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'm really happy with the way I played, definitely my best since Melbourne last year.
It's still very painful, I have to think about every movement on the court, cannot hit the balls as I would like to,
I'm just hoping to play as many tournaments I can to get my ranking back.
I'm taking this tournament very seriously and in this sort of match you have to take your opportunities when they come.
It was not enough matches, so many mistakes. Like I've said, you need to get the rhythm back. It doesn't come straight away. It's still a long way and I have many things to work on. I hope it will come back soon.
It was little bit too late to come back in the second set. I was missing a lot on baseline, my serve was not there.
It was a great comeback from Pete ... I was always under pressure,