Post by Annie on Jun 11, 2005 19:05:18 GMT 3
Interview for Shafts Magazine 2000
The mothers of famous sons often like to give you a dazzling impression. They won't let you forget, that it was me!me!me! who created this treasure. Against this background, Rausa Islanova, the mom of Marat Safin, tries to stay in the shadow of her brilliant son, and be the happy exception.
Now, it is already difficult to recall, who for the first time coined the phrase "Method Of Islanova" to describe Rausa Islanova's development of her coaching technique, and for her son, the situation grew in an uncommon way. Being in the past of one of the strongest tennis players of the USSR, and an outstanding teenage coach, Rausa (or Rose, as she is occasionally referred to in Russia) did not start out as the coach of her own son. Moreover, when Marat was fourteen years old, his parents sent him into "independent life" - to live and train in Spain.
The word "method", is similar to the word neuvyazochka. "Method" - this means a follower: someone who copies your style or ideas, and becomes a 'disciple'. But in contemporary domestic tennis, there aren't really many examples. Rausa could only go so far, but repeated the same "method" with Marat's younger sister, Dinara. Now Dinara, 14, is the leader among her Russian contemporaries.
But Marat is number 1 in the world. During October, Safin had an additional ranking - having earned $2, 180,000 in prize money.
Marat Safin: For some reason, many people call me a spoiled child. But why am I spoiled? My family was always well-off, everyone knows that. Perhaps I had everything during my childhood? No. Did they scold me? Certainly, they scolded me. Pistons did put? They put, even as... [not sure what the 'pistons' thing means....]
When the "spoiled child" arrived in Spain, he had fifteen dollars in his pocket for the week. That was provided by his sponsor.
Now Marat, naturally, already no one nothing must - either those fifteen or remaining 350 thousands - they say, precisely, so many cost to derive one of the most promising adolescents of the association of tennis-player- professionals on the world level.
M.S.: Fifteen dollars was just enough for an ice cream and the bus. But if we're going to talk about the rest...You know, firstly I noticed everything was done slowly: I got accustomed to the new situation, mainly from finding out first hand in an unknown country I naturally knew nothing about. It took me a year to adapt. Life then became somewhat easier.
Ina Yevgeneva: You wanted to go home?
M.S.: Well certainly. But in Russia there were no opportunities whatsoever to start a career.
I.E.: Your mom was a coach. But what did your dad do?
M.S.: He was and still is the director of one of the Moscow tennis centers.
I.E.: Mom a coach, dad - director of a tennis center, and yet the son is training in Spain...
M.S.: I repeat: it was not possible to have a career here.
I.E.: Can you be specific?
M.S.: Yes, literally, there was not enough of anything. Courts, balls, rackets, sparring partners - in winter here I could only play, let's say, four times a week, and that is not enough. There (Spain) - you can play for twenty four hours in a 24 hour period, but you don't pay by the hour. Even climate and food is more suitable...
Note, in reality, Rausa and Marat, were advised to go to Spain, or more precisely, the sponsor insisted on it.
It was later, with Dinara, and mom as her coach, that they went to train in THE USA, at the famous Bolleteri Academy. However, for Rausa, as a professional sportswoman and trainer, she didn't arrange anything further with the "super-uncle" and Dinara went to Spain. (From their different approaches to working with children in THE USA and in Spain, which is interesting to non-professionals, it is possible to name at least serious medical testing and development for its sums of personal training programs - this is one of the advantages of Spanish base. this was passed in their time also of Dinara and Marat.)
Shamil Tarpishchev, the captain of the Davis Cup team, to the talents Rouses carries its precisely ability to select for his children optimum version. In Valencia, they liked the individual approach to their children - and this solved everything.
In Spain, his parents sent Marat to a night school, which was full of 30 and 40 year olds, who, for some reason, hadn't learnt enough in their youth.
M.S.: I understood very quickly that I don't understand things that bore me, ... And, first of all, with a new language, you sit at the desk like an idiot, trying to be clever. One time I thought: 'Well, just because I'm here [in a new country] doesn't mean I need to forget what I've already learned?!' And I stopped messing around. I earned a certificate here. [sorry, I'm not sure how accurate the translation is... it's the closest I could get]
I.E.: Did you have any problems?
M.S.: I tried not to have any problems, as far as it was possible. I don't consider myself a genius. Like any normal child, I had difficulties, for example, with mathematics. But I tried. Although, honestly speaking, I think that I have the advantage: I examine life. In my opinion this is more important than mathematics. It is possible to be a genius in science, but ignorant of life ...Many, by the way, underestimate this approach...
I.E.: Do you love reading?
M.S.: First of all, I never read Russian classics. As a child I tried to - but it didn't work, I didn't understand them. I come from the viewpoint that at the age of 14-16 it is too early to read those books, which the school curriculum provides, because you can't understand or appreciate them! Now I sometimes read a little Dostoyevsky . But generally, the classics are "vital" literature: there is the same nonsense that's in you... [either: the classics write about the same 'nonsense' that everyone experiences, or considering the classics as 'vital' is nonsense] No-no, I'm not going to develop the theme of Dostoyevsky [or I don't want to discuss Dostoyevsky]
I.E.: And nevertheless, you are still only 20 years old. You've already won your first Grand Slam. Against the great Pete Sampras, who, by the way, was approximately the same age as you when he first won the US Open. But, what can prevent you from becoming the same as him?
M.S.: There's no simple answer to this question. Tennis doesn't stand on the spot: the speed grows, styles change...On the whole, I don't believe in looking too far ahead.
When you talk about Marat's victories with his mom, what strikes you is the calm and sober relation Rausa Islanova has with her son. She does not hold him up as "The goose that laid the golden egg" - that's not what she's about. When Marat won the Grand Slam, his parents celebrated this event with champagne. And that was it. It is not necessary to hurry anywhere, it is not necessary to over work yourself, its not necessary to force events - this is the family philosophy.
Russian tennis fans will remember the beginning of the year: In the Australian Open, Safin was fined for tanking. Then, in the Spring, he lost the opening matches of five tournaments. The climax of failure came in the Davis Cup match against Spain, which was lost by Russia on Spanish courts, which were native for Marat.
This brought Safin close to hysterics, he even to threatened leave tennis. But in four months he became the world number one.
There was not just one secret to overcoming this crisis. The change of coach was one of the basic reasons for the turnaround. First Andrei Chesnokov began advising Marat, and then Alexander Volkov (both recently the best players of our team). They in turn actually completed the long-standing work of the Spaniard Raphael Mensua, with whom Marat trained on his arrival in Spain. Marat got to the top of the rankings without Mensua. But it's interesting to note that he was not offended and, when Marat called him again - he agreed to work with him. Safin played under the observation of the Spaniard at the Kremlin Cup.
Rausa, who followed the course of events from the side, commented on the situation: "people sometimes simply get tired of each other, although they continue to arrange things together. This is completely natural. (This was concerning the parting of Marat and Raphael.) But generally, coaches are not so arrogant" (This was referring to their reunification.)
I.E.: Did you get tired of being coached by your mom? - From constantly thinking "it will come - it won't come, it works, it doesn't work"?
M.S.: Oh, even I don't know. I got tired of them. You think to yourself "I'm a good player&ldots; no?" But are they just praising me because I'm their son, when in reality I'm not that good?
For Safin, maintaining his motivation is more important. "when a man hits his own ceiling, that's the worst", so he tries to postpone this moment. On the other side of things, he tries to keep perspective - that tennis is simply a job, and to make it, he must improve, because it's possible to get better and better.
Rausa says " I was always confident in my role as coach to look after my child on court. But now I allow myself to just be mom ", she says. During the practice sessions of her children, Rausa Islanova collects balls and outside the courts she helps them with their bags. Finally, someone must explain to school friends of Marat, that he arrived to work in Moscow at the Kremlin Cup and he does not have time to meet them, and the same with journalists - leave him to rest. Moreover, this has to be done so that neither friends nor journalists are offended. And Rausa manages it. However, for Dinara - at this age, perhaps, for any girl, it is better that mom is in Spain - so Rausa is in Spain. And this Rausa has also managed. To be precise, now she can allow herself this as well.
INA YEVGENEVA
Translated by Ruth
please email me if you feel you can help with the quality of the translation
IF YOU WISH TO POST THESE INTERVIEWS ELSE WHERE PLEASE INCLUDE CREDIT FOR ALL TRANSLATORS MENTIONED AND THE GUYFROMRUSSIA URL FOR THE INTERVIEW THANK YOU!!
The mothers of famous sons often like to give you a dazzling impression. They won't let you forget, that it was me!me!me! who created this treasure. Against this background, Rausa Islanova, the mom of Marat Safin, tries to stay in the shadow of her brilliant son, and be the happy exception.
Now, it is already difficult to recall, who for the first time coined the phrase "Method Of Islanova" to describe Rausa Islanova's development of her coaching technique, and for her son, the situation grew in an uncommon way. Being in the past of one of the strongest tennis players of the USSR, and an outstanding teenage coach, Rausa (or Rose, as she is occasionally referred to in Russia) did not start out as the coach of her own son. Moreover, when Marat was fourteen years old, his parents sent him into "independent life" - to live and train in Spain.
The word "method", is similar to the word neuvyazochka. "Method" - this means a follower: someone who copies your style or ideas, and becomes a 'disciple'. But in contemporary domestic tennis, there aren't really many examples. Rausa could only go so far, but repeated the same "method" with Marat's younger sister, Dinara. Now Dinara, 14, is the leader among her Russian contemporaries.
But Marat is number 1 in the world. During October, Safin had an additional ranking - having earned $2, 180,000 in prize money.
Marat Safin: For some reason, many people call me a spoiled child. But why am I spoiled? My family was always well-off, everyone knows that. Perhaps I had everything during my childhood? No. Did they scold me? Certainly, they scolded me. Pistons did put? They put, even as... [not sure what the 'pistons' thing means....]
When the "spoiled child" arrived in Spain, he had fifteen dollars in his pocket for the week. That was provided by his sponsor.
Now Marat, naturally, already no one nothing must - either those fifteen or remaining 350 thousands - they say, precisely, so many cost to derive one of the most promising adolescents of the association of tennis-player- professionals on the world level.
M.S.: Fifteen dollars was just enough for an ice cream and the bus. But if we're going to talk about the rest...You know, firstly I noticed everything was done slowly: I got accustomed to the new situation, mainly from finding out first hand in an unknown country I naturally knew nothing about. It took me a year to adapt. Life then became somewhat easier.
Ina Yevgeneva: You wanted to go home?
M.S.: Well certainly. But in Russia there were no opportunities whatsoever to start a career.
I.E.: Your mom was a coach. But what did your dad do?
M.S.: He was and still is the director of one of the Moscow tennis centers.
I.E.: Mom a coach, dad - director of a tennis center, and yet the son is training in Spain...
M.S.: I repeat: it was not possible to have a career here.
I.E.: Can you be specific?
M.S.: Yes, literally, there was not enough of anything. Courts, balls, rackets, sparring partners - in winter here I could only play, let's say, four times a week, and that is not enough. There (Spain) - you can play for twenty four hours in a 24 hour period, but you don't pay by the hour. Even climate and food is more suitable...
Note, in reality, Rausa and Marat, were advised to go to Spain, or more precisely, the sponsor insisted on it.
It was later, with Dinara, and mom as her coach, that they went to train in THE USA, at the famous Bolleteri Academy. However, for Rausa, as a professional sportswoman and trainer, she didn't arrange anything further with the "super-uncle" and Dinara went to Spain. (From their different approaches to working with children in THE USA and in Spain, which is interesting to non-professionals, it is possible to name at least serious medical testing and development for its sums of personal training programs - this is one of the advantages of Spanish base. this was passed in their time also of Dinara and Marat.)
Shamil Tarpishchev, the captain of the Davis Cup team, to the talents Rouses carries its precisely ability to select for his children optimum version. In Valencia, they liked the individual approach to their children - and this solved everything.
In Spain, his parents sent Marat to a night school, which was full of 30 and 40 year olds, who, for some reason, hadn't learnt enough in their youth.
M.S.: I understood very quickly that I don't understand things that bore me, ... And, first of all, with a new language, you sit at the desk like an idiot, trying to be clever. One time I thought: 'Well, just because I'm here [in a new country] doesn't mean I need to forget what I've already learned?!' And I stopped messing around. I earned a certificate here. [sorry, I'm not sure how accurate the translation is... it's the closest I could get]
I.E.: Did you have any problems?
M.S.: I tried not to have any problems, as far as it was possible. I don't consider myself a genius. Like any normal child, I had difficulties, for example, with mathematics. But I tried. Although, honestly speaking, I think that I have the advantage: I examine life. In my opinion this is more important than mathematics. It is possible to be a genius in science, but ignorant of life ...Many, by the way, underestimate this approach...
I.E.: Do you love reading?
M.S.: First of all, I never read Russian classics. As a child I tried to - but it didn't work, I didn't understand them. I come from the viewpoint that at the age of 14-16 it is too early to read those books, which the school curriculum provides, because you can't understand or appreciate them! Now I sometimes read a little Dostoyevsky . But generally, the classics are "vital" literature: there is the same nonsense that's in you... [either: the classics write about the same 'nonsense' that everyone experiences, or considering the classics as 'vital' is nonsense] No-no, I'm not going to develop the theme of Dostoyevsky [or I don't want to discuss Dostoyevsky]
I.E.: And nevertheless, you are still only 20 years old. You've already won your first Grand Slam. Against the great Pete Sampras, who, by the way, was approximately the same age as you when he first won the US Open. But, what can prevent you from becoming the same as him?
M.S.: There's no simple answer to this question. Tennis doesn't stand on the spot: the speed grows, styles change...On the whole, I don't believe in looking too far ahead.
When you talk about Marat's victories with his mom, what strikes you is the calm and sober relation Rausa Islanova has with her son. She does not hold him up as "The goose that laid the golden egg" - that's not what she's about. When Marat won the Grand Slam, his parents celebrated this event with champagne. And that was it. It is not necessary to hurry anywhere, it is not necessary to over work yourself, its not necessary to force events - this is the family philosophy.
Russian tennis fans will remember the beginning of the year: In the Australian Open, Safin was fined for tanking. Then, in the Spring, he lost the opening matches of five tournaments. The climax of failure came in the Davis Cup match against Spain, which was lost by Russia on Spanish courts, which were native for Marat.
This brought Safin close to hysterics, he even to threatened leave tennis. But in four months he became the world number one.
There was not just one secret to overcoming this crisis. The change of coach was one of the basic reasons for the turnaround. First Andrei Chesnokov began advising Marat, and then Alexander Volkov (both recently the best players of our team). They in turn actually completed the long-standing work of the Spaniard Raphael Mensua, with whom Marat trained on his arrival in Spain. Marat got to the top of the rankings without Mensua. But it's interesting to note that he was not offended and, when Marat called him again - he agreed to work with him. Safin played under the observation of the Spaniard at the Kremlin Cup.
Rausa, who followed the course of events from the side, commented on the situation: "people sometimes simply get tired of each other, although they continue to arrange things together. This is completely natural. (This was concerning the parting of Marat and Raphael.) But generally, coaches are not so arrogant" (This was referring to their reunification.)
I.E.: Did you get tired of being coached by your mom? - From constantly thinking "it will come - it won't come, it works, it doesn't work"?
M.S.: Oh, even I don't know. I got tired of them. You think to yourself "I'm a good player&ldots; no?" But are they just praising me because I'm their son, when in reality I'm not that good?
For Safin, maintaining his motivation is more important. "when a man hits his own ceiling, that's the worst", so he tries to postpone this moment. On the other side of things, he tries to keep perspective - that tennis is simply a job, and to make it, he must improve, because it's possible to get better and better.
Rausa says " I was always confident in my role as coach to look after my child on court. But now I allow myself to just be mom ", she says. During the practice sessions of her children, Rausa Islanova collects balls and outside the courts she helps them with their bags. Finally, someone must explain to school friends of Marat, that he arrived to work in Moscow at the Kremlin Cup and he does not have time to meet them, and the same with journalists - leave him to rest. Moreover, this has to be done so that neither friends nor journalists are offended. And Rausa manages it. However, for Dinara - at this age, perhaps, for any girl, it is better that mom is in Spain - so Rausa is in Spain. And this Rausa has also managed. To be precise, now she can allow herself this as well.
INA YEVGENEVA
Translated by Ruth
please email me if you feel you can help with the quality of the translation
IF YOU WISH TO POST THESE INTERVIEWS ELSE WHERE PLEASE INCLUDE CREDIT FOR ALL TRANSLATORS MENTIONED AND THE GUYFROMRUSSIA URL FOR THE INTERVIEW THANK YOU!!
