[Rjvpicux]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/tennis/7693783.stm

Monday, 27 October 2008

Safin may quit after Paris defeat



Safin won his first Grand Slam title at the US Open in 2000

Marat Safin admitted he is considering retirement after yet another disappointing defeat, this time in the first round of the Paris Masters.

The Russian, a former US and Australian Open champion and world number one, went down 6-0 7-6 (7-4) to Juan Monaco.

"I need to sit down and relax and just enjoy my life without any tennis for a couple of months and then I will see," said the 28-year-old.

"If I feel like I want to continue to play, I will. If not, it will be over."

Safin has not won a title since the 2005 Australian Open and is currently ranked 31st in the world, having slipped as far as 90th in March.

He did make his first final for two years in Moscow earlier this month but suffered a morale-sapping loss to compatriot Igor Kunitsyn.

"I need to think everything through," he said. "I have no pressure and I have nothing to prove or show. I just want to be comfortable with my decision, whatever I will take.

"I've been struggling throughout my career with injuries left and right.

"It's a little bit uncomfortable to find yourself in the top 10 for many years and to find yourself ranked 70 and 30 and 50.... It's not really a comfortable position."

[Gastonleruanich]

[zlopikanikanz]

Was he on the poll "Who will retire this year/first?" earlier this year?

[Elelaytet]

Somewhere in the Paris thread I posted a link to the audio of his presser.


EDIT:
It's here:
http://www.fft.fr/bnpparibasmasters/2008_en/?ID=4210

(scroll down to 4:58)

[gactanync]

Suckage


so I guess this means no Dina-Marat Hopman cup?

[rozalinasi]

I hope this isn't true, but his losses lately have been painful. I guess we'll see.

[Imampaictjg]

Lately, he does seem like he's been going through the motions. Whatever he decides, I hope he doesn't make a rash decision.

[Breevereurl]

If he retires, it's going to suck, he's one of greatest personalities in the game. Yet at the same time he's been floundering far too much. It's going to be a tough choice either way. I'd hope he'd stick around because he can catch lightning in a bottle better than most, but he hasn't in a long, long time.

[inmeirulez]

Was Wimbledon a fluke?

He has seemed bored with tennis for a long time. Only so many times you can hit a little yellow ball over a net without it getting dull, I suppose.

[formobilagsw]

I doubt it happens. Marat has been working his butt off the past six months. Once he decided to stop partying and start playing, he really started to focus.

The Paris loss was surely a humiliating defeat for Marat and I think that right now...he is wallowing in the the muck of that disappointment and is, at the same time, frustrated that his work and training didn't pay off as well and as fast as he expected.

I think his words come from his disappointment and not from a desire to retire.

And...as of yet, he hasn't made an official withdrawal from Hopman Cup so I'm optimistic!

[Elelaytet]

I doubt it happens. Marat has been working his butt off the past six months. Once he decided to stop partying and start playing, he really started to focus.

The Paris loss was surely a humiliating defeat for Marat and I think that right now...he is wallowing in the the muck of that disappointment and is, at the same time, frustrated that his work and training didn't pay off as well and as fast as he expected.

I think his words come from his disappointment and not from a desire to retire.

And...as of yet, he hasn't made an official withdrawal from Hopman Cup so I'm optimistic!

Where's the 6 months coming from?

He actually worked really hard in the off-season after a much worse season last year. Question is, is he up for it again if the results have been mixed at best.


But agree that those words were said in the heat of the loss. I'm kind of glad he said it, though. He's been giving a 'I enjoy playing tennis' response to these questions all year, it must feel better to sound out what must be constantly going through his head.

I wonder if at least Gumy will be out of a job. Rumor is they're not quite BFFs anymore.

[expomeHattePe]

[QUOTE-Was Wimbledon a fluke?

QUOTE]

Indeed!!! I don't think so! I hope he doesn't forget that result and puts his disappointment in perspective. His match against Monaco was "predictable" in the sense that he lost a lot of matches (last year too) because of a catastrophic first set. It takes him much longer "to get into" his matches and then when he wakes up, it's already 3-4 in the second set. Honestly, I see his loss against Kunitsyn in Moscow as a bigger "blow" to his ego.....

[Marlboro-oroblraM]

I like Safin as much as you all do. When he beat Sampras for the US Open, I really saw a guy who would win anywhere between 7-10 slams. But as the losses mounted, somewhere along the line, I completely detached myself from caring whether he won or lost.

The thing is, Safin hasn't lost any of his physical ability. It's all between the ears, so a retirement wold be a shame. OTOH, does anyone have a realistic solution to his problems?

And if he retires, who will have the greater peace of mind, Safin or his fans?

[DoterForeva]

I'm surprised that after almost 24 hours, this thread is not longer. Maybe we don't believe he is serious.

[inmeirulez]

I'm surprised that after almost 24 hours, this thread is not longer. Maybe we don't believe he is serious.

Maybe he's becoming less and less relevant.

[Gastonleruanich]

I'm surprised that after almost 24 hours, this thread is not longer. Maybe we don't believe he is serious.

I just want what's best for Marat. He can't be happy with the current situation. Whatever his decision is, I'll respect it. It can't be easy for him to be where he was and where he is now.

[Lvnufcdc]

I'm surprised that after almost 24 hours, this thread is not longer. Maybe we don't believe he is serious.

This is true for me at least.

[Elelaytet]

I like Safin as much as you all do. When he beat Sampras for the US Open, I really saw a guy who would win anywhere between 7-10 slams. But as the losses mounted, somewhere along the line, I completely detached myself from caring whether he won or lost.

The thing is, Safin hasn't lost any of his physical ability. It's all between the ears, so a retirement wold be a shame. OTOH, does anyone have a realistic solution to his problems?

And if he retires, who will have the greater peace of mind, Safin or his fans?

I'm not here to be a crazy defend-everything-Marat fan, but that's just not true

[genna]

When all is said and done, he will look back upon his career and experience deep regret for not being more disciplined. In my opinion, he totally wasted his talent. It will probably be 10 years before he realizes it, but when he does it will be a stiff kick in the head.

[Rjvpicux]

Back in June, in the Which Number 1 Will Retire First thread, Mathieu Mateo said

I think Marat will retire first.
Dinara said that he talks about retiring.

So apparently he's been talking about it since at least June.

In this article on Sky Sports he talks about some of his injuries -

http://www.skysports.com/story/0,195...024379,00.html

Safin ready and raring to go
Former champ looking to re-kindle title-winning form
By Elliot Ball Last updated: 21st August 2008


Safin: Injury-plagued career

Former world number one Marat Safin says he has finally recovered from a serious long-term knee-injury and is looking forward to this year's US Open.

Safin won the US Open title in 2000, taking apart the great Pete Sampras, and it seemed the world order of tennis was about to change.

However, despite an emphatic victory at the Australian Open in 2005, Safin has become one of the biggest enigmas in world sport - brilliant on his day but susceptible to mental let-downs and struck by injuries each time he has tried to re-establish himself.

Eight years on, the 28-year-old reached the semi-finals at Wimbledon this year and believes he is finally clear of the knee injury that hampered him after that 2005 win in Melbourne.

"The last time I played the US Open normal was back in 2001, when I got to the semi-finals, probably, it was so long ago," the former world number one told Reuters.

"Every time I started to play well I was getting injured, even when I was number one, I got injured with the rib, I couldn't play for two months and my ranking dropped and I lost confidence."

"But I am getting back again, the results will come eventually. The ranking doesn't really matter, if you get the results it will come back."

Coach impact

Currently ranked 44, Safin will be unseeded in New York next week although none of the top players will want to face him early on, especially Novak Djokovic, who lost to the Russian in the 2nd round at Wimbledon.

Having been ranked as low as 90th in March, Safin is on the up again and according the 6"4 big-server, much of the credit should go to his coach Hernan Gumy.

"It's been just over one year for us now, and I am pretty satisfied," Safin said.

"I am a little old to do certain things. Over the years it gets tougher and tougher to play well, especially when you compare yourself with the years before.

"He understands, he has a lot of patience and is the ideal person to travel with, which is very important. I am not under any pressure."


Playing pain-free

The tall right-hander added that Gumy had played a role in his rehabilitation, after been previously wary about his movement on his backhand side.

"The knee was difficult and I was risking a little too much," he said. "That's why my ranking dropped because without confidence you cannot make any more winners from the back of the court.

"All of a sudden the pain was gone and I could start at least to work on the movement, I started to cover the court better, doing more work in the gym."

However, Safin is still unable to completely shake off his injury woes - after early defeats in the Masters Series events in Toronto and Cincinnati last month, he reached the quarter-finals in Los Angeles but then pulled out of Washington with a stiff neck last week.

"It should be okay. I just need three or four days' rest," he said.