Marat Safin is arguably one of the biggest wastes of tennis talent in the past ten years. When Marat Safin was at the top of his game his forehand, back hand and court awareness catapulted him to the Number One ranking and two Grand Slams; the 2000 US Open and the 2005 Australian Open. And for other players that would and should be enough. It is enough for Marat, but not for us Marat fans.
Today, May 27, 2009 Marat has us wanting more. The murmurs about French player Josselin Ouanna started last year, and today the Frenchman soon had two sets to none on Marat and faithful long suffering Marat fans feared the worst. Hope started in the third set when Marat started to swing freely, and the talent that made him one of the most feared players on the tour started to surface. Marat pushed the match to a fifth set, where he battled multiple match points before finally losing on Ouanna's fourth match point. The score was 7-6 (7/2) 7-6 (7/4) 4-6 3-6 10-8; the match lasted over four hours.
So why do we want more? What is it? I like to think of our relationship with Marat as a carousel ride. There are ups and downs and eventually your bottom hurts and you want to get off. However, Marat we are not ready to get off the carousel and quite frankly, my dear Marat, I don't think you are ready to get off either. So Marat, wherever you are, I hope you realized how much this still means to you, how much you love this sport to have fought from two sets down, fought against three match points, all to get off this ride too early. The carousel is still going Marat, and we would all like you to stay on.
4 comments:
I've been a fan of crazy, head-case, frustrating Marat for years, and I just loved this post that you wrote.
That is exactly what it's like. And I agree that Marat loves what he does. Hope that it's strong enough so that he rescinds on hanging up his racquet.
Hi Westerly,
Thanks for reading my blog, it means a lot. I really hope Marat keeps playing. He still has a lot of tennis left in him.
I adore Marat. Even now you still see some patches of his play and think ... wow!! Its often been said that he has wasted his talent, but I like to spare a thought for the two serious injuries he had which have impacted his career. Just when he seemed to be recovering and making his way back again, along came another injury, and he was right back where he started. I guess just sometimes its really difficult to keep pushing on after that.
Notwithstanding his (sometimes) sublime tennis, he is also one of the games greatest characters - fantastic in interviews and press conferences, funny, witty and always honest and with something to say. He still remains one of the game's greatest characters and it will be lacking once he has gone. His clay court season has been poor, and I fear for him after Wimbledon as the points he won there last year will drop off, so losing his ranking and the potential to have to qualify for tournaments may not be a road he chooses to go down.
I read somewhere that what would make him happiest in life is to have a beer in one hand and a baby in the other, so Marat - I really hope you succeed in your dream!!
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