was a shortage of boys playing on the junior circuit and therefore a lack of potential successors to Safin.

"If you look at the entrants for the boys' junior Australian Open, there was not a single Russian surname on the list of 64," Vikharev said.

It is not for a lack of interest in the game.

The sport's enormous popularity is creating a shortage of top-class coaches. Many prefer to coach at private tennis clubs where the money is better, forcing Russia's promising youngsters to look abroad for a coach, if they can afford it.

The passion for tennis is a post-Soviet phenomenon, sparked by ex-President Boris Yeltsin's patronage of the game. A lack of tennis courts has sent hire prices soaring, making it accessible only to the better off.

"In some places courts cost $70 per hour...and correspondingly in some towns the situation with the popularity of tennis is worse than in Soviet times," said federation chief Shamil Tarpishchev.

DOMINANT WOMEN

The federation has suggested using a Soviet-style centralised training system and hopes to attract private sponsorship so that children can be coached at special centres in Russia without having to shell out huge sums of money.

Anastasia Myskina began Russia's tennis revolution with her win at the French Open last year. Then Maria Sharapova clinched Wimbledon and Svetlana Kuznetsova claimed the U.S. Open.

Fellow Russian Elena Dementieva was runner-up in the French and U.S. Opens. The Russian women's team also won the Fed Cup last year and currently there are six Russians in the top 12 of the women's rankings.

Safin's Australian Open win catapulted the Russian men back into the spotlight after an absence of grand slam wins since Safin's U.S. Open victory in 2000.

At number four the 25-year-old is the only Russian in the men's top 10, with Nikolay Davydenko at 15 and Mikhail Youzhny at 16 the next highest ranked.

The federation has set a five-year goal of having at least 10 men ranked in the top 100, four or five in the top 50 and one or two in the top 10.

[SAFINNO1]

As Safin has always said Mens Tennis in Russia for the future looks bleek as for the women, there is no other way except up for women.

[shacks]

i found this interesting article:

Safin most likely to challenge Federer
Story Tools: Print Email
Dan Weil / Special to FOXSports.com
Posted: 25 minutes ago




Marat Safin's victory at the Australian Open last month, which included an epic five-set defeat of world No. 1 Roger Federer in the semifinals, has led tennis experts to speculate that the 25-year-old Russian could battle Federer for the top spot this year.

"I think we got a pretty good answer in Australia," said Patrick McEnroe, who captains the U.S. Davis Cup team. "Safin can certainly challenge him. The big question is can he be consistent enough week in and week out?"


Marat Safin has all the skills to have a dominant year, but will he have the drive? (Jimin Lai / GettyImages)



Safin is currently ranked No. 4 behind the 23-year-old Swiss wunderkind, Australia's Lleyton Hewitt, and Andy Roddick. But tennis analysts say Safin has a better chance to challenge Federer than the other two because he has a more complete game.


"I think he's the only one who has enough guns," said Tony Trabert, who won four Grand Slam tournaments in the 1950s. "Roddick has a big serve and forehand, but Federer has proved he can handle that. And Hewitt has to work so hard just to hold his own serve that it takes a toll over a long period of time."


Safin, on the other hand, has enough game to threaten Federer. "He has the size, power, movement and variety in his game, where he can bother a guy like Federer," said Tom Gullikson, who, as U.S. Davis Cup captain, coached Pete Sampras. "He can overpower Federer sometimes, which isn't so easy because Federer has so many skills, including defense."


McEnroe noted that Safin is one of the few players on tour who isn't intimidated by Federer's prodigious talent and unflappable playing style. "A lot of players, after Federer hits one of those ridiculous shots, just say he's too good," McEnroe said. "Safin isn't over-awed by Federer like a lot of players."


Still, the charismatic Russian had to put forth a heroic effort to beat Federer in Australia, staving off a match point in the fourth set.


"Safin had to play his best and still had a match point where he had to play an unbelievable shot to get out of it," McEnroe said. "Now he has to be able to do that consistently. Federer set the bar high in the last 18 months. Game wise, Safin has a big serve and can return well. His mentality will determine how far he will go."


Tennis aficionados expected big things out of Safin after he blitzed through Pete Sampras to win the US Open in 2000. But Safin wasn't ready to stay at the top of the rankings then. At times he showed more interest in the joys of the nightlife and the company of beautiful women than in the rigors of training. He would lose his temper on the court, break racquets and occasionally stop trying.

And in 2003, he was out with a serious wrist injury.


"Nobody knows how Safin is going to respond this time," McEnroe said. "Will he get lax in his training? Will he say he's won another major and everyone can shut up? Last year he did well at Australia (losing in the final to Federer) and then was disappointing until the end of the year. I don't expect that to happen this year."


Gullikson said Safin's coach, Peter Lundgren, who formerly mentored Federer, deserves some of the credit for Safin's more disciplined approach in recent months. The fact that Safin has had a steady girlfriend during the past year — Russian medical student Dasha Zhukova — also helps, Gullikson said. "I think Safin can handle it better now. When he won the U.S. Open, he was so young and immature. He didn't know what he accomplished and then went on a walkabout."


With his newfound maturity, Safin could be a threat at both the French Open and Wimbledon, experts say. Having spent most of his teen years in Spain, he is accustomed to the red clay surface of Roland Garros in Paris. Still, "It's a tougher task for Safin to win seven matches on clay," McEnroe said. "He can't serve or hit his way out of trouble as easily" as on a grass or hard court.


Wimbledon may suit his game better. Though Safin said he hated the surface after losing in the first round last year, "his game is tailor-made for grass," McEnroe noted, with big shots, good movement and strong ability to improvise shots.


Nonetheless, Federer has to be rated a stronger favorite to win both at Roland Garros and Wimbledon, experts agreed. "Federer's the kind of guy that as soon as he lost at Australia, he was setting his sights on the French Open (which begins in May)," McEnroe said. "He's the sort of guy that immediately starts looking toward the next major. The loss will make him hungrier. I think it will motivate him even more. And that's a scary thing for the rest of the field."

[maratisgr8t]

I wish he would just take the bull by the horns and phone Pete Sampras. Having been in the PS fan club for a couple of years, I know that Pete is a fair and reasonable human being. He practised a couple of years ago at his own home with Mark Philippoussis, before the Australian Open. I'm pretty sure that if Marat asked for some advice on how best to approach grass court play, Pete would give it to him. I also reckon he'd probably even go so far as to practise with him on a grass court somewhere, like he took Mark Philippoussis under his wing. There is no expert in the world as good as Sampras on grass, if I could offer Marat some advice I'd advise him to contact Pete, (who is at home being a family man and would most likely have the time to spend with Marat). Pete has always been very generous in his praise of Marat, since he beat him in the US Open and I'm sure he'd be generous enough to help him out.

[tall_one]

just because Pete was good playing on grass doesn't mean he would be good at coaching and secondly i don't think anything is going to make Pete leave his wife & kid.

It is Marat's mentality, not his game that needs help when it comes to grass and finally if anyone on earth can drum into that think skull of his that he can do well on grass it is Peter

[sirius]

i somehow feel that a sampras-safin pairing wouldn't work out. part of the reason why the lundgren-safin pairing is working, i feel, is because lundgren was a little like marat back in his player days and so can bring his "been there done that" experience to marat. pete on the other hand has a totally different work ethic and attitude towards the game than marat. i somehow feel that they'd clash if they worked together

[Teresa]

I always felt that Lleyton proposing to Bec right after his loss to Marat whether deliberate or just out of desperation to take the lime light off of Marat and away from Lleyton losing, worked. Marat did not dominate the news the next day as he should, and Bec was used by Lleyton to ensure that Marat did not dominate the news, sad sad. The true colours of Lleyton Hewitt came to the surface once again, and in my opinion these colours are dark and not pleasant!

Where the love is so true

The rest of the article is interesting, and quite funny despite the serious implications

LOUISE EVANS

FROM The Age


When love's in spotlight, romance flies out the window

February 15, 2005
LOVE is in the air, everywhere you look around. In the name of love a press release was issued in the middle of the night two weeks ago that ensured Australia woke to the news that Lleyton Hewitt and TV soap star Bec Cartwright were engaged.

Instead of reports of how the gallant Russian Marat Safin had kicked Hewitt's butt in the final of the Australian Open, that middle-of-the-night love letter ensured Lleyton, and not Marat, dominated the news the next day.

Instead of Safin being the toast of Melbourne, photographers were stalking the happy couple, Ley and Bec, and Hewitt's ever-visible parents as they went for a jog.

In the middle of the night on the other side of the world, the Queen and the British Prime Minister Tony Blair were also weighing strategy and timing in the name of love. At issue were the announcement of the British election, the wedding of Chuck and Camilla, and how one could overshadow the other to ensure C&C could safely get hitched without getting lynched.

It seems people can get away with just about anything in the name of love. They can steal a champion's glory. They can seduce a clueless teenage virgin, extract an heir and a spare, drop her like a stone in the Thames, then return to the mistress. Now the members of the Commonwealth are supposed to be happy that this right royal git is marrying his mistress while his discarded princess rots in her grave.

But having finally snared her man, the glowing Camilla may well like to ponder the old saying that when a man marries his mistress, he creates a vacancy.

It's all a bit hard to swallow when the streets are lined with roses, blow-up hearts and toy teddies - all in the name of love. (And whoever decided that a toy teddy, as opposed to a lace teddy, was a romantic present to give a grown woman on Valentine's Day should be stuffed and have buttons sewn over their eyes.)

Five months ago the huge black gates of Kensington Palace in London were also lined with teddies, roses and blow-up hearts. It wasn't of the same magnitude as the metre-deep carpet that lined the approach paths to the palace when Princess Diana died in 1997. Rather, the palace gates had been wallpapered with Diana memorabilia.

The occasion was the seventh anniversary of the death and burial of Princess Diana and on that hot September afternoon last year the wallpaper made for fascinating reading. There were poems, newspaper cutouts, handwritten notes, hearts and flowers all tied to the gates, where a robust black woman, a ruddy, rotund man with bad teeth and a studious young Indian man were having a raging argument about who killed the princess.

It would have been funny if they weren't all so serious. The young Indian was the dissenter, claiming Diana had brought it on herself. Her two English advocates were having none of it. "She was murdered," they howled at him.

The same who-done-it argument raged over dinner tables last night as couples met for their big night out on Valentine's Day. They were showing their love by adding to the national debt with an overpriced dinner in an overcrowded restaurant.

Why is it that our public displays of love can often look so very cheap? Lleyton took $200,000 out of his change drawer to demonstrate his love for Bec with a Tiffany ring. Come on, Lleyton. Love's gotta hurt, just a little. Maybe the tennis player, who has made $US15 million ($19million) just in prizemoney, is still a little love-shy. After all, his wedding to his old fiancee, Kim Clijsters, was supposed to have been held last weekend.

Chuck didn't dig into his own massive wealth at all. Instead he got Mumsie to do his bidding, as usual. He got the Queen to root around in the family vault to find a nice little trinket to demonstrate his devotion for his mistress.

Where's the love, Chuck?

May they live happily never after.

[e-mail]


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[SAFINNO1]

Yes i read that article in a magazine and they had a pic of them too in a returant.

As for the Sampras-SAfin , happily it will never happen if Pete can give up tennis then marat has no chance of getting him to coach. Anyway Peter is doing great for him.

AS for his grass court i just really dont understand why he hates SW19. He has got the serve, volley is okay, booming backcourt play and he has got the height. His game is perfect for WImbledon.
But ever since Peter has come in i think he may actually turn Marat's negative enegy from Wimbledon around.
WHo knows he may make a 2nd round appearance this year.

[Teresa]

[quote author=shacks link=board=tournament&thread=1091181090&start=33#


Nonetheless, Federer has to be rated a stronger favorite to win both at Roland Garros and Wimbledon, experts agreed. "Federer's the kind of guy that as soon as he lost at Australia, he was setting his sights on the French Open (which begins in May)," McEnroe said. "He's the sort of guy that immediately starts looking toward the next major. The loss will make him hungrier. I think it will motivate him even more. And that's a scary thing for the rest of the field."

[/quote]

IMO this is what I think is the most important, forget Wimbledon, Marat has said he does not like Wimbledon, whether he has the weapons or whatever to win Wimbledon, I don't think that this is what is important to Marat at this time. What is the big deal about Wimbledon anyway? I definately wont be disapointed or upset if Marat does not go to Wimbledon.

He has always wanted to win RG and he has his sights set on doing this, and this is what I think he will concentrate on. This is my wish, for Marat to win RG.
Roger knows that Marat wants to win RG badly, and its the one GS that has given Roger trouble. Roger's revenge for AO will be to stop Marat at RG.

If he can.

For me it would be for Marat to concentrate on RG and the USO....in whatever order, win RG and then win the USO one more time, so that in his heart he will know that the win against Pete was not a fluke. He will win the USO again he will. After this he can turn his sights to Wimbledon, if he wants.

As for Pete.........dear god please let him stay in retirement with his wife and child please Marat does not need Pete.......pleeease

[SAFINNO1]

But teresa that will mean he competes in 3 out 4 grand slams and is losing silly Ranking points and RG is before Wimbledon so he can do both.
Personally i think he will need a good draw to win RG because any latino player is tricky and needs to be avoided.

[Teresa]

SAFINNO1 said:

But teresa that will mean he competes in 3 out 4 grand slams and is losing silly Ranking points and RG is before Wimbledon so he can do both.
Personally i think he will need a good draw to win RG because any latino player is tricky and needs to be avoided.

Personally I think the way Marat is likely to play this year
playing or not playing at Wimbledon will have little effect on his points, he is going to win win throughout the year and he will be up up up there in the rankings.

Its okay Safinno1 its okay, he will play Wimbledon, its just me okay

As for the Spanish and LA players, sure they are good and they can be tricky, but Marat is good too and can be tricky, and they cannot be avoided, so when the time comes I am sure Marat will deal with each situation as needs be

[SAFINNO1]

Teresa i respect your views but i just edgy about this topic because it is my home Grand Slam and when i talk too them they are like Marat Who.... If he is so good then why has he got knocked out in the 1st round. etc

also on the LA players you are right but despite his AO sucess i am still a bit edgy on how he will fare against the stronger LA - GAudio Caoria Nalbandian ( who al beaten him On clay in recent times.)

Just in case you think i am losing faith in him.
[glow=red,2,300]Go Marat GO[/glow]

BTW always nice chatting with you teresa.

[tall_one]

i've watched Marat beat Guga & Ferrero on clay when they were at there peak, i'm not worried about Gaudio, Coria & Nalbandian. Especially not Nalbandian, they only reason he beat Marat at RG last year was because of the blisters

As for Wimby, he can go ahead and skip it, i never had liked it either. too prim & proper for my tastes. I don't think it will affect his ranking that much since he never does well in it anyway.

I mean Marat is ranked 4th and he has no points to defend at either Wimby or the US Open. I'd rather he take a mid-season vacation and be rested & ready for the US hardcourt season.

Not to mention that Marat is someone who thrives on confidence - why go to Wimby, get beat early & lose confidence for the hardcourt season

[Teresa]

SAFINNO1 said:

Teresa i respect your views but i just edgy about this topic because it is my home Grand Slam and when i talk too them they are like Marat Who.... If he is so good then why has he got knocked out in the 1st round. etc

I meant no disrespect in regard to your concerns or to Wimbledon. Your been edgy is understandable, and having to be on the defense in this regard all the time.
You can imagine if you are edgy how Marat must feel been pressured all the time about Wimbledon and and been pressured into something he has no desire to be a part of.

It will get sorted, okay, lets get thur RG okay?

Re the LA players, I think nicki answered that for you

Just in case you think i am losing faith in him.
[glow=red,2,300]Go Marat GO[/glow]

Never crossed my mind..........you lose faith, never!

BTW always nice chatting with you teresa.

Same here.........like ditto a thousand times

See you in Dubai