Article

  • Wild boy Safin just wants a taste of the tennis quiet life

    8/27/08 7:16 AM | Johan Lindahl
    - Marat Safin can imagine nothing more pleasant that an uneventful tennis match - something which the Russian rarely manages.

    The 2000 US Open winner said that despite his reputation as a volatile player ready to go off at the slightest provocation, he's gotten a bad rep for no reason.

    “I'm 28, I've been already on tour for 10 years, and I want to enjoy my tennis”, he explained after an opening victory - not without controversy due to a foot fault which cost him the fourth set in a win over Vince Spadea - at the Open.

    “I don't want to fight anybody. I don't want to be facing any problems on the court. I just want to enjoy”.



    The multi-millionaire added: “It's not like I'm playing because I'm starving to death and I need to do something to earn money. I want to enjoy - it's so simple”.

    “I just want to have a nice match, win or lose, and whatever happens to go home. I don't want to face the foot faults and all these things. So I don't have to put myself together, let's try to calm down, let's play some tennis”.

    Safin got annoyed after being called out on a second serve by what he described as a linesman in “sunglasses from 35 meters away”.

    He has his own solution: “It's very simple: Just give me a warning first before I'm making foot fault. It's stupid rules that somebody made in, I don't know, 1850, and now they give me the problems with these things. It shouldn't be that way”.

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Comments

What a legend this Safin is. Impossible not to love him.

Dynasty , 8/27/08 7:23 AM


have you watched his video interview? boy, could he charm anyone with just a smile...so boyish and yet so manly, lol! tennis version of brad pitt, marat is :)

ballgirl , 8/27/08 1:23 PM


I love Safin :-)

RafaNadalGirl20 , 8/27/08 4:17 PM


whatever safin does, somehow I just can't dislike. there's someting about him that really endearing, broken rackets and all.

sstay , 8/28/08 9:27 AM


It's the 'will he, won't he throw a major strop' and 'how far will he push the umpire' that keeps us enthralled. Just as the famous tantrums of McEnroe did, or rather do because he is still at at. The difference is that Safin so often derails himself as a result whereas McEnroe seemed to use the temper to recharge himself.

ed251137 , 8/28/08 10:12 AM


I can never not like Safin - all that entertainment he provides! And I like his sense of humour... when he shows it.

tenstar , 8/28/08 11:08 AM


There are too many politically correct and motivational discourses in tennis...Safin is a spoiled kid, but he is also honest and just full of common sense at his very essence, which is just recomforting to hear and yes, entertaining.

SSS , 8/30/08 2:39 PM


Will probably be banned for saying this but personally I think Safin is a bit of a tennis thug. Amusing to watch but I find him anything but charming - perhaps off-court he is different.

ed251137 , 8/31/08 12:25 PM



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