Post by Annie on Jun 13, 2005 19:38:41 GMT 3
The Davis Cup Yearbook by Neil Harman
Profile: Marat Safin
Marat Safin has been known to give an interview that the journalist would have to struggle to hear. He would sit with his peaked cap pulled down low over his eyes, his hand across his mouth, and mumble a few words that didn't really add up to very much.
And yet this is a man who can be the most engaging company, who can keep press conferences enthralled with witty, usually self-deprecating remarks, and an abundance of good humour.
It is this sheer unpredictability that makes Safin so enjoyable, so mercurial. Who can know in what state of mind they are going to find him, what he si going to say, how he is going to react to the most innocent of questions. When he won the US Open in 2000, having shown complete imperturbability when ripping through a formidable field, he treated the assembled media throng to the finest Russian vodka and a cartload of iced prawns. He went on the finish that year as the number two player in the world. Number one awaited him, surely.
He has all the strokes, as well as a beautifully fluent game, based on flawless technique and unsound temperament. It is an absorbing combination, one that excites and exasperates in equal measure. For a big man, he seems to have so much time; a clean, undisturbed rhythm; and an absurdly easy balance. It has come to him naturally from an unnatural beginning.
His mother, Rausa, had been his coach from the ages of six to thirteen, but the oppotunities for a tennis player in russia were few and far between. The decision to leave behind his country and embark on a solo journey to Rafael Mensua's tennis camp in Valencia, Spain (backed by a Swiss bank that took a terrifically risky investment), opened Safin's eyes to the wider world, and to his fluency in the Spanish tongue.
"I chose to leave Russia and try to be a tennis player and when I did it, it was really, really difficult to leave the family and move to a country where you don't know anybody, you don't know how to speak the language," he said. "But sometimes you have to make decisions that you don't want to make, but I needed it when I was fourteen. Tennis in Russia has changed so much since those days. Now we have everything: balls, rackets, and people for practice, but before it was so difficult because of the situation of the country."
The image of Russian tennis, which recieved a boost from the equally enigmatic Yevgeny Kafelnikov, has been further enhanced by Anna Kournikova on the women's side and Safin on the men's. There are just as many women intrigued by Safin as there are men who would like Kournikova's picture on their bedroom wall. He is exactly the kind of disorganized rebel who leaves more questions than he answerrs. Safin thrives on his image as a suave guy who gives only just enough away to leave the people wanting more.
Typed up by Laura.
Profile: Marat Safin
Marat Safin has been known to give an interview that the journalist would have to struggle to hear. He would sit with his peaked cap pulled down low over his eyes, his hand across his mouth, and mumble a few words that didn't really add up to very much.
And yet this is a man who can be the most engaging company, who can keep press conferences enthralled with witty, usually self-deprecating remarks, and an abundance of good humour.
It is this sheer unpredictability that makes Safin so enjoyable, so mercurial. Who can know in what state of mind they are going to find him, what he si going to say, how he is going to react to the most innocent of questions. When he won the US Open in 2000, having shown complete imperturbability when ripping through a formidable field, he treated the assembled media throng to the finest Russian vodka and a cartload of iced prawns. He went on the finish that year as the number two player in the world. Number one awaited him, surely.
He has all the strokes, as well as a beautifully fluent game, based on flawless technique and unsound temperament. It is an absorbing combination, one that excites and exasperates in equal measure. For a big man, he seems to have so much time; a clean, undisturbed rhythm; and an absurdly easy balance. It has come to him naturally from an unnatural beginning.
His mother, Rausa, had been his coach from the ages of six to thirteen, but the oppotunities for a tennis player in russia were few and far between. The decision to leave behind his country and embark on a solo journey to Rafael Mensua's tennis camp in Valencia, Spain (backed by a Swiss bank that took a terrifically risky investment), opened Safin's eyes to the wider world, and to his fluency in the Spanish tongue.
"I chose to leave Russia and try to be a tennis player and when I did it, it was really, really difficult to leave the family and move to a country where you don't know anybody, you don't know how to speak the language," he said. "But sometimes you have to make decisions that you don't want to make, but I needed it when I was fourteen. Tennis in Russia has changed so much since those days. Now we have everything: balls, rackets, and people for practice, but before it was so difficult because of the situation of the country."
The image of Russian tennis, which recieved a boost from the equally enigmatic Yevgeny Kafelnikov, has been further enhanced by Anna Kournikova on the women's side and Safin on the men's. There are just as many women intrigued by Safin as there are men who would like Kournikova's picture on their bedroom wall. He is exactly the kind of disorganized rebel who leaves more questions than he answerrs. Safin thrives on his image as a suave guy who gives only just enough away to leave the people wanting more.
Typed up by Laura.
