Marat Safin
Marat Safin
Marat Mubinovich Safinis a Russian retired tennis player and politician. Safin won two Grand Slam tournaments and reached the world no. 1 ranking during his career. He was also famous for his emotional outbursts and sometimes fiery temper on court. Safin is the older brother of former world No. 1 WTA player, Dinara Safina. They are the first and only brother–sister tandem in tennis history who have both achieved no. 1 rankings...
NationalityRussian
ProfessionTennis Player
Date of Birth27 January 1980
CityMoscow, Russia
CountryRussian Federation
I pass through the difficult moments in life, really difficult times on grass, during my seven years of my career. All of a sudden I felt comfortable.
Never give up. Last year I was trying to give up but I couldn't.
It's a pity that the tennis is really going down the drain. Every year it's getting worse and worse and worse. There has to be a radical change, and I hope it will be really soon.
That was...that was choking. You're right. But of course when you play against (Roger) Federer, he's No. 1 in the world, he won three grand slams last year, and he's just full of confidence. It's difficult to do anything regular to beat him. You have to do something extra to be able to have the chance to beat him. Set points, I had six of them and I couldn't take one. But I was close.
From now until the end of the year I would like to eke out one victory, that's my short term aim. I am sure I can be competitive in 2004. Tennis is like riding a bike, you never forget how to do it.
It's a completely different situation right now because last year it was the time that nobody expected anything from me anything -- I had nothing to lose, basically I was starting from zero. And now I'm back in Top 5. And for me it's a different stage.
I was making comebacks every single year. That makes it difficult mentally. It causes a lot of stress.
I've slightly changed my action and movement and tonight it really worked well for me.
I've played him many times, six times, but the way he is playing this year, with confidence, to beat him will be very tough. A little bit of luck would be great.
I've been playing non-stop for several weeks and obviously I'm getting tired both physically and mentally. I tried but it wasn't enough.
I've been out for one month and a half and I didn't really practice before the tournament,
We have eyes, and we see that not many people are interested in the sports.
Everything worked out. I'm satisfied with my game today. If it goes like this, I have good chances to play well in this tournament,
To be honest I think he ran out of gas. When I broke him in the third set I think his belief went. He was missing that extra step and he could not cope.