Post by Annie on Jun 21, 2007 16:06:15 GMT 3
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Marat Safin: “Who needs me without my tennis”
Last weekend our tennis players defeated France in the quarterfinals of Davis Cup in Moscow.
Here is our conversation about sport, reality, faith, beautiful women and true men with the most experienced player of our team who gained the final winning point in that match - Marat Safin.
— Marat why do you think we are facing a situation when only Russian tennis players are leaders on the international arena and achieve international success nowadays?
— I don’t think this is the case. We have excellent athletes in all sports. For example, take a look at how many young forces have been brought up in football in the past 5 years. It’s a totally different story that our teamwork isn’t so good and our teams are very unlucky at times. There is also one more thing you have to consider: everything develops in a spiral kind of way. During the Soviet Union times ice hockey was extremely popular and we were the best in the world… Then some changes occured. Nowadays, our country leaders have taken interest in football so I think we should be expecting some serious results on that front .
«I only play well during Davis Cup…»
— After all your injuries you still get back to tennis and show a decent level of the game on the whole. You’re also joking that the only times you play well these days are during Davis Cup
— Last year I wanted to end my career for good because I could not move properly. The situation was very difficult. And then I came to the following realization: if I quit tennis now, in two months noone will want me or have any interest in me… This is the exact thought that made me get back to regular training and get back into tennis elite.
— Marat, do you think you’re a happy person?
— It is rather hard for me to define happiness. One thing I can say is that I am very lucky. My Dad wishes e luck before every game.
— You have a little extract from the Koran as your necklace, then there is the pendant from “the black eye” and some others… Don’t you think it’s too much?
— If you treat everything in such a manner, take everything so logically and seriously, it will definitely be too much. I bought some of these myself, some were given to me by family and friends and I everything I wear – I wear because I like it. There is nothing more to that.
— Do you visit the mosque at least on holidays?
— This is a truly personal and sacred topic, which I would not like to discuss.
— You started to act more calm on court – don’t break so man rackets, don’t swear as much and don’t fight with umpires as much. What happened?
— Well I am 27 after all. It is time to calm down and enjoy whatever it is you’re doing, take pleasure in life.
— Last year you changed your image al the time: had hair all over your shoulders like a musketeer, then had a bun like a sumo wrestler and then shaved it all off completely. What is that? A way to find your identity?
— No, there was no search. It’s just that my Dad is bald, and thought that all my curls would fall out soon so I decided to see how I would look in different styles. And then I decided to see how bald men feel and shaved it all off.
«Sharapova is not the woman of my heart»
— Thousands of girls are in love with you, they go crazy about you, you’re their hero. Could you describe your ideal female?
— I think that there is no ideal like there is no perfection. I am a realistic man. Why would I want to draw up some ideal, to give hope to people, female fans especially?
— Do you fancy Masha Sharapova? Could she become the heroine of your novel?
— I perfectly accept the fact that Masha together with Anya Kournikova. But I perfectly well realize that this is not my cup of tea and Maria could never become a woman of my heart.
— What about your ex, Dasha Zhukova? Is she really so charming that Roman Abramovich could lose his head over her?..
— I won’t call Daria a femme fatale. She has a lot of positive sides as well as negative ones in my opinion but it is not my place to discuss them. We broke up with our own interests and opinions in mind. As for Abramovich, I think she has every ability to turn his head.
— Marat why don’t you use your striking appearance? You could easily become the hero of Hollywood, do some advertising, earn heaps of money and feel totally grand.
— If only it was that easy. There were some suggestions but I am not ready to sell myself for peanuts. Don’t get me wrong, if I lived in the US my fortune would have been 3-4 times bigger. But we have different values and it’s more important for us to live in peace and quiet.
— What in your opinion is the most important thing for a real man?
— To become a personality, an individual and to never betray your principles.
Dmitry Grantsev
