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Marat Mikhailovich Safin (Russian: ?; Tatar: Marat Mixail uli Safin
pron. Mah-RAT SAH-fin; b. January 27, 1980) is a Russian (ethnic Tatar) former
World No. 1 tennis player who started his professional career in 1997. He
is one of the top tennis players in the world and is known for his big physical
presence, controversial antics, mercurial talent and aggressive power play.
Safin's major accomplishments are winning the US Open in
2000 and the Australian Open in 2005.
Tennis Career
Born in Moscow, Russia, Safin is the son of top ten tennis
player Rausa Islanova and Misha Safin, and is the brother of tennis player
Dinara Safina. Misha managed the local Spartak Tennis Club where Safin trained
in his youth aside several up and coming tennis players, including Anna Kournikova,
Elena Dementieva, and Anastasia Myskina. At age fourteen he moved to Valencia,
Spain, to access advanced tennis training programs which were not available
in Russia. Safin gained the attention of the tennis establishment in 1998
with his consecutive victories over Andre Agassi and the defending champion
Gustavo Kuerten at the French Open.
Safin held the No. 1 ATP ranking for a brief period of 9
weeks during 2000. In that year, he won his first Grand Slam tournament at
the US Open by defeating Pete Sampras in straight sets and was immediately
hailed as the new star to dominate tennis in the future years. However he
failed to live up to the hype and succumbed to inconsistent performances,
generally commented to be a result of his notoriously volatile temper. In
addition he suffered a succession of injuries which affected his game and,
in 2003, resulted in his absence for the majority of the season.
Safin has reached three more Grand Slam finals, all in the
Australian Open in the years 2002, 2004 and 2005. He has cited nervousness
as the reason for the loss in the first of them, and physical exhaustion
for the second. He defeated home-country favorite Lleyton Hewitt in the third
to secure his second Grand Slam in five years. En route to the final he defeated
top-ranked Roger Federer in an epic five-set-long semifinal match, showing
unusual calmness and superior shot selection to match Federer stroke for
stroke. He later described the encounter "a brain fight". Safin's
phenomenal win snapped Federer's 26-match winning streak and put a dent in
his supposed invincibility. Safin is widely recognized as the player who
can test Federer the most with his talent and his arsenal of powerful shots.
Safin has won five ATP Tennis Masters Series titles during
his career. His first was in 2000 when he won the title in Toronto, Canada.
He holds a record-tying three (2000, 2002, and 2004) wins in Paris, France,
and one in 2004 in Madrid, Spain. In 2004, Safin reached the Semifinal of
the Tennis Master's Cup in Houston, but was defeated by Roger Federer, 6-3,
7-6(18). The second-set tiebreak was the third tiebreak of the score 20-18
the Open Era.
After winning the Australian Open early in 2005, Safin attributed
his recent revival and his 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 was formerly
a coach of Roger Federer, but they parted ways at the end of 2003. Safin
hired Lundgren in the following year. All the talk about Safin finding his
consistency was a false dawn, however, as he crashed out in the early rounds
of all seven tournaments he played between the Australian Open and French
Open. In June, shortly after an unsuccessful French open campaign, Safin
made a surprise final appearance at the Wimbledon tune-up tournament in Halle
on grass, his least favorite surface by his own admission. He lost the final
narrowly to the defending champion Roger Federer.
Safin is a popular figure among both fans and commentators.
His tendency to become overly emotional during matches, credited for several
of his losses, has resulted in spontaneous court behavior. He is noted for
having smashed numerous rackets and, at Roland Garros in 2004, pulled his
shorts down to his thighs after winning a point in a third round match against
Felix Mantilla. This behavior, and the support he receives from legions of
female fans, has resulted in Safin receiving distinction as a player capable
of generating celebrity for a sport which experiences slumps in popularity.
Marat Safin also helped Russia to its first Davis Cup victory
in 2002, with a 3-2 rubber win against France in the final at the Palais
Omnisports Paris Bercy. The team included Yevgeny Kafelnikov, Mikhail Youzhny,
Andrei Stoliarov and captain Shamil Tarpischev. The team made Davis Cup history
as the second team to win the cup after losing the doubles rubber, and the
first team to win a live five set match in the final from two sets down.
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