Tennis Hunk: Marat Safin

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    AFTER being beaten by Roger Federer, in straight sets, at the Australian Open ’09, Marat Safin said in retrospect, "Well, his life also changed. His hasn’t grown too badly. He won couple of Grand Slams afterwards. Me? I got injured. I had to recover from the injuries, so we went in different ways. He got much more confident through the years and I had to recover from the injuries. So, I’d like to be in his shoes".

   With a career that witnessed many ups and downs, a succession of injuries and a temper that could get frayed in a nano-second, Safin the big-built Russian never really lived up to his promise. 

   Born in Moscow, Russia, Marat came from a family where sports was bred into. His parents were former tennis players and coaches and his sister is a professional tennis player, silver medalist at 2008 Olympic Games, Dinara Safina. They are the first brother-sister tandem in tennis history to both achieve No. 1 rankings. 


   Aged 14, Safin moved to Spain for advanced tennis training programmes. He defines himself beautifully as a boy who ‘grew up very fast with no muscles’.

  Basically a clay-court player, Marat, started his professional career in 1997. In 1998, he defeated Andre Agassi and defending champion Gustavo Kuerten at the French Open. He held No 1 ATP ranking for nine weeks when he won his first Grand Slam tournament at the US Open in 2000 by defeating Pete Sampras in straight sets.

    However, due to injuries, he missed the majority of the season in 2003. He reached the final at the Australian Open in 2002, 2004 and 2005. In 2005 he took the Australian Open crown by defeating local favourite Lleyton Hewitt to bag his second Grand Slam title. He also defeated top-ranked Roger Federer in a five-set semifinal match.

     His best result at the Wimbledon was when he reached the semifinals in 2008 losing toRoger Federer, 6-3, 7-6, 6-4. Marat helped Russia achieve its first Davis Cup victory in 2002, with a 3–2 tie-break win against France in the final round at the Palais Omnisports Paris Bercy. The team made Davis Cup history by being the second to win the event after losing the doubles tie-breaker, and becoming the first team to win a five-set finals match by coming back from a two-set deficit. He also helped Russia win the Davis Cup in 2006.

   2006 turned out to be an otherwise disappointing year, as after being continually plagued by injuries, Safin’s ranking plummeted to as low as 104. He temporarily parted ways with coach Peter Lundgren. After missing the 2006 edition due to injury, the 2007 Australian Open was his first since he claimed the title in 2005, but he lost against sixth seed Andy Roddick by 6–7, 6–2, 4–6, 6–7 in a gruelling 3-hour match.

   Known for his emotional outbursts during matches, Safin is estimated to have smashed 48 racquets in 1999 whereas he says he broke 300 in 2005. It was this ‘spur of the moment’ aspect of his personality that endeared him to millions of fans worldwide. What will be missed the most once the big man hangs his boots, apart from the booming forehand, will be the emotion, or rather the abundance of it that he brought to the court.

   
   Despite his emotional outbursts, Safin had a very laid back demeanour and was widely regarded as the most charismatic player on tour. His final tournament as a professional tennis player was at the 2009 Paris Masters in which a special presentation ceremony was held on Centre Court at Bercy after his match. Fellow tennis players who joined him in the ceremony included del Potro, Novak Djokovic, Gilles Simon, Tommy Robredo, Frederico Gil, Ivo Karlovic, Alberto Costa, Marc Rosset and Younes El Aynaoui. 

2000 US Open Finals Highlights - Safin vs. Sampras

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