SPORTS> Tennis
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SPORTS> Tennis
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Clown prince bids farewell
(China Daily)
Updated: 2009-09-04 10:56 NEW YORK: What a long, strange trip it has been for Marat Safin, the crown prince of tennis who became the court jester.
 Former world No 1 Safin saw his Grand Slam career end Wednesday with a 1-6, 6-4, 6-3, 6-4 first-round loss to Austrian Jurgen Melzer at the US Open, the same event where the 29-year-old Russian achieved his greatest triumph. Safin's often-volatile 12-year career peaked with a 6-4, 6-3, 6-3 over Pete Sampras in the 2000 US Open final, taking his first Grand Slam crown two months before ascending to the top of the rankings throne. Now he's ready to walk away from tennis at year's end, saying since the start of the year that he is ready for new challenges. "I want to change and do something else. I'm ready for that. It has been a nice trip. It's enough," Safin said. "There has been a lot of pressure throughout the years, a lot of tough moments. I need to just cool down. I need to get out of my brain and start from a new page." Safin played his first Slam at the 1998 French Open and won his first ATP title at Boston in 1999. He added the Australian Open, the last of 15 career crowns, to his haul in 2005 after having lost the 2002 and 2004 Aussie finals. But whether it was smashing more than 700 racquets or the dreams of rivals, Safin was always entertaining, mercurial at times, witty, grumpy and typically a formidable big server who quit the game as he played it, on his own terms. "I think I've managed to do pretty well," Safin said. "Many things happened in my career. The life was pretty intense, so I can't complain. There were a lot of changes, a lot of difficult situations, a lot of fun situations." Safin began playing tennis at the age of six with his father Misha, who directed a Moscow racquet club. His mother, Rausa, coached him until he was 13 and also helped guide his sister, Dinara, now the women's world No 1. "Sometimes it's not easy to understand my brother," Safina admits. But oh how fans would try. People Magazine named him one of 2000's "Most Intriguing People" in a year when he won seven titles.
"In the history of tennis, every single player is an underachiever," Safin said. "Agassi should have been winning 15 Grand Slams. Sampras should have been winning 20 Grand Slams. Federer should be winning 25 already. "Everybody could do better. I should probably have won a couple of more but I'm pretty satisfied with what I did." Others, like compatriot Svetlana Kuznetsova, can only wonder what might have happened had a Federer-like work ethic been matched with Safin's talent. "It's an expression we say in Russian - what would happen if?" Kuznetsova said. "But 'if' didn't happen." Injuries hampered Safin's hopes at times. Torn left wrist ligaments and a sore right shoulder ruined his 2003 season. A left knee injury in late 2005 kept him from defending his Aussie Open title. AFP |
