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Wednesday, October 10, 2007
Singles wins (15)
Characteristics
Safin is notorious for his emotional outbursts during matches. He is noted for having smashed numerous rackets and, at the 2004 Roland Garros tournament, he pulled his shorts down to his thighs —he was wearing underwear— after winning a point in a second round match against Felix Mantilla.
He frequently verbally berates himself for lost points, speaking in the languages of Russian, Spanish and English. He is also known for having arguments with the chair umpires. One such recent example took place in the 2007 Australian Open, after a rain delay during his 3rd round match with Andy Roddick. The court was, to his belief, still wet and hence he refused to continue play until it was dried properly. This led to an extensive argument with the chair umpire and tournament referee until the problem was properly solved by the towelling down of the suspect area.
Friday, July 6, 2007
2007
Safin has played no warm-up tournaments in the run up to the Australian Open. As Safin was forced to miss the tournament in 2006 due to injury, 2007 was his first Australian Open since he captured the title in 2005. Safin played the first round against
2006
Although a serious knee-injury hampered Safin's progression and rankings within the ATP (he missed the 2005 US Open and 2006 Australian Open), he has since got back on-track with appearances at the 2006 ATP Masters tournaments at Indian Wells,
On August 17, 2006, after a disappointing year, which saw his ranking drop as low as 104, Safin temporarily parted ways with coach Peter Lundgren.
At the 2006 US Open, Safin looked like he was back on track as he defeated the then world #4 David Nalbandian in the 2nd Round in a 5th Set tiebreaker. However, his run didn't last much longer as in the 4th Round he lost to former world #2 Tommy Haas, also on a 5th set tiebreaker.
Safin's current improvement in form has continued, firstly in September, with an impressive home Davis Cup tie where
On October 14, 2006, Safin made it to his first final in a year-and-a-half at the Kremlin Cup in
On December 3, 2006, Safin defeated Jose Acasuso 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 (5) in the 5th rubber of the 2006 Davis Cup, winning the cup for
2005
After winning the 2005 Australian Open, Safin attributed his recent revival and more consistent performance to the calming presence of his new coach Peter Lundgren, saying that "I never believed in myself before at all, until I started to work with him." Lundgren had been Federer's coach, until parting ways at the end of 2003; Safin hired Lundgren the following year. All the talk about Safin finding his consistency was a false dawn, however, as he was defeated in the early rounds of each of the seven tournaments he played between the Australian Open and the French Open. In June 2005, shortly after his unsuccessful French Open campaign, Safin made a surprise finals appearance at the Wimbledon tune-up tournament in
Career
Grand Slam History
Safin has reached the final round in three more Grand Slam tournaments, all in the Australian Open (in 2002, 2004 and 2005). He has cited nervousness as the reason for his loss in the 2002 event, and physical exhaustion for the 2004 loss. He defeated home-country favorite Lleyton Hewitt in the 2005 finals to secure his second Grand Slam in five years. En route to this final, he defeated top-ranked Roger Federer in an epic five-set semi-final match. Safin later described the match as "a brain fight". Safin's win ended Federer's 26-match winning streak over top-10 players, denting the Swiss player's aura of supposed invincibility.
He has never progressed further than the quarterfinals of
Masters' Series
Safin has won five ATP Tennis Masters Series titles during his career. His first was in 2000 when he won the title in
Tennis Masters' Cup
In 2004, Safin reached the Semifinal of the Tennis Masters' Cup in
Davis Cup
Marat Safin also helped
Early Life and Career
Safin was born in