Quotes About Marat

[Annie]

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Quotes About Marat

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All quotes below are by fellow players, experts, journalists and family.

* "So on a day, yeah, he can kill everybody. He doesn't even beat them, he can kill them. So I think that's what makes him so dangerous."
Roger Federer


* "He's got a great backhand-one of the best in the world...He's very solid from the back court. He hits the ball very big and very deep and he's got that big serve that kind of sets it up for him. He's a powerful player, and mentally, at times, he can be fragile, but tonight he was strong. He kept his composure when he needed to and played a great match. But he's got a lot of talents and he's put it together this week."
-Pete Sampras on the many talents of Marat after losing to the Russian in Melbourne 2002.


* "Last night I applied some of my famous 'Rub Dub' massage creme to Marat Safin. Afterwards, Marat told me that it was so hot that he never moved so fast on court in his life."
Bill Norris (ATP trainer)
After the Russian defeated D.Prinosil in straight sets. AO 2002


* Well, I know Marat since we were like five years old, because we're from the same club in Moscow. We went to America the first time with a group together, it was like fifteen kids. I know him very well. We are almost the same age. You know, he's been practicing in Spain. He was always a great player. I practiced with him, you know, in Russia many times. I think he's got a great game. Probably help him a lot that he's practicing in Spain, not in Russia. It's very difficult conditions practicing in Russia.
Anna Kournikova
Roland Garros, Paris, France, on May 28, 1998


* "He's catching, but he's young, you know. He has very good potential. He's a great player, and his potential is n°1. I assume he's doing to play a lot of matches, he's going to break other racquets. Is going to be big fight, you know. Depends how long I going to play, you know...I think he throws the racquets with emotions. That's how you should throw the racquet."
Goran Ivanisevic on Marat Safin's chances to pass him for the lead of most career broken racquets.


* I was just happy that he would always play with me, even though I was a girl. He didn't care. He just wanted to play tennis. The same with me. I didn't care. I just wanted to play and be on the court. And we had a lot of fun.
Anna Kournikova
(Talking about her victory over Marat when she was 9 and he was 10)


* Marat Safin - Simply the best-looking male player on the planet, possibly the best-looking male as well. A true gladiator, a perfectly proportioned being and a tennis equivalent to Leo Tolstoy if only he could get that temper under control. Still, great champions should possess a healthy dose of madness and Marat needs to smash racquets the way some people need to crack their knuckles. He is also extremely dry-witted and gives entertaining interviews. At the Tennis Masters Series in Toronto (which he won), he explained his addiction to racquet smashing. “Sometimes, you need this. And I think the people, they understand this. Because we are human beings and we need to try to break it because it’s only a racquet, it’s nothing else. But I know it’s not very nice on the court. It doesn’t look very, I would say, very educated.”
Some of Safin’s shots look like they might make holes in the court. In a few years time, when he has collected a number of Grand Slam titles, he will be shattering many women’s hearts as well.
Australian Tennis Magazine, October 2000
"Here Come the Gladiators": The Top Ten Hottest Men in Tennis.
Marat was #1 (of course).


* “He’s the prototype for the new generation of tennis players. That’s the body. If you could pick one, if you could design one...that is exactly the body that you want. Because he’s fast and he’s smooth, and he doesn’t move like a guy normally moves 6-4 on a tennis court. You see those guys who kind of lumber around. This guy, man... He’s a real natural”
“If he could put it all together...who could stop this guy? On his best day, I don’t think there’s another guy who’s as good as he is...It’s really just a question of him putting it all together and keeping his head together. He’s young, there’s no reason he can’t have a beautiful career. It’s really gonna be in spite of himself if he does not.”
Jim Courier


* "With such charm, such a nonchalant smile, this guy is twice as dangerous... shortly he will eclipse Agassi if he continues this way... Never before has a Russian tennis player been so interesting as a personality."
"I’m hoping he will (fulfill his talent). It’d be big for the men’s game if he did. He’s a very smart guy.. he speaks a lot of languages. He’s obviously a great-looking young guy... If people could just make him understand... how big it would be for him to step up and play with the type of fire that a Hewitt plays with. It would be incredible for tennis. If he could embrace that even for a few years..."
"Safin happens to be a very very intelligent young man. He speaks a number of languages... very quick on his feet. He's got it all. He's got the talent, he's got the looks, he's a very intelligent young guy. And he's got a sense of humour."
John McEnroe:


* " In June 1998, shortly after his first sensational debut at the French Open, I remember how hard it was for him to cope with the sudden avalanche of fame... Fame and attention weighed on him. Two years have passed. Safin already knows what he is worth. But he is still sincere-both on court and off. And this sincerity wins me over."
Yevgeny Fedyakov
(one of Russia's leading tennis observers from Sport-Express)


* "Hewitt, he is not the most brilliant, but he plays right. But according to me, the best player of the world is Marat Safin. He is able to push tennis to another dimension (another level). It is not normal that he loses against me..."
Fabrice Santoro


* "I want to see Safin become the real deal. He is a great story. He comes out of a country where people have struggled for so long, is sponsored to go to Spain to learn the game, the language and the culture, he develops a sense of humour in three languages. He shows a lot of emotion on the court, a fantastic smile, he's a big, good-looking guy who plays in his first Grand Slam final and hardly misses a passing shot. Tennis has someone special and I hope it doesn't waste him."
John McEnroe


* "He's an engaging personality, he's the type of male player this tour should promote and market better. And as you saw against Todd Martin, when things get tight, he's got more variety to his game than you may think. And we all know about the power, but this guy is one of the best and quickest athletes in the men's tennis tour. 6' 4, he covers a lot of ground and here, as he's learnt specifically and particularly in the last 6 months or so in his tennis career, is that he doesn't have to put holes in the court, put holes in his opponent; that he can mix it up, take something off it, god forbid, mix up the angles, play longer points. He's, as Mary (Carillo) said, advancing literally, by the week. I mean, I firmly believe the man you saw yesterday, Hewitt, or Safin, is going to be the number one player in the world in the next year."
John McEnroe


* When I started working with him in 2000, I first repaired his head [smiles]. I told him "Stop breaking rackets, play like a man. Don't cry!. About the beautiful girls that we sometimes see around him, it's part of his character, I think. Marat likes to have 2, 3 or 4 nice girls near him watching him play! [laughs] Maybe he needs it to be good, anyway..."
Andrei Chesnokov


* "Of course, he's ambitious and he wants to play tennis but he doesn't want anything that resembles a career plan. He doesn't even want to plan his day! The problem is that Marat doesn't want to be a superstar. He always says to me 'Gerard, I don't want to be Agassi or Kournikova.' But he doesn't have a choice. Today he handles the situation better because he has accepted it. There's a sort of a conflict in himself. On the onehand, he knows that to become number one, he must be concentrated on his job and more vigilant in his personal life, but on the other hand, he wants to enjoy his life, like all guys who are twenty years old do. This conflict is difficult. 2001 was a year of adaptation. People found him a little bit arrogant, inaccessible, hard, less smiling. It's easier for him now. The fact that there's a lot of money in the game, and that he feels being observed constantly for every little fact and gesture, overwhelms him. In private, he has kept his enjoyable personality. In public, he hides it. I think that he's got a lots of qualities that he hesitates to develop, like his charming side, his sense of communication. He could be more open. He has so much talent in his face, his smile and his eyes. One day his spirit is perfectly aligned with the moon, Mars and Jupiter. Next day, something happens, it changes his universe and he doesn't know in which direction to go. He's lost. Marat still knows that he has two sides: the champion and the guy who likes to party with his friends. But he will soon see that there are other sides. And he will discovers them in time..."
Gerard Tsobanian
Marat's manager.


* "He's an interesting and engaging character because he's at the same time heads or tails. He can give everything when he likes somebody, be very generous and do everything for that person. But at the same time, he's 21, he has lots of money and enjoys partying. So, he's not always serious. It's normal, he wants to enjoy his life. He asked himself a lot of questions and this is why his off-peak periods can last a long time. But he needs those ups and downs. He makes them work for him, more that a linear journey would do. Everybody has different objectives. For him, it's to enjoy his life because he knows that he only has one. I don't know if it's because of his incredible physique, but his personality is one of extremes .Whatever is his activity, I've the impression that he can't things by half. When he does party, he completely does it. When he practices, he can work really too hard. At the dinner table, he can eat very very much. He's never between the two extremes. For me, Marat is the James Dean of tennis. He loves life and can't refrain from profiting from it, even if it means that he burns his wings. He's got a beautiful face, he likes parties and women. But at the same time, he's not a gambler. The thing that he prefers is to be at the table with his friends, to be with people he appreciates. He's really nice and generous. Fifteen days ago, when I went to Geneva to practice with Nico (Escudé), it's Marat who came to the airport. That evening, we went to a restaurant. Of course, he paid for everybody. "
Arnaud Casagrande


* "He was most excited when he walked around Times Square and bought a laptop computer on Fifth Avenue."
Rafael Mensua
ex-coach about the Marat's first visit in NY.


* "Marat Safin has the talent and the flair to become the Michael Jordan of tennis but lacks the desire and the drive to make it all the way to the top"
Shamil Tarpishev


* "Yevgeny Kafelnikov is the last product of the soviet organization of sport, Marat is the first tennis champion of a modern liberal Russia..."
Mikhail Safin (Marat's dad)


* For me, the best player in the world is Marat Safin because I think he can play well on all the surfaces and he has great potential.
Jiri Novak


* When they ask me "When will Marat be #1?, I say "When he'll want it". But this year he has too many injuries. I even suggested that someone put a spell on him.. Because if we are talking about his professionalism this year, I have no complaints - he does everything right. It looks like the life tests him now, I think. All his injuries are illiogical and absurd, but otherwise, he has really grown up in last eight monthes, and improved his self-discipline - there's no doubt about it. I think that potentially he is #1 in the world."
Denis Golovanov [?]



* "He reminded me of myself when I was 19 and came here and won for the first time"
Pete Sampras


* "He was impressive with everything service, returns, from the baseline, he was hitting off both sides. When he plays like that, he's very difficult to beat."
Sebastian Grosjean


* Is it uncommon to enjoy having parties in tennis world?
No. There is a night life on the tour. We are not in bed at 9 h 30 watching a late nignt show on TV5! But Marat is able to sleep late before the day of his match as long as he can get up late. He can move forward his day like that. It's another philosophy and I like it. It's very rare that he loose a match because he is tired from a late night out. The risk is more about his mental fatigue... to blow fuses. When he's irritated, he really is.
Marc Rosset


* "Your performance proves that a star is born."
Vladimir Putin
after Russia's Davis Cup Victory 2002


* "The saviour of the Australian Open, and maybe at term of the male tennis, is Hercules with the face of an innocent. Safin is a star. A champion; a superb player and a clown. With the journalists Marat is the funniest, the most unpredictable tennismen, flinging a barrage of awful things while turning red like a young girl (or tossing off loads of outrageous remarks while blushing like a young girl.). In summary, at one moment the masculine tennis is looking for an equal for a golden pairing like Agassi-Sampras, Safin is the real treasure. He has the tennis ability and athletic quality of Sampras, the cold-bloodness of Agassi, the arrogance of Kafelnikov, the humour and the crazyness of Ivanisevic, the sense of spectacle and party of Noah Yannick. With a little extra, something so russian: the look of danger, of mystery, that he redeems. Well, Marat is a credible hero."
French Newspaper 'Liberation'
01.26.02


* "Marat is calm, reserved and discreet. He's not always open with everybody, which maybe gives him a reclusive side. But his explosions and smashed rackets are normal. Frustration builds up from matchs and tournaments and when you are a little bit impulsive, inevitably there are excesses. He dislikes talking about tennis, he's not a tennisfan(...)He has a lot of interests, he likes to read alot. So, when we step out of the court, we talk about other things. If I compare him to other players I know, Federer for example is much more in love with tennis than Safin off court. Everybody believes that Marat likes to show off with models in nightclubs. But the thing he hates the most, except rules, is to go to nightclubs and to have to listen to everyones "good advice". Like me, he's in fact very shy. Since he's been in Geneva, he hasn't gone out a lot. He prefers to stay in his apartment, quietly. When I call him, nine times out of ten he's reading on his sofa. In fact, the thing that he loves, is to be with three or four friends, in a room and put the world to rights. He'd immediately sign up to be number one and at the same time stay unknown."
Marc Rosset .


* "After my my fourth or fifth victory against him, whenever he saw me, he put his hands on his head and said "No, please, not him!". He teases me too: "So, Santoro, still got your slice?" or " Tell me, you've been on the tour for a long time. Don't you think it would be a good time to stop now?". He's a nice guy, and I find that our matches bring us closer."
Fabrice Santoro


* "Well, Marat's a great player. A lot depends on the clay as well, I guess, You know, he's one of the best player's in the world, there's no doubt about that. On any given day, he can probably beat anyone if he's on"
Lleyton Hewitt
after Marat beat him at Bercy 2002


* "I think today he was the best player in the world, when he plays like that its like being on a rollercoaster."
Paul Henri Mathieu
Game 1 of Davis Cup


* Yes, but he's not as strong as Safin from the game point of view and from the attitude point of view. He's very good, but there's a difference in strength and speed. When Safin plays, his ball comes off of the racquet very quickly, and we don't have the impression he makes any efforts.
Julien Boutter


* Martina Navratilova was asked in 2002 US Open who was the most attractive male player and she said, " Marat, because he is just perfect."


* Penelope Cruz said that Marat was the best looking man she had ever seen.


* "As a friend, I'm not worried about his tennis career, but it would be nice if it [success] happens for him with that kind of big game and pressence. He has the charisma that tennis needs"
Mats Wilander


* "Watching Marat Safin play tennis is like riding a roller coaster in the dark: it's much more fun because you don't know what is going to happen next."
Allsport Magazine Australia


* "It's a match between the number one player in the world and the best player in the world".
Fabrice Santoro
Hewitt V Safin Bercy final 2002


* “Safin will always be unpredictable. I hope he never becomes a predictable week-in, week-out player because then we will lose the Marat Safin that we all love. But there’s no way I’d put my money on Federer in a match against him in any major tournament. That’s because of the soundness of Safin’s game, particularly his backhand, and his all-around physical power. He has the most effective serve of any player, including Andy Roddick, because he can follow it up with another weapon. He’s also very smart. He can mix it up and come in when he should."
Mats Wilander 2005


* “Just ask all the coaches, and they’ll say, ‘Marat hits the ball the way I want my players to hit the ball.”
Mats Wilander 2005