Articles about Marat

[Andrada]

Nadal Legend Grows with Masters Series Monte Carlo Title

Posted on April 18, 2005

Nadal Powers Past Coria for First Masters Title at ATP Monte Carlo

Not yet ranked in the world's Top 10, Rafael Nadal nonetheless reinforced his standing as the favorite for next month's French Open with a 6-3, 6-1, 0-6, 7-5 victory Sunday over defending champion Guillermo Coria in the final of the Masters Series-Monte Carlo.

It was the second consecutive appearance in a Masters Series final for Nadal after Miami, where the Spaniard lost to Roger Federer after leading by two sets to love and a service break. Monte Carlo was the first career Masters Series title for Nadal.

Nadal now holds a 20-2 record on clay for 2005 and has won 23 of his last 25 matches. Nadal was also the second-youngest Masters Series winner at 18 years, 10 months after Michael Chang (18 years, 5 months) won in Toronto in 1990, and the youngest winner in Monte Carlo since Mats Wilander in 1983 (18 years, 7 months).

"I don't see myself as the favorite for Roland Garros," Nadal said. "I only think about my next tournaments -- Barcelona, where I really want to do well, and the Masters Series in Rome and Hamburg."

The punters will vote otherwise next month, with Nadal's game far out in front of Coria, who is not 100 percent after coming off shoulder surgery and a groin injury; Roger Federer who has all the tools but plays sporadically on the dirt; Juan Carlos Ferrero, who is clearly lacking confidence and the ability to close big matches; Carlos Moya who has become a non-factor in 2005; defending Roland Garros champ Gaston Gaudio, who was fed a bagel by Nadal last week; and Marat Safin, who...well, who knows what the hell is going on there. ;DTHAT'S ONE OF THE REASONS FOR WHICH WE LIKE HIM SO MUCH,ISN'T IT?

Coria complained that rain during the match made the court too slow to put the ball away against the speedy Spaniard.

"I think the conditions didn't help me, because it rained, the court became really slow, the balls heavy and it was impossible for me to win a point against him because he is so fast," Coria said. "I came really close to turning the situation around, when I came back from 1-4 in the fourth set, but unfortunately it didn't work."

In the doubles final, No. 5 seeds Leander Paes and Nenad Zimonjic won by walkover when American twin brothers Bob and Mike Bryan withdrew due to a shoulder injury by Mike. It was the first title of 2005 for Paes/Zimonjic.

"Mike's shoulder is so sore he cannot raise his arm or swing the racket at all," said Bryan clan patriarch Wayne. "He hurt it in the last couple of games in their semi yesterday evening in the cold and damp conditions. He's had ever kind of treatment possible, including several shots and he just isn't able to do it...They both hope Mike will be able to give it a go in Houston on Wednesday."

[Andrada]

Safin tries to hold serve with emotions, career
By Jill Lieber, USA TODAY


Marat Safin had his defining moment when he was 20. He blasted Pete Sampras in straight sets in the 2000 U.S. Open final, playing what Sampras said was "the tennis of the future."

Marat Safin is maturing and looking to build on his 2005 Australian Open win, his first Grand Slam in more than four years.
By Bernat Armangue, AP

He won his first Grand Slam, reached No. 1 in the world and watched his bank account, international profile, social life and material wealth multiply overnight.

Yet, he asked himself, again and again, is that all there is?

"There was nothing else to achieve," he says. "Still, there was an emptiness in my heart. I had everything, but I had nothing."

Today, at 25 and ranked No. 4, Safin still is struggling to find meaning in his life.

On Jan. 30, after a 4 1/2-year odyssey, he won his second Grand Slam, the 2005 Australian Open. He defeated No. 1 Roger Federer of Switzerland in an epic, five-set semifinal, fighting off a match point and ending Federer's 26-match winning streak. Then he snuffed out Lleyton Hewitt of Australia in the final, thanks in large part to the calming influence of Federer's former coach, Peter Lundgren, now Safin's coach.

But, true to form, it took Safin about three months to win more than two matches in a row in a tournament after that.

Now his friends and family, his coach and the tennis world are waiting to see which Safin will show up at the French Open, a tournament he certainly has the game and desire to win, beginning May 23 at Roland Garros in Paris.

"The criticism is he's inconsistent and has never taken his talent seriously," says Hall of Famer Jim Courier, winner of four Grand Slam titles. "The truth is he's a terrific athlete who can match up with Roger Federer when they're both having their best day on court. That list starts and stops with Marat. But has he put it all together? We're all still waiting to see that happen."

Adds U.S. Davis Cup coach Patrick McEnroe: "Physically, he's so talented. He is intimidating, just by his physique. He's 6-foot-4, with a monster serve and monster return, which makes it tougher. He's been miserable since Australia. With him, it's always a question of how long he can keep his head together."

Federer isn't shaking in his sneakers.

"The last few months, the beginning of this year, it was looking good for him," Federer says. "But he still needs more than that, I think. ... If he can play all the way through an entire year, then I think that's when we're really going to say, 'Gee, Marat has changed.' "

A great show for the fans

Safin is one of the most complicated and compelling athletes in sports.

• He's a passionate, unpredictable perfectionist with a brooding soul.

• He's honest to a fault.

• He breaks rackets when he gets disgusted with himself — more than 300, he estimates, at last count.

• He berates himself in Russian, Spanish or English when he makes stupid mistakes.

• He pretends to cry when he hits balls into the net.

• He even dropped his pants to celebrate a spectacular point at last year's French Open.

Courier, arguably the most introspective player of his era, is, not surprisingly, an unabashed Safin fan.

"Marat's one of the most entertaining characters in tennis in the past 20 years," Courier says. "People miss my generation of players. They felt something with us; they knew something about us. Marat's something to behold. Hopefully, people will feel him, and know him, more."

Safin speaks his mind

Off the court, Marat Safin turns into an even more open book, spending hours signing autographs for fans and spewing quotes for the media.
Some of his gems:

On his lack of focus - "There are people who give the advice who don't really know what a person feels, what's going on inside of me. Everybody has their own fears, own problems, own complications. Something doesn't just allow you to break through, to make it happen."

On his on-court behavior- "You can't fight your genes. I'm Russian, but I'm 100% Muslim. All the Muslim people are passionate, stubborn. We have hot blood."

On the skepticism about his Australian Open win- "Who (cares) about the world? Who (cares) about the opinion of other people? No offense, but I have enough pride to continue in this way, and I have enough brain to make sure that it doesn't slip away again."

[Andrada]

Born in communist Russia, Safin started playing tennis when he was 6. His father, Misha, is a director of a small tennis club in Moscow. His mother, Rausa Islanova, a tennis coach, pushed him and his sister, Dinara Safina, who turned 19 Wednesday and is ranked No. 38 in the world, onto the court. But Safin played for the Spartak Moscow youth soccer team and wanted nothing to do with tennis.

"Maybe I was unhappy, but I had no other choice," he says. "My mother said I would have more chances to become a tennis player than a football player."

He quickly outgrew the substandard facilities and equipment in Moscow. "It was really impossible to break through in Russia. We couldn't buy any balls. We really didn't have any courts, no rackets, nothing. And no people to practice with."

When he was 14, his parents solicited financial backing and sent him to a private tennis school in Valencia, Spain. "It is for the opportunity to do something big," says Safin, who became fluent in Spanish in six months. "Why not do it? Because otherwise you might not have a chance."

Fame comes too quickly

Three years later, in 1997, Safin, then 17, turned pro, and the following year he put himself on the map at the French Open with upsets of Andre Agassi and defending champion Gustavo Kuerten of Brazil. He won his first ATP title in 1999.

During the first 41/2 months of 2000, Safin struggled just to win a match, throwing tantrums and pulverizing rackets at every event. He threatened to quit. Then he turned it around, winning an ATP-leading seven titles, including the U.S. Open.

He led the ATP in singles matches won (73) and finals reached (nine) and was second in singles matches played (100), one behind countryman Yevgeny Kafelnikov. He became the youngest to end No. 2 since 19-year-old Boris Becker in 1986 and the first under 21 to win at least seven titles in a year since Mats Wilander won nine in '83.

Winning the U.S. Open at 20 was the best, and the worst, thing that happened to Safin. "I had money. I had a house in Valencia. I had five cars — one was a Ferrari. What else does a 20-year-old kid need?"

Says his sister: "He wasn't ready. It came so fast. Money came. He didn't realize, and he started to have more fun."

Safin lost his focus and went into a slow fall, burdened by fame, fortune, injuries and a lack of desire. In 2001 he got to the quarterfinals of Wimbledon and the semifinals of the U.S. Open. In 2002 he was runner-up in the Australian Open and a semifinalist in the French but lost in the round of 64 in Wimbledon and the U.S. Open.

In 2003, he made headlines at the Australian Open for the three gorgeous blondes in his player's box, then dropped out of sight the rest of the year, plummeting to No. 77, his game and confidence destroyed by a nagging left wrist injury.

"Once you have bad losses, people speak and you listen," he says. "You start to believe that maybe it's who you are. You are a perfectionist, you want to do everything perfect. ... After a while, you don't believe you're good enough."

Safin again threatened to quit. But after much soul-searching, he decided it would be better to face the past — and discard it.

"I had all this stuff," he says. "It wasn't realistic. I'm not a materialistic person. So I sold all my cars. ... I didn't want to regret after my career was over that I didn't really do what I had to do."

Growing into his success

His new, never-say-die attitude was evident at the 2004 Australian Open. Although he lost in the final to Federer, he played 21 hours and 6 minutes in the tournament. His 300 sets were the most in a Grand Slam in the Open era, tying Harold Solomon's mark at Roland Garros in 1976.

Safin jumped from No. 86 to No. 32.

Heartened by his success, he and his management team approached Lundgren about becoming his coach. After seven years with Federer, though, he needed time to chill. Last May, Lundgren signed on.

"It's like a puzzle," Lundgren says. "You start with all of the things you can see that can be better. You can't change everything overnight. It takes time."

When he lost in the first round in the 2004 U.S. Open, Safin again threatened to quit. "He said, 'I can be a top-30 player, but the way I play, I want to do something else,' " Lundgren recalls. "I said, 'Come on, man. Take a few days off before you make a decision like that.' "

Safin then won three ATP titles, including two ATP Masters Series events, and finished in the top four for the third time in five years.

Lundgren has pushed Safin to commit himself to a regimented physical fitness and nutritional program. Safin has hired a chiropractor to travel with him on tour. He'll also travel to Valencia to work with a sports-specific personal trainer.

Lundgren also has gotten Safin to understand he needs to keep his emotions in check. "Before, he would hang his head, bust a racket, throw up his hands, say, 'I can't play, I'm so tired,' " Lundgren says. "Now, he's angry ... it's over. That's important."

Safin's sister says he's so much more focused and aware of his emotions that he took her aside before her match against Maria Sharapova at Indian Wells in March and told her not to get upset.

More important, Lundgren has convinced Safin that if he doesn't try to get the most out of his enormous talent, he'll have major regrets.

Says Safin: "I've let my perfectionism go. I've learned to accept the losses. I've realized I can't waste any moment being unhappy. I want to play tennis until I can't. Why not enjoy it?"

[annie]

Thank you soooooo much Andrada...that's one great read!!!!!!!!!!

[Teresa]

Andrada, thanks
Thats a really good article Safin Tries to hold serve with emotions, (for a change) and comes at a good time, when we want to see some more positive stuff in the media about Marat.

Thanks

[SAFINNO1]

That is a really quality article, it is good to read and it sounds like this man knows what he is chatting about.
Thanks Andrada for posting this

[Andrada]

You're welcome!!! I'm glad U enjoyed it! I think it is a good and, as Teresa said, a positive article! We were in need of something like this, weren't we?

Thank God there still are good intentioned people...i'm sick and tired of the ones who write articles only to have something to do...writing stupid things, without knowing what they are talking about...

[Teresa]

Another good article people

SAFIN TRIUMPH IS GOOD FOR THE GAME
By Andy Schooler

A good a player as Roger Federer is, wasn't it good to see him beaten in Melbourne?

The Swiss has proved a brilliant entertainer over the past 12 months, but even those who continue to marvel at his skills on a tennis court must have been growing tired of his domination of the game.

He arrived at the Australian Open unbeaten in five months and looked like making it six as he cruised through the early rounds.

Then he ran into Marat Safin.


The Russian has long been touted as the one player with the natural talent to challenge Federer's position as world number one, but time and again he has failed to live up to considerable promise.

That was until the back end of last season when he won back-to-back Masters Series events in Madrid and Paris.

Despite that form, Safin was still a big outsider before he took to the Rod Laver Arena to face Federer in a semi-final which will earn a considerable entry in the history books of Melbourne Park.

Federer was unable to shake off Safin as he had done with many other opponents during the fortnight and when he blew match point in the fourth-set tie-break, you sensed something special was about to happen.

Safin, so often the architect of his own downfall with a fragile mind, refused to buckle in the decider, but when he missed match point an incredible six times you wondered if the tantrums would return.

Yet there were few signs of his famous temper and he eventually managed to close out a memorable victory.

It is Safin's mind which adds to his 'watchability'.


His ability to implode has infuriated his supporters on many an occasion in the past and depite looking mentally tough in Melbourne, he still showed his frustration on many an occasion.

Comparisons with John McEnroe will undoubtedly be made.


Some will tut and say there is no place for such behaviour in the game. Others, including me, believe it is good for players to express their emotions on court.


'Super Brat' of course made his name with his success at Wimbledon, an event he won three times.

Safin seems unlikely to follow in his footsteps though, and that is sad for fans of the game in England.

Last year Safin was dumped out of SW19 in the very first round, disgusted by his inability to adapt to the surface.

"I give up on Wimbledon," Safin said after losing to little-known Dimitry Tursunov. "It's definitely not the tournament for me. I hate this. I was trying to prepare myself and give myself another chance but I think it's the last one."

The world number four has since vowed to return to the All England Club, but despite possessing fine volleying skills - as he showed at times in the Melbourne final against Lleyton Hewitt - he admits his chances of success are slim.

Even if he does show up, English tennis fans are unlikely to see that best of Safin on their grasscourts and he will therefore struggle to earn the plaudits that Federer has done in this country.

With interest in tennis in England so focused on two weeks in the summer, those who only loosely follow the game will be missing out.

In Melbourne, Safin showed he has all the shots and a much-talked about rivalry with Federer could well be brewing nicely in five months' time.

Let's hope so.

A one-man domination of any sport may be fascinating in the short term, but as time goes by it can border on the tedious - Pete Sampras wasn't just tagged 'boring' for his off-court demeanour.


As good as it would have been to have seen a player complete the Grand Slam, something which hasn't happened in my lifetime on the men's side, I'm looking forward to the season more now than I did prior to Safin's memorable victory.

[Teresa]

Annie said:

Ermmmmmmm isn't this the same article Andrada posted?

Ermmmmmmmmmmm Annie...... yes

[Andrada]

Teresa, thank U for the article!!!

[annie]

yes...it's a great one...i like it..thanks teresa, for sharing it..

[annie]

Thanks Teresa, good one!!! Great to know there are still people in this world apart from us Safinomaniacs who have faith

[Mariana]

Thanks Andrada and Teresa for the articles

[annie]

LOL Had no idea where to post this, so I decided that this is the most neutral since to open a new thread for US Open already is waaaaaaaaaaaaay too early.

I read today a funny article called "US Open turns blue" ;D

Aparently starting from this year the courts at US Open are going to be blue in order for the viewers on court and at home in front of the TV to get a better view of the balls as well as it is good for the umpires. The funniest part is that the outside part, which is outside the line will remain green.

So it's blue and green courts for the US now!

[annie]

hmmm... colorful...!!!
what's next? Red tennis balls? LOL