Post by Annie on Jun 28, 2005 15:45:57 GMT 3
Sovetsky Sport
21 February, 2005
The best Russian tennis player Marat Safin: I am surprised at myself!
Andrey Vandenko
When on 1 February the winner of the centennial Australian Open arrived from Melbourne to Moscow it seemed that Marat will spend in Moscow as couple of days as usual, attend some social events, pay the tribute to his native country and leave for Europe- America. The conditions to prepare for the following ATP tournaments are better over there. But Safin stayed in Moscow for an unexpectedly long time. And, which seems even more striking, he knew how to keep his privacy, slipping off from the objectives of photo- and TV-cameras. No reports from the night clubs, no pictures from the discos as there were before. It became even alarming: has something happened, has our hero fallen ill?.. But the intelligence reported: everything is fine, Marat is doing well, he is training every day on the courts of an elite sports club. There we met Safin before he left for the tournament in Dubai...
ON THE RUSSIAN MEDIA
- Congratulations Marat! You managed to make impossible possible.
- In our life everything is possible so don't waste the words, I get the idea. We can forget about Melbourne soon and calm down. Passed that, let's go on...
- I am not speaking about the Australian Open at all. Your victory there doesn't seem to me like something extraordinary. It was due a long time ago! We waited five years after the US Open title. I am talking about something else: how did you manage to spend almost three weeks in Moscow without being noticed?
- So what are you wondering about? Yes, I hadn't stayed in Moscow for so long in a while but this time I decided beforehand that I'll fly home after the Australian Open. I didn't hide from anyone but didn't try to get noticed either.
- I am afraid that my colleagues who received you at Sheremetyevo 2 hardly agree with that. Your quiet march past the cameras was pretty clear.
- I had spent more than 24 hours on a plane. I think this explains everything.
- But then you ignored the Tennis Federation's press conference. Tarpischev and Kafelnikov had to answer the questions instead of you.
- I didn't ask them to, and I hadn't promised anything. I did what I thought was necessary.
- Payback for the Russian media for the critical articles during the last season that wasn't too successful at the beginning?
- I had no intentions of any payback or anything! What's the point? The journalists will write what they consider necessary anyway. They couldn't find me in Moscow, started to cling on to my girlfriend, write tales about Dasha.
- So you still were offended, Marat?
- Please understand: it's not difficult for me to give an interview but how can I speak to a representative of a paper that just yesterday poured mud on me? You have to respect yourself. We don't know the measure: today they love you to the loss of pulse, tomorrow they are ready to throw stones at you. in the West the approach is more balanced, we here still go from one extreme to another... In short, in Russia you better not stumble: here they will hardly support you, they rather hit you in the back. In any case, I understood long ago that after defeats it's better not to read the Russian newspapers, you'll get no positive emotions form them.
- Don't paint everything with one colour, there are different papaers...
- Yes, some small papers can badmouth Andre Agassi and Steffi Graf but serious newspapers like USA Today, Los Angeles Times, New York Times never allow such things. But here you often can't distinguish the yellow and the blue...
- Again you accuse!
- But you mentioned it! The papers need sensations, big headlines "Bure parted with Kournikova, "Titov caught on doping", "Safin is dating the daughter of an oligarch". I understand, public people draw the increased interest, it's inevitable, you have to live with it. I categorically object to one thing - lie. I repeat, write what you want about me, only do not lie!
- But you yourself won't tell the truth, Marat.
- About what?
- About whom. Daria Zhukova.
- Yes, her father is a businessman, so what? I have enough wealth of my own. Yes, I have dated Dasha for two years already but I've had longer relationships before. What now?
- That's what I also want to ask - what now?
- If you are talking about a wedding, it's not in my plans for the time being. Look at my curls, how can I marry? You have to be sixty to make such a huge step, when the kids are grown up... I'm kidding. But seriously, today Dasha is helping me a lot. Everybody needs a close person who understands, supports. What other details you need?
ON SECLUSION
- I noticed you have many pendants around your neck? Don't they bother you?
- They are amulets! Fans sent the leaf. It seems to be from ivory. So far I have been lucky with it. I don't take it off. The ring from "The Lord of the Rings" I bought myself. It's like black magic. The golden plate with the text from the Koran in Arabic was given to me by a Moroccan Moslem.
- Are you religious? Do you fast?
- As much as possible, although it doesn't go along with sports well... But this is the topic which I would not like to get into. I am not ready pose for society pages. At this stage tennis is the most important for me so I prefer to keep the conversation about it. And to talk to whom I want to, when and where I want to. If a Moscow newspaper wanted an exclusive story, they could have sent a correspondent to Australia, there were press conferences after every match. Please, ask questions, write the interviews, publish... No, it was more comfortable to wait until I return to Moscow, and then accuse me of arrogance when I refuse to discuss with everyone interested what happened a month ago in Melbourne and how it was.
- You are speaking like we have kangaroos instead of cows on our pastures, and you can take a train from the Kazan train station to this Australia of yours.
- I thought we were talking not about some small papers from Monino or Balashikha but about papers that can afford trips abroad...
- OK, we cleared the issue with the journalists more or less but you also ignored Shamil Tarpishev, who offered a small celebration in your honour.
- Again, I'm choosing for myself what to do and when. I didn't need any celebration at the moment. I spent a month in Australia and flew home to relax and catch my breath before joining the race again. You say: celebration, but for me, it's work where I can't rest or relax. There would have been a bunch of people and nearly everyone would have wanted something from me. I would have had to smile politely to the guests whom I didn't invite, to listen to the speeches, answer the questions. Can you answer why do I need it? No? I couldn't too.
ON COMPANY
- Were you at least at the granddad's birthday?
- How? I was in Australia at the time.
- Sorry, I mean the other granddad, the all-Russian - Boris Yeltsin. He turned 74 on 1 February.
- Straight from the airplane to go to Boris Nikolayevich's dacha? Cool! As much as I would have wanted I could not be in two placed at the same time. No, we did not meet this day but later I was at the ceremony where the scholarships were awarded from the Foundation of the 1st President of Russia to our talented tennis players aged 14 to 18.
- Did you speak to Boris Nikolayevich?
- Yes. We didn't say anything special to each other, we didn't discuss the world politics. He wasn't at work, I wasn't at work, we spoke about everyday things. It's not the words that matter here, it's the communication itself. It's an honour even to say hello to such a person.
- Besides the meeting at the top level, were there any other public appearances?
- Do restaurants count? I have to eat somewhere, right? I prefer "Korchma", "Pushkin", "Tzarskaja ohota"... There are nice places in Moscow to relax with friends. A couple of times played ice hockey at CSKA. First time with my dad and his friends, later with younger guys. Visited sauna regularly.
- Who kept you company?
- Different people. When the plans coincided I was always glad to meet with Ilya Kovalchuk, Pavel Bure, Sasha Mostovoi... There are enough dignified people. I respect great athletes.
ON FUTURE
- Can you stand well a drastic change of climate? It was over 30 degrees Celsius in Australia.
- I am steeled. So far my system can take it. I like our winter in general. With snow, frost...
- Are you a mountain-skier?
- No, I didn't learn skiing as a child and now I am already afraid to experiment because of the injuries. When I'll quit tennis, maybe then. in a couple of years, in short...
- Only?
- I just said it so. We'll see. Until 30 I'll probably play but hardly after that. Enough. It's better to retire in time. Life is so short that I would like to have time to try myself in something else besides tennis also.
- And in what direction could that be?
- I'm still looking, but it's obvious I have to be involved in business. One has to live from something.
- You suppose the earned twelve million bucks won't be enough for a comfortable life?
- Yes, I have money but it's not about the amount. I have to find something that will interest me. It only seems so that you can take the interests and lie under a palm tree. Any normal person would go insane after two months of such a life! I definitely won't be able to idle for a long time.
- Did you hear about the Team Russia program?
- It's necessary to support talented children! I think that's my duty. How many boys and girls are roaming the streets now, searching for something? Many of them have neither past nor future. They don't all have to join the sport, but they need to do something useful, to not to become drug-users or criminals. Good people helped me in my day, and I haven't forgotten it.
- On the subject of help, it's well known that at 14 you joined the tennis school in Valencia, but it gets somehow forgotten that before that you applied to Bolletieri academy in the States two years earlier.
- That trip ended in nothing. They refused me, saying that they didn't see potential. Like, nothing can be done out of me.
- Were these Bolletieri's words?
- Yes, he selected the so-called elite group personally, he did testing twice and said I had no chance to be accepted in his academy. Dad and I packed and came back.
- Was it a big let down?
I was disappointed. I was first in my age group in Russia. On the other hand, I wanted all the more to prove that I can get good results.
- Did yours and Bollitieri's paths cross later?
- Yeah, a few years back we met and he offered his excuses for his mistake.
- Was it pleasant to gloat?
- On whom? Bolletieri knows nothing about tennis. When I was 12, I was hurting, but I soon understood what kind of a man he is.
- Whan kind of a man?
- A businessman and a very high-profile publicitist. Beside the tennis academy, he owns academies of golf, football, baseball, riding... And it's all funded by his pupils' rich parents. You listen to Bolletieri, he raised Pete Sampras, Agassi, Courier, Seles, Becker, Haas... Everyone in the world! How can you not pay to such an outstanding coach? They go to him from all over the world and don't know that Bolletieri's a former commando who's never played tennis himself...
- So your real tennis school was in Spain?
- I was given a chance, and I took it.
ON COACH
- Many noticed that your game took a turn for the better after Peter Lundgren had started coaching you.
- True. I needed just that kind of a man, and I was searching for him for a long time. I heard it many times that it's my quarrelsome temper. Like, because of it nobody can work with me. Since I was 18 I was told constantly that I'm wasting my talent, missing the train... After Peter appeared, I started to play more consistently, started winning, and instantly there were speeches that finally Marat has matured, become more serious. Those are words of people who know very little about tennis. It's not my temper that's the problem. The problem is a deficit of really good coaches in our sport. They're all accounted for, hunted for. Good specialists who used to be players don't want to submit their life to another, to step in the shadow of another, to travel full-time yet again, spending a lot of time in airports and hotels. These people earned good money during their careers, what can they achieve by repeating the past? They need additional ambitions. But Peter's interested in that, he coached Rios for 2 years, then Federer for 7 years. I was on the tour with Denis Golovanov. He's my best friend from childhood, we even used to play doubles, know and understand each other perfectly, but for the work I needed something else. The results dropped... When I learned that Lundgren parted with Federer, I made him an offer he couldn't refuse.
- Lundgren said in his interview that he hadn't done anything extraordinary, merely helped you to find motivation to take pleasure in playing.
- I never made it a secret that my problems were of psychological origin, that's why as far as 4 years back I thought seriously about quitting tennis, quitting sport. What held me from it was that I didn't know what to do next. I convinced myself not to rush. Yes, Peter has helped me and we extended our contract till the end of the year. Imagine: during the season I play 25 tournaments and win, say, 5. That means that in the rest I lose. On different stages, but lose all the same. There are not many sports where losses happen so often. Football team which loses 20 matches a season, will crash into 2nd or 3rd league. I stay at the top, obviously but constantly get smacked by my opponents. Besides, our contest is an individual one, you play man-to-man. In football, say, you can write a loss off on keeper's mistakes, or inept strikers, or wrong tactics chosen by the coach; in tennis you've no one to blame but yourself. Several straight losses can cause complexes which you can't get out of by yourself. Then you start to lose it: smash racquets or swear on court...
- Did Peter teach you some of nordic restraint?
- I'm 25, my personality is set and you can't change it. If I appear to be calmer, it means that I learnt to control it better, not to let the steam to blow up. Of course we all change through the years. Maybe, some time I needed to throw racquets, swear aloud or talk about myself in third person. There'd be nothing without that. That's my life, no one knows it better than me, that's why I'm so amused by the outside expert's opinions. TV commentators in particular are guilty of that - always raring to give an advice.
- Do you listen to them?
- The commentators or the advice? I never watch my matches on video but I am informed about who and what is telling. My friends tell me... Firstly, there is a common culture: in the civilised world commentators don't speak during play, in Russia obviously not everybody has heard about it. I take it calmly when people discuss tennis as they see it and even teach me how to hit the ball or receive a serve. They have to say something on TV and there might not be enough clever thoughts for three hours. Good, it's your vision of the game, you can tell about it. I just don't understand why you have to tell about things outside the court? With whom I sleep, what I eat... Are they trying to get new spectators?
- Who, besides Lundgren, is on your team? I heard you hired a fitness trainer from Israel?
- Kowalsky was my consultant for a few weeks, then we parted. Now I got back to my old fitness trainer from Valencia, bring him over periodically when I need to improve my fitness. You need a man who writes good programmes and forces you to follow them. Sometimes I can get lazy, start pitying myself, slacking. Also I have a personal masseur. First, he was an American, now Thai.
- Sounds Exotic.
- You understand: I don't need what's offered at the beaches of Phuket... It's important to consider the individual. Some players like hard massage before the match but I get apathetic after that, my muscles lose the tone. But these are such nuances that fans don't need to know I guess.
- Because your surroundings are international it's easier for you to speak English than Russian?
- When you are in the States for a month it's difficult to switch, foreign words come into your native language. But don't think that I do it on purpose or have become completely daft by the sport, forgotten Russian. No, I know the grammar, I have graduated from a secondary school.
- You also entered a university?
- Yep. We study, study...
- Isn't it taking too long?
- Where to rush? To be honest I don't know what's the use from my studies. What will the university degree on physical training give me? If I decide to work as a coach I'll find students without the diploma, and can explain how to divide physical exercises, hit forehands, avoid cramps or, for instance, raise blood haemoglobin levels. It's obvious that in seven years as a professional athlete I have learned more than the university professors can tell you. I don't want to insult them...
- Besides the coach and the masseur, are there other people accompanying you at the tournaments?
- For what? To entertain? I don't like clowns, I find them repugnant.
- Do people cling on to you?
- Sometimes it's difficult to explain to a person that I don't need his services. My parents taught me to be polite but sometimes it difficult with especially unreasonable people... A few years ago there was a moment when I felt that I question the people around me. I was afraid that they are after self-profit. Then I understood: you can't leave questioning everything and relaxed. Now I have some friends, we are completely open to each other, respect each other. That's what I look for in a friendship.
ON SISTER
- What presents did you get on your 25th birthday?
- Don't know if you believe it but I don't wait for presents. Moreover, I ask people not to give me any presents. I don't know where it comes from. Maybe from Spain where I got pocket money 15 dollars a week and had so many desires. Seventeen years old, you know... On the other hand, everyone needs to go through a stage of life without money. Then you value every penny more. If you get everything easily you take it easily too, let it go easily. The most important thing that money gives is freedom.
- When could you start spending, Marat?
- Difficult to say... I bought my first apartment when I was 19. In Valencia. Small, modest but my own. Bought a car. Old red Volkswagen Golf. It was not much younger than me, without conditioning, one door jammed, but it moved so that was the main thing. later when the real money came I wanted everything and immediately. But soon, at 20 I understood that I can have practically any material thing I want and calmed down. It's very important to feel in time the independence from things. Now I have an apartment in Monte-Carlo, but it's not a huge apartment, it's a 30 sq m studio. Why have more when this is enough at the moment? I don't care what car I drive, I mean the label. It just has to be comfortable and safe. Yeah, I had a Ferrari once, tried a lot of other cars, in Monaco now I have my Porsche but in Moscow it's better to drive a jeep. By the way, I have a coupe Mercedes here too, a gift for the Davis Cup win. I myself wouldn't have bought it already...
- Did you help Dinara?
- When I had free money I bought my sister's contract from her sponsor so she didn't belong to anybody and could do what she herself wanted. Now Dinara is working with my manager and is feeling great. Maybe the victory in Paris also came because of that. The first big tournament win in her life. I hope it won't be the last one.
- You follow the progress of our girls?
- I try. Although I have no TV in Moscow. I mean, I have no cable. Only video works.
- Can you explain why the Russian girls are doing better than guys?
- I don't want to insult the girls but it's easier to get to the top there. There is a group of strong players and after them the rest of the field. in Men you have to pass many stages to get to the top, and the level of the majority of players is pretty even. You have to put in a lot of effort, work hard for at least five years to reach something. Unfortunately our guys are not too studious. I spoke to them, everything seems so unserious. Instead of working they find reasons to idle...
- Interesting, are your and Dinara's characters similar?
- She grew up in a family, I live on my own since the age of 14. But my sister has the same problem: unless she will find pleasure in the game, the results won't come.
- In your opinion, about whom do the parents worry more nowadays?
- Which hand does a man value more - right or left? I don't know how to answer such questions.
ON EVERYDAY LIFE
- I noticed that mother stopped travelling to the tournament with you.
- I asked her. It's more difficult to play when your family is around. You get distracted, starts to look for them in the stands, to worry. The pressure overwhelms - it's twice as bad to lose in front of your family... That's why I can't play at the Kremlin Cup: the spectators demand a good result but because of the nerves you hit the ball out or net the ball... Especially if while serving someone shouts: "Russia!". Like the whole country is behind you... So I am very grateful to my parents but it's better when they watch my matches on TV. The main thing is that dad with mom understood: I and my sister won't get lost in this life. Just recently I bought them an apartment, now they are renovating it, designing. Pleasant worries...
- Do you yourself have an apartment in Moscow?
- I am also renovating, at the moment I use a rented apartment.
- You don't want to move out of town?
- Everything at its time. At the moment it's more comfortable for me to live in the city centre.
- Do you bear a grudge against your countrymen who some years ago stole your BMW and broke into your parents' apartment?
- Not everyone can become a banker, famous artist or musician. Some people earn their living stealing. Everyone has his own business... What's the point to bear a grudge against these people? I am concentrating on other things. I already got from tennis everything I wanted. I was No. 1 in the world, won the Grand Slam tournaments, held the Davis Cup above my head. Yes, I want to win some more but it can't be an aim itself, otherwise you'll burn out. It has happened to many people. In order not to repeat their mistakes I don't get too excited, I calmly go forward, and we'll see what will happen.
ON FEDERER
- Is it real to take down Federer?
- Difficult. He's a universal player almost without any weaknesses. Maybe I'm stronger physically, but his feel of the ball is exceptional.
- Maybe throw Federer off balance with some small tricks?
- He's very nervous during matches, but he wouldn't show it. Tricks are not welcome among us - there are strict rules. Only mutual respect. Of course, sometimes a player can get out of line, but it's healed pretty fast.
- With fines?
- Not necessarily. The etiquette violator can get boycotted, that's worse.
- What did Federer say in your ear in Melbourne?
- Wished me happy birthday, wished luck. The usual. He's a polite man, although some others shake your hand after a loss but don't look you in the eyes. You need to learn how to lose. I learned.
- After Dubai, there's a DC tie against Chile in Moscow. What are your impressions?
- They're serious opponents, Olympics champions. They're training in Sweden. A lot will depend on conditions, on the surface that we'll choose.
- Any preferences?
The faster the better.
- Will you get revenge for Athens?
- I explained already: I try not to look back. It's better to look forward. That way there's a better chance to surprise yourself and the others.
Translated by Tanya & Maria V
21 February, 2005
The best Russian tennis player Marat Safin: I am surprised at myself!
Andrey Vandenko
When on 1 February the winner of the centennial Australian Open arrived from Melbourne to Moscow it seemed that Marat will spend in Moscow as couple of days as usual, attend some social events, pay the tribute to his native country and leave for Europe- America. The conditions to prepare for the following ATP tournaments are better over there. But Safin stayed in Moscow for an unexpectedly long time. And, which seems even more striking, he knew how to keep his privacy, slipping off from the objectives of photo- and TV-cameras. No reports from the night clubs, no pictures from the discos as there were before. It became even alarming: has something happened, has our hero fallen ill?.. But the intelligence reported: everything is fine, Marat is doing well, he is training every day on the courts of an elite sports club. There we met Safin before he left for the tournament in Dubai...
ON THE RUSSIAN MEDIA
- Congratulations Marat! You managed to make impossible possible.
- In our life everything is possible so don't waste the words, I get the idea. We can forget about Melbourne soon and calm down. Passed that, let's go on...
- I am not speaking about the Australian Open at all. Your victory there doesn't seem to me like something extraordinary. It was due a long time ago! We waited five years after the US Open title. I am talking about something else: how did you manage to spend almost three weeks in Moscow without being noticed?
- So what are you wondering about? Yes, I hadn't stayed in Moscow for so long in a while but this time I decided beforehand that I'll fly home after the Australian Open. I didn't hide from anyone but didn't try to get noticed either.
- I am afraid that my colleagues who received you at Sheremetyevo 2 hardly agree with that. Your quiet march past the cameras was pretty clear.
- I had spent more than 24 hours on a plane. I think this explains everything.
- But then you ignored the Tennis Federation's press conference. Tarpischev and Kafelnikov had to answer the questions instead of you.
- I didn't ask them to, and I hadn't promised anything. I did what I thought was necessary.
- Payback for the Russian media for the critical articles during the last season that wasn't too successful at the beginning?
- I had no intentions of any payback or anything! What's the point? The journalists will write what they consider necessary anyway. They couldn't find me in Moscow, started to cling on to my girlfriend, write tales about Dasha.
- So you still were offended, Marat?
- Please understand: it's not difficult for me to give an interview but how can I speak to a representative of a paper that just yesterday poured mud on me? You have to respect yourself. We don't know the measure: today they love you to the loss of pulse, tomorrow they are ready to throw stones at you. in the West the approach is more balanced, we here still go from one extreme to another... In short, in Russia you better not stumble: here they will hardly support you, they rather hit you in the back. In any case, I understood long ago that after defeats it's better not to read the Russian newspapers, you'll get no positive emotions form them.
- Don't paint everything with one colour, there are different papaers...
- Yes, some small papers can badmouth Andre Agassi and Steffi Graf but serious newspapers like USA Today, Los Angeles Times, New York Times never allow such things. But here you often can't distinguish the yellow and the blue...
- Again you accuse!
- But you mentioned it! The papers need sensations, big headlines "Bure parted with Kournikova, "Titov caught on doping", "Safin is dating the daughter of an oligarch". I understand, public people draw the increased interest, it's inevitable, you have to live with it. I categorically object to one thing - lie. I repeat, write what you want about me, only do not lie!
- But you yourself won't tell the truth, Marat.
- About what?
- About whom. Daria Zhukova.
- Yes, her father is a businessman, so what? I have enough wealth of my own. Yes, I have dated Dasha for two years already but I've had longer relationships before. What now?
- That's what I also want to ask - what now?
- If you are talking about a wedding, it's not in my plans for the time being. Look at my curls, how can I marry? You have to be sixty to make such a huge step, when the kids are grown up... I'm kidding. But seriously, today Dasha is helping me a lot. Everybody needs a close person who understands, supports. What other details you need?
ON SECLUSION
- I noticed you have many pendants around your neck? Don't they bother you?
- They are amulets! Fans sent the leaf. It seems to be from ivory. So far I have been lucky with it. I don't take it off. The ring from "The Lord of the Rings" I bought myself. It's like black magic. The golden plate with the text from the Koran in Arabic was given to me by a Moroccan Moslem.
- Are you religious? Do you fast?
- As much as possible, although it doesn't go along with sports well... But this is the topic which I would not like to get into. I am not ready pose for society pages. At this stage tennis is the most important for me so I prefer to keep the conversation about it. And to talk to whom I want to, when and where I want to. If a Moscow newspaper wanted an exclusive story, they could have sent a correspondent to Australia, there were press conferences after every match. Please, ask questions, write the interviews, publish... No, it was more comfortable to wait until I return to Moscow, and then accuse me of arrogance when I refuse to discuss with everyone interested what happened a month ago in Melbourne and how it was.
- You are speaking like we have kangaroos instead of cows on our pastures, and you can take a train from the Kazan train station to this Australia of yours.
- I thought we were talking not about some small papers from Monino or Balashikha but about papers that can afford trips abroad...
- OK, we cleared the issue with the journalists more or less but you also ignored Shamil Tarpishev, who offered a small celebration in your honour.
- Again, I'm choosing for myself what to do and when. I didn't need any celebration at the moment. I spent a month in Australia and flew home to relax and catch my breath before joining the race again. You say: celebration, but for me, it's work where I can't rest or relax. There would have been a bunch of people and nearly everyone would have wanted something from me. I would have had to smile politely to the guests whom I didn't invite, to listen to the speeches, answer the questions. Can you answer why do I need it? No? I couldn't too.
ON COMPANY
- Were you at least at the granddad's birthday?
- How? I was in Australia at the time.
- Sorry, I mean the other granddad, the all-Russian - Boris Yeltsin. He turned 74 on 1 February.
- Straight from the airplane to go to Boris Nikolayevich's dacha? Cool! As much as I would have wanted I could not be in two placed at the same time. No, we did not meet this day but later I was at the ceremony where the scholarships were awarded from the Foundation of the 1st President of Russia to our talented tennis players aged 14 to 18.
- Did you speak to Boris Nikolayevich?
- Yes. We didn't say anything special to each other, we didn't discuss the world politics. He wasn't at work, I wasn't at work, we spoke about everyday things. It's not the words that matter here, it's the communication itself. It's an honour even to say hello to such a person.
- Besides the meeting at the top level, were there any other public appearances?
- Do restaurants count? I have to eat somewhere, right? I prefer "Korchma", "Pushkin", "Tzarskaja ohota"... There are nice places in Moscow to relax with friends. A couple of times played ice hockey at CSKA. First time with my dad and his friends, later with younger guys. Visited sauna regularly.
- Who kept you company?
- Different people. When the plans coincided I was always glad to meet with Ilya Kovalchuk, Pavel Bure, Sasha Mostovoi... There are enough dignified people. I respect great athletes.
ON FUTURE
- Can you stand well a drastic change of climate? It was over 30 degrees Celsius in Australia.
- I am steeled. So far my system can take it. I like our winter in general. With snow, frost...
- Are you a mountain-skier?
- No, I didn't learn skiing as a child and now I am already afraid to experiment because of the injuries. When I'll quit tennis, maybe then. in a couple of years, in short...
- Only?
- I just said it so. We'll see. Until 30 I'll probably play but hardly after that. Enough. It's better to retire in time. Life is so short that I would like to have time to try myself in something else besides tennis also.
- And in what direction could that be?
- I'm still looking, but it's obvious I have to be involved in business. One has to live from something.
- You suppose the earned twelve million bucks won't be enough for a comfortable life?
- Yes, I have money but it's not about the amount. I have to find something that will interest me. It only seems so that you can take the interests and lie under a palm tree. Any normal person would go insane after two months of such a life! I definitely won't be able to idle for a long time.
- Did you hear about the Team Russia program?
- It's necessary to support talented children! I think that's my duty. How many boys and girls are roaming the streets now, searching for something? Many of them have neither past nor future. They don't all have to join the sport, but they need to do something useful, to not to become drug-users or criminals. Good people helped me in my day, and I haven't forgotten it.
- On the subject of help, it's well known that at 14 you joined the tennis school in Valencia, but it gets somehow forgotten that before that you applied to Bolletieri academy in the States two years earlier.
- That trip ended in nothing. They refused me, saying that they didn't see potential. Like, nothing can be done out of me.
- Were these Bolletieri's words?
- Yes, he selected the so-called elite group personally, he did testing twice and said I had no chance to be accepted in his academy. Dad and I packed and came back.
- Was it a big let down?
I was disappointed. I was first in my age group in Russia. On the other hand, I wanted all the more to prove that I can get good results.
- Did yours and Bollitieri's paths cross later?
- Yeah, a few years back we met and he offered his excuses for his mistake.
- Was it pleasant to gloat?
- On whom? Bolletieri knows nothing about tennis. When I was 12, I was hurting, but I soon understood what kind of a man he is.
- Whan kind of a man?
- A businessman and a very high-profile publicitist. Beside the tennis academy, he owns academies of golf, football, baseball, riding... And it's all funded by his pupils' rich parents. You listen to Bolletieri, he raised Pete Sampras, Agassi, Courier, Seles, Becker, Haas... Everyone in the world! How can you not pay to such an outstanding coach? They go to him from all over the world and don't know that Bolletieri's a former commando who's never played tennis himself...
- So your real tennis school was in Spain?
- I was given a chance, and I took it.
ON COACH
- Many noticed that your game took a turn for the better after Peter Lundgren had started coaching you.
- True. I needed just that kind of a man, and I was searching for him for a long time. I heard it many times that it's my quarrelsome temper. Like, because of it nobody can work with me. Since I was 18 I was told constantly that I'm wasting my talent, missing the train... After Peter appeared, I started to play more consistently, started winning, and instantly there were speeches that finally Marat has matured, become more serious. Those are words of people who know very little about tennis. It's not my temper that's the problem. The problem is a deficit of really good coaches in our sport. They're all accounted for, hunted for. Good specialists who used to be players don't want to submit their life to another, to step in the shadow of another, to travel full-time yet again, spending a lot of time in airports and hotels. These people earned good money during their careers, what can they achieve by repeating the past? They need additional ambitions. But Peter's interested in that, he coached Rios for 2 years, then Federer for 7 years. I was on the tour with Denis Golovanov. He's my best friend from childhood, we even used to play doubles, know and understand each other perfectly, but for the work I needed something else. The results dropped... When I learned that Lundgren parted with Federer, I made him an offer he couldn't refuse.
- Lundgren said in his interview that he hadn't done anything extraordinary, merely helped you to find motivation to take pleasure in playing.
- I never made it a secret that my problems were of psychological origin, that's why as far as 4 years back I thought seriously about quitting tennis, quitting sport. What held me from it was that I didn't know what to do next. I convinced myself not to rush. Yes, Peter has helped me and we extended our contract till the end of the year. Imagine: during the season I play 25 tournaments and win, say, 5. That means that in the rest I lose. On different stages, but lose all the same. There are not many sports where losses happen so often. Football team which loses 20 matches a season, will crash into 2nd or 3rd league. I stay at the top, obviously but constantly get smacked by my opponents. Besides, our contest is an individual one, you play man-to-man. In football, say, you can write a loss off on keeper's mistakes, or inept strikers, or wrong tactics chosen by the coach; in tennis you've no one to blame but yourself. Several straight losses can cause complexes which you can't get out of by yourself. Then you start to lose it: smash racquets or swear on court...
- Did Peter teach you some of nordic restraint?
- I'm 25, my personality is set and you can't change it. If I appear to be calmer, it means that I learnt to control it better, not to let the steam to blow up. Of course we all change through the years. Maybe, some time I needed to throw racquets, swear aloud or talk about myself in third person. There'd be nothing without that. That's my life, no one knows it better than me, that's why I'm so amused by the outside expert's opinions. TV commentators in particular are guilty of that - always raring to give an advice.
- Do you listen to them?
- The commentators or the advice? I never watch my matches on video but I am informed about who and what is telling. My friends tell me... Firstly, there is a common culture: in the civilised world commentators don't speak during play, in Russia obviously not everybody has heard about it. I take it calmly when people discuss tennis as they see it and even teach me how to hit the ball or receive a serve. They have to say something on TV and there might not be enough clever thoughts for three hours. Good, it's your vision of the game, you can tell about it. I just don't understand why you have to tell about things outside the court? With whom I sleep, what I eat... Are they trying to get new spectators?
- Who, besides Lundgren, is on your team? I heard you hired a fitness trainer from Israel?
- Kowalsky was my consultant for a few weeks, then we parted. Now I got back to my old fitness trainer from Valencia, bring him over periodically when I need to improve my fitness. You need a man who writes good programmes and forces you to follow them. Sometimes I can get lazy, start pitying myself, slacking. Also I have a personal masseur. First, he was an American, now Thai.
- Sounds Exotic.
- You understand: I don't need what's offered at the beaches of Phuket... It's important to consider the individual. Some players like hard massage before the match but I get apathetic after that, my muscles lose the tone. But these are such nuances that fans don't need to know I guess.
- Because your surroundings are international it's easier for you to speak English than Russian?
- When you are in the States for a month it's difficult to switch, foreign words come into your native language. But don't think that I do it on purpose or have become completely daft by the sport, forgotten Russian. No, I know the grammar, I have graduated from a secondary school.
- You also entered a university?
- Yep. We study, study...
- Isn't it taking too long?
- Where to rush? To be honest I don't know what's the use from my studies. What will the university degree on physical training give me? If I decide to work as a coach I'll find students without the diploma, and can explain how to divide physical exercises, hit forehands, avoid cramps or, for instance, raise blood haemoglobin levels. It's obvious that in seven years as a professional athlete I have learned more than the university professors can tell you. I don't want to insult them...
- Besides the coach and the masseur, are there other people accompanying you at the tournaments?
- For what? To entertain? I don't like clowns, I find them repugnant.
- Do people cling on to you?
- Sometimes it's difficult to explain to a person that I don't need his services. My parents taught me to be polite but sometimes it difficult with especially unreasonable people... A few years ago there was a moment when I felt that I question the people around me. I was afraid that they are after self-profit. Then I understood: you can't leave questioning everything and relaxed. Now I have some friends, we are completely open to each other, respect each other. That's what I look for in a friendship.
ON SISTER
- What presents did you get on your 25th birthday?
- Don't know if you believe it but I don't wait for presents. Moreover, I ask people not to give me any presents. I don't know where it comes from. Maybe from Spain where I got pocket money 15 dollars a week and had so many desires. Seventeen years old, you know... On the other hand, everyone needs to go through a stage of life without money. Then you value every penny more. If you get everything easily you take it easily too, let it go easily. The most important thing that money gives is freedom.
- When could you start spending, Marat?
- Difficult to say... I bought my first apartment when I was 19. In Valencia. Small, modest but my own. Bought a car. Old red Volkswagen Golf. It was not much younger than me, without conditioning, one door jammed, but it moved so that was the main thing. later when the real money came I wanted everything and immediately. But soon, at 20 I understood that I can have practically any material thing I want and calmed down. It's very important to feel in time the independence from things. Now I have an apartment in Monte-Carlo, but it's not a huge apartment, it's a 30 sq m studio. Why have more when this is enough at the moment? I don't care what car I drive, I mean the label. It just has to be comfortable and safe. Yeah, I had a Ferrari once, tried a lot of other cars, in Monaco now I have my Porsche but in Moscow it's better to drive a jeep. By the way, I have a coupe Mercedes here too, a gift for the Davis Cup win. I myself wouldn't have bought it already...
- Did you help Dinara?
- When I had free money I bought my sister's contract from her sponsor so she didn't belong to anybody and could do what she herself wanted. Now Dinara is working with my manager and is feeling great. Maybe the victory in Paris also came because of that. The first big tournament win in her life. I hope it won't be the last one.
- You follow the progress of our girls?
- I try. Although I have no TV in Moscow. I mean, I have no cable. Only video works.
- Can you explain why the Russian girls are doing better than guys?
- I don't want to insult the girls but it's easier to get to the top there. There is a group of strong players and after them the rest of the field. in Men you have to pass many stages to get to the top, and the level of the majority of players is pretty even. You have to put in a lot of effort, work hard for at least five years to reach something. Unfortunately our guys are not too studious. I spoke to them, everything seems so unserious. Instead of working they find reasons to idle...
- Interesting, are your and Dinara's characters similar?
- She grew up in a family, I live on my own since the age of 14. But my sister has the same problem: unless she will find pleasure in the game, the results won't come.
- In your opinion, about whom do the parents worry more nowadays?
- Which hand does a man value more - right or left? I don't know how to answer such questions.
ON EVERYDAY LIFE
- I noticed that mother stopped travelling to the tournament with you.
- I asked her. It's more difficult to play when your family is around. You get distracted, starts to look for them in the stands, to worry. The pressure overwhelms - it's twice as bad to lose in front of your family... That's why I can't play at the Kremlin Cup: the spectators demand a good result but because of the nerves you hit the ball out or net the ball... Especially if while serving someone shouts: "Russia!". Like the whole country is behind you... So I am very grateful to my parents but it's better when they watch my matches on TV. The main thing is that dad with mom understood: I and my sister won't get lost in this life. Just recently I bought them an apartment, now they are renovating it, designing. Pleasant worries...
- Do you yourself have an apartment in Moscow?
- I am also renovating, at the moment I use a rented apartment.
- You don't want to move out of town?
- Everything at its time. At the moment it's more comfortable for me to live in the city centre.
- Do you bear a grudge against your countrymen who some years ago stole your BMW and broke into your parents' apartment?
- Not everyone can become a banker, famous artist or musician. Some people earn their living stealing. Everyone has his own business... What's the point to bear a grudge against these people? I am concentrating on other things. I already got from tennis everything I wanted. I was No. 1 in the world, won the Grand Slam tournaments, held the Davis Cup above my head. Yes, I want to win some more but it can't be an aim itself, otherwise you'll burn out. It has happened to many people. In order not to repeat their mistakes I don't get too excited, I calmly go forward, and we'll see what will happen.
ON FEDERER
- Is it real to take down Federer?
- Difficult. He's a universal player almost without any weaknesses. Maybe I'm stronger physically, but his feel of the ball is exceptional.
- Maybe throw Federer off balance with some small tricks?
- He's very nervous during matches, but he wouldn't show it. Tricks are not welcome among us - there are strict rules. Only mutual respect. Of course, sometimes a player can get out of line, but it's healed pretty fast.
- With fines?
- Not necessarily. The etiquette violator can get boycotted, that's worse.
- What did Federer say in your ear in Melbourne?
- Wished me happy birthday, wished luck. The usual. He's a polite man, although some others shake your hand after a loss but don't look you in the eyes. You need to learn how to lose. I learned.
- After Dubai, there's a DC tie against Chile in Moscow. What are your impressions?
- They're serious opponents, Olympics champions. They're training in Sweden. A lot will depend on conditions, on the surface that we'll choose.
- Any preferences?
The faster the better.
- Will you get revenge for Athens?
- I explained already: I try not to look back. It's better to look forward. That way there's a better chance to surprise yourself and the others.
Translated by Tanya & Maria V
