Articles about Marat

[yarina]

I do not know (but I hope so )if this is a reliable magazine, but somebody posted this article on atptour.ro (taken from sovsport.ru). From what I gather from the online translation, it is an interview with Abramov about Marat's mountain trip....if would be really nice if anybody could translate it...pretty please

www.sovsport.ru/gazeta/default.asp?date=2007/10/31&id=272838

Meanwhile, the rest of us who do not speak Russian (yet can use either babelfish.altavista.com/tr or www.rustran.com to get an idea of what the article says.

[justsafin]

I don't know whether this is the right place to post or not......
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Jelena's Season-Ending Blog (Marat is the cutest ATP player .. ;D ;D ;D)

MADRID, Spain - It has been a busy year for Jelena Jankovic - but after a few weeks off she goes into her very first Sony Ericsson Championships refreshed and ready to make one final push, and she will bring us all along with her this week in the final Sony Ericsson WTA Tour Player Blog of the year. Enjoy!

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Friday, November 9, 2007

Although I am disappointed I couldn't finish my match today, there wasn't much I could do. As I told you yesterday I've been sick this week and I just wasn't able to continue. But like I also said, I'm happy about my year and am looking forward to some time off now! And for my last blog entry of the week, I'm really excited to be answering some of your questions... so let's begin!

What is your favorite tournament or tournament location to travel to?
Dave
Rome. I love that city! It has so much history and I love the people. I feel great there. I have so many great memories from playing there too - it was where I had my turning point last season and this year I won it, so it's just unbelievable. Actually, when I was like 11 or 12, my first international tournament was in Rome as well. So a lot of important moments in my career came there!

Obviously you travel so much during the season, but is there any place in particular you would like to visit that the Tour doesn't take you?
Louise
Hawaii. I've never been there before and I always wanted to go there. There's no tournament there either! I wanted to go there on vacation last year but it was so far and you're right, we travel so much anyway that it's hard to travel too much during the off-season. I don't know if I'll make it there this year either

What is your goal for 2008?
Fairuz
My goal for 2008 is to win a Grand Slam! Of course that's everyone's dream, but it's definitely something I'll be going for next year. I can't really pick one though - I'll take any of them! If I win one, then maybe I can start to get picky

I was wondering what areas of your game to you intend to improve on in the off-season?
Andrew
I'm hoping to work a lot on my first and second serve, as well as my transition game to the net. Those are the main areas but you can always improve on everything - I'd like to work on as much as possible!

Last year in December you were training somewhere in South America, which gave you a pretty good kick off for the beginning of the season in Australia. Are you planning on doing that again?
Hely
We're still talking to my coach about that, so I'm not sure about this year. But last year I had great preparation in Colombia, probably the best off-season in my whole career. But we haven't figured that out this year yet, so stay tuned.

If you were stranded on an island and were given a wish to have your favorite meal, what would you wish for?
Paul
It would be desserts! Ice cream, chocolate, crepes - anything sweet. I have a big sweet tooth! I would live on dessert. Luckily I have a good metabolism...

I noticed you love to talk about eating a good meal, so what would your perfect breakfast be? It may be the most random question ever, but it stands out!
Melanie
I'm a big fan of cereal actually and also some fruits, juice... and when I said my perfect day would include a nice breakfast, I didn't just mean for the food - I also meant just having the people that are close to you around you for 45 minutes or an hour - it's just a great start to the day.

Who do you think is the cutest ATP player?
Marlon
Hmm... that's a tough one! I'd have to say... Marat Safin. ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D
(well said, Jelena !)

I love the tennis dresses that Reebok makes for you - the white one with yellow stripes was super cute. Do you have any input in designs or do they just send you a bunch of them and you pick from them?
Matthew
I got to choose this year but I'll have some input on the designs for next year. I've become a big fan of bright colors... I've been wearing a lot of white and pink, which isn't my favorite really; in Madrid I wore some really great colors and I hope to be wearing more of those next season.

Is there any way to get your clothing line here in the United States?
Jen
I do have my own clothing line, but it's limited edition in Serbia only. As far as I know, there are no plans in the near future to bring it to the States. Sorry

I'm 10 years old and play tennis, and my teacher says I'm talented but I'm quite small, and all the boys my age are taller than me. So when I play matches I still lose a lot, and afterwards I'm always sad. The doctor says I'll get taller but still, do you have any tips for me so that I can still smile like you do?
Louis
This was by far the cutest question I got today! Don't worry about winning just yet. Right now you just need to work on getting the fundamentals and correct technique, and just make one step forward at a time. Especially at such a young age, it's important just to improve and have fun! Winning or losing isn't important yet - when you get older you can worry about that! I wish you the best of luck and I hope you beat those boys and have the biggest smile. And if you don't beat them, I'll come and beat them for you!!

I've heard you will be in a movie soon... is this true?
John
Yes it is! I'll be doing a role in a movie coming up, which is going to be directed by Emir Kusturica, who is a great director and has won awards at Cannes. It's just a really cool thing for me. I've always loved acting and it is something I'd like to experience. It'll be a small role, which is perfect for me to start with.

We are reading in Serbian news that you will be having a tennis event in Belgrade Arena on December 7th, where we will be able to see you, Ana, Novak and Janko in action. Is this confirmed? We would love to see you there!
Milena
I'm definitely going. I'm really looking forward to playing in front of my fans. It's such a great cause - raising money for poor and sick kids - and when I'm doing these humanitarian events, it's just a great feeling, no matter what.

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And that brings my blog to a close. Thank you so much for reading this week and thank you to all my fans for your support. Also, there just wasn't enough time to answer every question I got today, but I appreciated every single one!!

Have a great winter and I will see and talk to you all soon when my new website comes out next month!!

Hugs and kisses,

Jelena ♥♥

[annie]

What can i say? The girl's got impeccable tastes...

[maryb]

Jaime's been dumped? Tsk. What a tease. ;D

[davis]

He might suck tennis-wise these days but there still are some categories where Marat is unbeatable CONGRATS, LOL

www.tennisreporters.net/07_poll_results.html

[emma]

Dec 27, 2007 16:46:12 GMT 3 davis said:

He might suck tennis-wise these days but there still are some categories where Marat is unbeatable CONGRATS, LOL

www.tennisreporters.net/07_poll_results.html

Oh I'm so proud of him ;D

Thanks Annette

[Annie]

Wooohoooo ;D ;D ;D

Thank God it's last year stats in 3 days LMAO Thanks for the entertainment love

[annie]

Dec 27, 2007 16:46:12 GMT 3 davis said:

He might suck tennis-wise these days but there still are some categories where Marat is unbeatable CONGRATS, LOL

www.tennisreporters.net/07_poll_results.html

unfortunately they misspelled "SEXIEST" to "SEXIST"...if i didn't know what they meant, i would think they voted for Marat and Ana as the most sexist tennis players...

But, HU-RRAH! no one can ever beat our Marat on that category!!! they should save making their polls next time and just give him the title of "Sexiest Player For Life - Men" already...LOL

[maryb]

Made me laugh. Big Yin, read it and learn. If you feel the urge to smash a racquet, think of what it cost (not just in financial terms) - and pledge to send off a matching cheque to a charity. At least somebody should get a benefit out of it. ;D Never noticed any benefit to you. (Although it makes a great photo for us ... ;D)

January 30, 2008
Tennis Week Main - tennisweek - 2:30 pm
Anger Management


The struggle to play their best tennis can sometimes bring out the worst in tennis players — and severely shorten a racquet’s lifespan in the process.

Sudden death was once a way of life for Marat Safin. Tennis’ towering terminator was the reason tennis balls and his own racquets were classified at the top of tennis’ endangered species list. This was a six-foot-four powerhouse who played with the punishing power of a player intent on deconstructing the ball with each vicious swing — and that’s when he wasn’t smashing racquets faster than the Incredible Hulk shreds shirts.

Safin was to racquet smashing what Evel Knevel was to motorcycle crashing — a spectacle in a class by himself.

Fittingly, it was a showdown with Safin that prompted Roger Federer to re-examine his own behaviour on court. (Take heed Big Yin - you set him on the path to glory ... ;D)

Federer has been firmly entrenched at the top of tennis for years, but it wasn’t too long ago that the 12-time Grand Slam champion found himself throwing it all away — until a shared smash-down with temperamental titan Safin completely changed the Swiss stylist’s mind set.

“I was horrible in those days I used to throw my racquet,” Federer once said. “For instance, I’d miss one backhand, I’d say ‘OK.’ I’d miss my second, and I was like, ‘OK, one more, the racquet’s gotta go.’ So I missed the third and the racquet went.”

Asked to identify the moment that altered his outlook on racquet destruction, Federer replied: “Well I remember this moment when I was playing Safin in Rome one time, and they were showing highlights after the match and sort of trying to say who was better in throwing rackets. And then I really started to realize this is not why I’m playing tennis, to be in a competition of who’s throwing the racket more nicely (chuckles). There’s nothing nice about that.”

During the recent Australian Open, 2007 finalist Fernando Gonzalez offered a stiff challenge when he completely deconstructed his Babolat racquet with all the force of a wrecking ball eradicating a window shade. Serena Williams has shown her strength in smashing racquets against the sole of her shoe.

Frame fatalities aren’t confined to the pro circuit.

Tennis Week contributing writer Scoop Malinowski, who holds a USTA-Eastern ranking in his age group, once became so enraged during a match at Columbia University, he hurled his Volkl racquet like a frenetic frisbee from one baseline to the other sending spectators scattering for cover and threatening to puncture a hole in the bubble covering the court.

Obviously, racquet-smashing adds little to the frame’s longevity, but can it help a player?

Is the crack up a catharsis that can clear a player’s mind and help him or her regain their focus and play better tennis? Can these determined deconstructionists devoid of compassion for their frames actually help themselves by physically ridding themselves of the anger and frustration they feel during a match?

We asked sport psychologist Dr. John F. Murray if racquet-smashing can be form of tennis primal scream therapy in serving as a stress reliever while helping players perform better and the doctor (who apparently did not attend the Pete Townshend school of holistic therapy) believes while smashing may be a short-term fix it can create long-term issues.

“While for a small minority of players racquet smashing may help relieve stress in the short term and make that player calmer for a period, my experience and training shouts overwhelmingly that this is not a good idea for 98 percent of players and probably not even a good idea for the small percentage who might benefit,” Murray said. “Here is my logic: Players who smash racquets are acting on impulse, they are angry, and they are out of control. There is no other reason to do this. Nobody calmly walks to the net post and destroys a $300 object for no reason. The fact that the player allows himself or herself to get into that state speaks to the fact that they are taking the situation way too seriously to perform well. Focus often requires a fun and almost carefree approach. So to start with, it is a reaction to an emotional state that is counterproductive to great tennis.

“Two, even if for some it relieves stress and calms a player in the short term, this effect is only short-lived. If indeed it works effectively, the player only learns to smash a racquet again at the next sign of stress rather than lower intensity and relax naturally. Calming oneself and preparing for the next point is just incompatible with racquet smashing. It is a far more adaptive response to play great tennis.”

Before you pack a ping pong paddle in your bag as a placebo for your racquet-smashing fix, consider the message such action sends to an opponent.

”You are right on in suggesting that smashing a racquet can also signal to the opponent despair or lack of control at least, and this can inspire the opponent or provide additional confidence to the opponent,” Dr. Murray says. “This is rarely
smart in a competition where confidence is so important. The player typically smashes because he or she is angry, frustrated, hurt, and extremely stressed or intense. The smashing act, or any violent act for that matter, rarely leads to lower intensity and aggression. Countless studies suggest show that acting aggressively or out of control tends to enhance learning for this behavior to cope with future stress. Since tennis is a sport that requires terrific fine motor coordination, and clear thinking, and making fine adjustments under stress, the burst of adrenaline, muscle tension, fear, and anger that goes into smashing a racquet are quite counter to the goals of remaining calm, clear, quick and
clever. ”

So the next time you feel overcome with the primordial urge to rage against all of the forces of frustration tag-teaming up to body-slam your composure, resist the temptation to crack - just take a deep breath and relax (or go home and pop in the video of Safin’s greatest smashes).

“Rather than busting up a racquet, which costs a lot and does little to model courtesy for the opponent or respect for the game (after all tennis has a regal history of good manners and at least trying to be step above the rest), it is far more adaptive if the player develops a more advanced stress reduction strategy learned in sport psychology sessions,” Dr. Murray says. “This may include any number of things such as deep breathing, muscle tensing and relaxing, thought control, routines, and positive suggestion. These kinds of well planned out strategies can help get a player quickly over the anger of a lost point, and help the player prepare for the next point without resorting to primitive fight or flight responses learned outside the caves, with stone clubs in hand.”

2 Comments »
I don’t smash racquets–much too economy-minded for that–but I drop the racquet in anger. Ostensibly I do it because if it’s not in my hand I can’t throw it. However, I realize such action–accompanied by loud self-beration–is juvenile, and I should eliminate it. Be like Roger; don’t be like Marat.

Comment by Gary Bacatselos — January 31, 2008 @ 12:45 pm

We all blow up externally or internally and it’s got to go somewhere. There are many training techniques you can use harness frustration & anger and convert it into intense focus on technique & strategy. If you must throw something out of disgust, toss your hat into the fence.

[annie]

LMAO...Somebody send that to Marat PLEASE!!! I would if i knew his email....

[wendy]

you should send it to webby on OS.wendy

[maryb]

Mission accomplished.

[annie]

Thank you!!! Now, let's hope he reads it and take it as a good advice...

[helloticky]

Dec 27, 2007 16:46:12 GMT 3 davis said:

He might suck tennis-wise these days but there still are some categories where Marat is unbeatable CONGRATS, LOL

www.tennisreporters.net/07_poll_results.html

;D ;D
Marat that's so cool & congratulations to Evgeny Korolev too for the third Newcomer of the Year but the second Bust of the Year for Marat it's not fair he got injury...

[justsafin]

DEUCE MAG

The Harry Potter of Men's Tennis By JAMES BUDDELL
Published: January 10, 2008
www.atptennis.com/5/en/deuce/january2008/santoro.asp
Fabrice Santoro sets a new record for most Grand Slam tournaments played at the 2008 Australian Open. Beginning his final year on Tour, the creative Frenchman analyzes why some players like Sampras, Agassi and Safin fell victim to his spell yet others were impervious to his slice and dice wizardry.

Trickery and deception have always been an art to Fabrice Santoro.

Just ask the likes of Jimmy Connors, Boris Becker, Stefan Edberg, Thomas Muster, Andre Agassi, Roger Federer and Pete Sampras, who dubbed him 'The Magician' after one particularly grueling battle at Indian Wells in 2002.
Hundreds of players have fallen under the Frenchman's spell during a 20-season pro career on the ATP circuit. Some have mastered his game, but nobody has ever been able to imitate his unique style of play: from his ability to execute a bewildering array of angles and spins to changes of pace with his two-handed ground strokes and volleys.

Santoro has dined at the top table for so long that at the Australian Open in Melbourne he will set an Open Era record by appearing in his 62nd Grand Slam championship, breaking Agassi's mark set at the US Open in September 2006.
From his Grand Slam debut at Roland Garros in May 1989, when he lost to American David Wheaton 3-6, 0-6, 6-3, 6-4, 8-6 in the first round but captured the junior title, to his current standing of No. 36 in the South African Airways ATP Rankings, Santoro has been one of the most fascinating players for fans to watch and for his peers to compete against.

"When I started my professional career as a 16 year old all I wanted was to do my best. No matter what age you are: 16, 25 or 30 you hope that your game holds up and your desire to compete at the top level remains just as intense," says the amiable Frenchman, who turned 35 last December.

"I feel very lucky to be ranked so highly. It's incredible! I can't say I have done anything special: I haven't a different training regimen; I don't drink or smoke, and I eat well."

Of course, every career must end at some point. "The 2008 season will definitely be my last as a professional," he says. "I would like to stay healthy and compete at all the Grand Slam events, but apart from my current business interests I don't know what I want to do after retiring."

With the experience of more than 800 singles matches during his career, DEUCE asked Santoro about five players who found his game very hard to play against; five ATP stars that he has had trouble beating and the tactics he has employed against those players.

ORDER OF MERIT

7-2 vs Marat Safin
"Every time I step on the court against Marat it is a great challenge. He is capable of anything with his immense power, great backhand and ability from the baseline. My game is very different, so as with any player I judge my tactics according to the weather conditions and court surface. As Marat is so tall I keep my groundstrokes low, meaning he has to bend and stretch a lot. When I have the chance I attack the net as it is difficult to out-rally him from the baseline."

3-3 vs Andre Agassi
"It was always a great honor playing Andre, even to be on the same court as him. I have a huge respect for him, his generous nature and Andre the person, on and off the court. He took the ball so early from inside the baseline and fed off pace. Therefore I was forced to take the net and attempt to keep the points as short as possible."

3-4 vs Pete Sampras
"Once again it was a tremendous challenge playing against the 14-time Grand Slam champion, who ranked No. 1 for six straight years. I have real respect for Pete. We had some terrific matches but to put myself in contention to beat Pete, I has to target his backhand - which was considered his weaker ground stroke - and I always had to serve and volley, matching his own game."

8-3 vs Sebastien Grosjean
"I always find it very difficult playing a fellow Frenchman, somebody you have practised with on the tour or as a team mate for in Davis Cup ties. But all the French players have my mobile number and a lot of them treat me as a father figure. Against a player as aggressive as Sebastien, who has a lot of power in his forehand and gives a player very little time, the key is to stay focused on your own game and not to get disheartened when things aren't going to plan. I attempt to hit well-placed serves and put him under pressure from the first ball."

5-2 vs Arnaud Clement
"Whenever you step on court with Arnaud, you know you will have to fight hard for every point to beat him. The French crowds respect that and he is held in high esteem. He moves very well and, like Agassi, he plays close to the baseline and is very consistent. I always attempt keep the ball low and pick my time to attack the net to close out a point, as he has a canny knack of passing you."


PLAYERS THAT PUZZLE

0-5 vs Nikolay Davydenko
“The problem I have had is that each match has been of a high standard and that circumstances have always turned against me. Nikolay has a very solid game, but his serve and forehand are not as powerful as many Top 10 players. I always try to stay aggressive, serve-volley and attempt to upset his rhythm. Hopefully I’ll have another chance in 2008 to snap the losing streak against him.”

2-8 vs Roger Federer
“For me it is always tough. Pretty much everybody has an inferior record against Roger, but I feel honored to have played against him as I rate Roger the greatest player of all time. When I have played Roger, I have always attempted to concentrate play on his backhand wing and use my slice approaches to open up the angles of the court. I am proud of my two wins.”

1-3 vs James Blake
“At the US Open in 2007 I was very close to snapping my losing streak against James. In fact I was five points away from victory and consider this match, the atmosphere and sportsmanship as one of my greatest memories as a player. James has a great forehand and is known for his excellent movement around the court, so I have always tried to be aggressive and take my chances when I have played him.”

0-6 vs Yevgeny Kafelnikov
“Yevgeny was very tough! I had no idea of how to play him; every weapon in his arsenal was better than mine. He’d strike forehand winners, backhand winners, volley and smash winners from all over the court and no matter how hard I tried to figure out his game I always came unstuck. I consider Yevgeny as one of the best competitors I played against during my career. I can’t offer any tactics against him – he was far too good.”

1-5 vs Tommy Robredo
“Tommy is very good from the baseline, which means that I always have to serve very well to set up a point and be in contention to beat him. I won our last meeting in Dubai last year as I was aggressive and chose the times to attack the net.”