My Encounters w/ Marat at the Countrywide Classic

[ace]

Where to begin! I still can’t quite fathom everything that happened to me in LA. I’ll start from the beginning and work my way through.

DAY 1: Sunday, June 23 – My Luck begins
I arrived at the stadium at 11 hoping to catch someone practicing or at the very least watch some qualifying. Who is practicing as I walk in…? Well, not Marat, but Andre Agassi and Tommy Haas. Not too shabby. Andre looked great and had the better of Tommy for the few games they played. I then followed some tips I believe I read on TGFR and befriended the security guard, Lewis. I casually asked if the name Marat Safin rang a bell, and he gave me a tip that if Safin were to practice it would likely be around 4 or 5.

My roommate and I went for a quick bite and when we came back at 4, who was there? Marat! To make things even better, he was practicing with Dmitry Tursunov! What a cute little Russian pair. Now for the ladies, Marat was topless and I caught a few glimpses of some turquoise underwear peeking out of his white shorts.






I watched them for almost an hour. At one point Dmitry hit the ball really high into the air, which prompted me to yell, “Hit it up here!” To my surprise he hit around ten balls up into the stands for the people watching. But alas, I didn’t get one, even though the reason he hit them was clearly because of me. Following in Dmitry’s lead, Marat hit two balls up to the fans and I ran down some man to get one. He saw the determined look on my face as I ran after him and wisely let me get it. I became the proud owner of a ball hit by Marat Safin. Practice wasn’t great for Marat. He was clearly frustrated and even cracked a racquet. He gave it to a lucky ball girl and I posed with it, ha ha.

I shouted out good luck to him as he left the court and he glanced up to acknowledge me (although he's not looking here).


After my first day I was pretty floored and thought that was as close as I would get to him, but oh I wanted to get closer.

[ace]

DAY 2: Monday, June 24 – A Flustered encounter

Since Marat wasn’t scheduled to play Monday I went to the tournament with little thought that I would see him, well maybe the thought had crossed my mind. There is one practice court on site, but I figured he’d be more likely to practice where the qualifying took place and he would be less likely to be mobbed. I watched Dmitry’s match and got his autograph as he left the stadium. By this point my roommate and I had figured out where most of the players came and went. Unfortunately, I got a little too friendly with the security guard here and he tried to tell me he was the man of my dreams and give me his phone number. Nevertheless, we now had some good info and decided to take the staircase that would lead us right past the player’s entrance.

After Agassi’s match we were walking down said staircase sweating like pigs and sunburned, I have never been so hot in my life. As we got to the bottom I casually glanced down a dark tunnel and saw a large figure in a light blue Adidas shirt walking towards me. I thought it couldn’t be and walked past. Then I though maybe it could be and peeked back. OK, it definitely was Marat and there was no one in between us. Perfect time to get my tennis ball form yesterday signed. I stammered something about him signing my ball as I frantically reached for my sharpie and yelled at my roommate to get her camera out. I couldn’t find my sharpie and he continued walking slowly without saying anything. At this point people were beginning to catch on. I was not going to let this happen. I asked a boy next to me if I could borrow his sharpie to get Marat’s signature and he let me. He signed my ball without saying a word, and I almost forgot to get the sharpie back from him. He handed it back to me and I touched his hand as I wished him good luck. He still said nothing, he just sort of stared at me like I was a crazy person. He didn’t seem in the best of moods, perhaps another bad practice, but he still graciously signed for as many people as he could and posed for a picture with some fans.

My first attempt at a picture with him....

I find it amusing, he looks good, don't know about myself...

I now had a signed tennis ball hit by Marat Safin and a few rushed pics of him up close. Again I couldn’t believe it; although I was a bit disappointed I didn’t get a picture with him or hear him speak. Oh well, I reminded myself I was luckier than most. I saw Tursunov again walking with Kunitsyn and waved my fan at him like an idiot as I told him “Good match.” I also had a brush with Agassi, watched Roddick practice with Ginepri, and managed to get the evasive Lleyton Hewitt to sign my ticket. All of this with minimal effort, just a lot of luck.

[ginapants]

great experience u had there girl ...i'm a bit jealous

awesome pictures
thank you so much for sharing ... ... i'm waiting for DAY 2 ;D

later edit: awesome thje sacond day too...i'm sorry you didn't get the chance to take a photo with marat or hear his voice..but hey...you touched his hand ...think about that one... you are one lucky persson

thanks!!!

[ace]

DAY 3: Tuesday, June 25 – 1st Round Match

I arrived at the tournament excited to see Marat play, but also very nervous. I did not want to see him lose. I hoped today would be the day he would actually speak and I could get a picture with him. Things started off well as we walked in first thing and bumped into Patrick McEnroe. I thought Marat was going to be second after Haas, but Hrbaty wound up playing before Haas, making Marat third. Again luck was on our side. Since it was still so hot, I couldn’t handle watching Hrbaty’s match. My roommate and I sat in the shade near the gate where the players enter. I wasn’t sure if Marat was there already, but it seemed as good a place as any to sit. The ball kids tended to gather here too, and they were full of information. After sitting there for about 20 minutes, I look up to see Marat entering in the same blue Adidas shirt. There aren’t many people around and I ask for a picture. He says “I have to practice, but after practice, after practice.” He nods at me and continues to the player’s entrance. So I didn’t get a picture, but he did speak, and I held it together much better than the first time.

Marat came back shortly to practice with Lleyton Hewitt right where we had been sitting. We watched him practice and things seemed to be going a lot better than the other day. A few grunts of frustration when he hit the ball out and he said sorry to Lleyton a few times.


I watched near the exit, but as they practiced more and more people began to gather. I tried to hold my ground but all these small children got in the way. As he left I asked, “ Could I please take a picture with you really fast?” He responded, “Really fast, really fast.” (Apparently he’s all about repeating himself). Unfortunately there were too many people. I tried to hurl myself at him as my roommate took a picture, but it didn’t work. Again I had failed to get a picture with him.


I watched the Haas match, and then when they announced Marat I went wild. I cheered my lungs out and had all the answers for the people in my section. How old is he? 26. Has he ever won a major? US Open 2000, AO 2005. I was the resident Safin expert. There was a Russian man behind me who coached me in a few phrases, which I yelled out during the match. Apparently the equivalent of “Go Marat!” and “Good job Marat!” It was exhilarating. He played really well and served great. Some amazing serves!


Sigh, and his backhand, I love his backhand. You know when he kicks out his leg before hitting it? So amazing to see take place right in front of you. There were a few challenges throughout the match. They all went Fish’s way. Marat challenged one ball that proved to be very clearly in, at which point he shrugged his shoulders and started laughing, getting a large round of applause from the audience. Another ball was called in by 4mm in favor of Fish, but Marat stood staring at the ground anyway and gesturing with his racquet. He even started discussing it with the umpire at the next change over. At one point when he got angry, I think when Fish broke him in the first game of the 2nd set, he attempted to smash the ball out of the stadium with the handle of his racquet and missed horribly (There is a pic of this in the LA Tournament thread). It was a great match and I was impressed how focused and calm he stayed after getting down a break in the 2nd and having the challenges go against him.


Marat gave a short post-match interview. When asked about how well he played and how far he could go he said something like, “I’m getting old, it is harder for me to keep such a high level but I will try. Agassi is in my quarter and I won’t get much support from the crowd against him.” And what about Gonzalez? “He’s basically destroyed my year. I’ve lost a lot of points because of him. He beat me in the French Open and Wimbledon. I would like to play well against him and kick his ass.” (Sadly, we know how that went…)

Marat was the last match of the day session and we had tickets for the night session too, so we had some time to kill. We went back to where all the ball kids were and watched Scoville Jenkins practicing (I ran into him and Pam Shriver pretty much all the time). We asked a ball girl if she knew how long it would take Marat to leave. She said maybe an hour and recommended we sit near the transportation booth. We sat around for a while longer and soon Miguel came out and talked to the transportation people. Again there weren’t too many people around we waited near the exit and finally he came. Wearing white board shorts and a white T-shirt, we got a picture with him. He put his arms around us, and my roommate being so short tried to put her hand on his back, but soon realized it was his butt she was touching. He didn’t say anything, but she quickly moved her hand further up! Again I wished him luck and he was gone.


Phew! It was an intense three days and I still can’t believe that all of this happened. Sorry that this is insanely long, but I had this need to share and write it out, as if this would help me believe this actually happened. Hope you enjoy the pictures and I hope all of you get a chance to see Marat play in person.

[ginapants]

you got a great pic of you & him ... and you had a great time...don't worry about me geting bored i could read about this stuff all night long and not get bored... i've already read it 2 times ;D awesome ... and i know what you mean about not believing that it was real...i think if that would have been me i wouldn't sleep for like 2 nights and woulnd't wash my hand for weeks ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D

thanks again!

[LaFFy TaFFy]

wow thanks for sharing your safin experience, your report and pics are great. you are very lucky and lol bout your room mate touching his butt very lucky room mate.

[sabz]

ace - you lucky girl!!! thank you so much for sharing your experience and pics!! i have to say rofl for the butt thing to!! At least your room mate got to touch Marat's peaches

[acharlesmobile]

That lucky ballgirl who got his cracked racket is my friend. She was the one who tipped me off that Marat was still at the tourney and was going to practice with Tommy Haas. She must have like, 3 or 4 pictures with him cause she's such a huge fan.

Ughhh... and i hated that guy wearing black next to Marat in the Day 3 picture when he's signing. He kept getting in my way . Oh well, he's not a true Safin fan like us.

But awesome pics and good job seeing him. You should've went with me to watch him practice on Thursday :

[sonya]

acharlesmobile said:

That lucky ballgirl who got his cracked racket is my friend. She was the one who tipped me off that Marat was still at the tourney and was going to practice with Tommy Haas. She must have like, 3 or 4 pictures with him cause she's such a huge fan.

that must be fabulousxp!

thank you for the reports&pics,both acharlesmobile&ace!

i noticed that marat is getting hotter&hotter!!! wouldn't expect anything else of him,after he had his hair cut!
and,btw,i have a problem with him being shirtless in some pics:i mean,really-is he a sexual object or a tennis player???

;D

[ace]

Glad you guys liked my report!

Acharlesmobile, when I saw your last post I was so jealous! I wish I could have been there Thursday too! Unfortunately I had to go back to work. I'm glad you finally got you pricture with him!

[Annie]

Oh ace thanks soooooooo much girl!!!!!! Awesome awesome report and pics!!!!!!! You guys did a great job, thank you both!!!!!!!! ;D ;D ;D

[carole]

Thanks for the reports and pics, that was great to read all of that even if i was jealous not to be there!
But now that's official : TGFR has the best Marat reporters on earth !

[davis]

Hi ace,
thanks for the great report and especially the lovely photos! Is the raquet still usable?
BTW, I spotted the turquoise underwear in Hamburg as well, strange color...

[ace]

I'm so happy I could share with you all since I've enjoyed all of the stuff you guys dig up so much!

As for the racquet, you might have to ask fabulousxp, I think she was the ball girl I met who got the racquet. My understanding was that it was cracked a little along the top of the frame. I was a little delirious at the time, so I'm not sure.

The underwear was fantastic! It looked to me like it was black and only had the turquoise on the waistband, the white shorts really weren't hiding much as practice went on. And now it appears Dmitry has the same pair! (see the Dmitry Tursunov thread) It adds a little extra spunk don't you think?

[luxsword]

ROTFL