A WILD RUSSIAN

JULY-AUGUST 2005 OF A RUSSIAN “MEDVED” (“THE BEAR”)

By Sergey Shachin

“He sincerely admits his mistakes. He smashes racquets when angry at himself. He curses himself in Russian, English and Spanish when does silly mistakes on court. He pretends to cry when he hits the ball into the net. In order to celebrate a win of a vivid point at Roland Garros he even pulled his pants down…”

This is how a famous USA Today journalist Gils Leeber sees Marat Safin. But why have we started the story about our compatriot with a quote from a foreign periodical? That’s because from a while back Marat has been boycotting Russian press. This is how he explains it: “Russia is a very particular country. Our people know no limits. Today they love you to death, tomorrow they’re throwing stones at you. They beg for an interview and when you give one they turn everything inside out and make you look like a monster. One thing I can’t understand is WHY they do it. Are they trying to increase their popularity or something? Anyway, I recommend watching your step in Russia. Here they won’t help you get up, what’s worse they’ll probably push you in the back, too”.

This is on one side. On the other side Safin has a beautiful house in Valencia and an apartment in Monte Carlo. But on any given occasion Marat rushes to Moscow where he says he feels most comfortable even though some specific events of Russian life effect sport celebrities’ lives as well. In earlier times Russian hooligans had a law: not to touch famous sportsmen because their own sweat and blood earn their money. Today times have changed. In 2002 before a DC semifinal against Argentina Safin’s BMW was stolen, then one after another two jeeps and then his parents’ flat got robbed. Marat treats these losses philosophically: “It is very important for a man to find the right time to feel independent of things as well as not to lose your mind when big money comes your way. A real man will always find himself even without money as long as he does something he loves. I really liked that stolen BMW but when the story became public I addressed the thieves through a newspaper (if they read newspapers that is) “Guys, if you managed to steal a car and not get caught I sincerely wish you happiness. Let there be at least be someone who gains out of this situation”.

On the whole Safin is not an avenger. There is however things he will not put up with: deceit, for example, or lying. “The most important quality in a man is honestly”, Marat once said, “do not tell small lies, then it will be hard to tell big ones”.
- What present would you chose for your worst enemy? – he was once asked during a press-conference
- A good present, - he replied – and that person would feel really bad not understanding what’s going on.
- Do you have a lot of enemies? When was the last time you wanted to his someone?
- This happens rather often because I cannot stand pushy and impolite people. And they are all over the place, - Safin replied.

Around the World

Marat acquired his favourite occupation at the age of 5. His mother Rausa Islanova was a good tennis player, a multi times champion of the USSR. The she became and excellent coach. She worked at the oldest tennis courts of Moscow, where loads of famous tennis players grew up: Andrei Chesnokov, Andrei Cherkassov, Anya Kournikova, Nastya Myskina…I suppose you can’t name all. Mum often took Marat with her to work because there was no one to leave him at home with. At first he was just fooling around with a racquet, then started to show some signs of talent and afterwards he began to like victories. That’s when his parents decided to make a real tennis player out of him.

But how? Nowadays Russia is living through a tennis boom but 20 years ago…Courts’ conditions were far from good and the indoor ones could be counted with fingers on one hand, racquets sold in shops were a nightmare, to find a good sparring partner was a whole problem. Some wise people advised the Safins to send the boy abroad. Some kind people helped with funds. So just like that at the age of 12 Marat found himself in the USA, in Florida, in a famous academy of Nick Bolletieri. However, he didn’t stay there long, didn’t make much of an impression on the tennis guru. This probably really hurt Marat’s ego. A few later he told the whole world about the true face of Mr. Bolletieri that not many people in the US know about, noone knows how Marat knows, too:

“He says he brought up Sampras, Agassi, Seles, Becker, Haas…Really and truly Bolletieri is a former paratrooper, who maybe knows how to hold a machine gun properly but not a racquet. It’s just that Nick is a very good businessman plus an experienced self-promoter and right connections guy. He attracts gifted kids to his academy, there well-known experienced coaches train them and Bolletieri announces himself as an achiever or results his coaches produce. By the way, he has the same kinds of academies in golf, soccer, baseball and horse riding. Are you meaning to tell me he is also good in these sports?”

So it didn’t work out with Bolletieri and Marat got his tennis degree in Valencia, at the tennis school of Pancho Alvarina. Apart from all the features of future champion, he also developed features of a macho there, namely “dark, passionate unpredictable inner power ready to break free at the right moment”, - such a comment was passed by one of the super models after she watched Marat play. Another stunning woman, star of “Beverly Hills 90210” Tiffany Amber Thiessen said that she would not rest until she manages to get Safin into her bed. Madonna herself through newspapers announced to the whole world that she included Marat in the list of sperm donors for her future son. But all of this was much later…

“I moved to Valencia when I was 14. This is how my independent life began”, Marat recollects. “In those days I could only spend 15 dollars per day as pocket money. And that is in a gorgeous country with so many seductions! I remember walking in the street and closing my eyes in order not to get too upset that I couldn't at a time afford this, this and that. However, I believe everyone has to pass a penniless stage once, then you start treasuring every dime. It’s funny to think about it now but the first car I ever bought was a wrecked red Volkswagen Golf. One door didn’t use to open and I think the car was about my age”.

Pyrrhic Victory

Everything changed in a second when in 2000 a 20 year old Russian “showing great potential” won one of the most prestigious Grand Slams – the US Open, thrashing the Great Pete Sampras in the final. That’s when at once Marat suddenly obtained a beautiful luxurious house in Valencia, a whole auto park of 5 cars, including of course a Ferrari and a massive crowd of female fans. In those days Marat swam in luxury and loved it. Nowadays however five years later, grown-up Marat is positive that the US Open victory played a cruel trick on him.

“It came way too early and I so to speak lost my head. I wanted to win every tournament, every match. A while later I realised that it is absolutely impossible. Tennis players have the longest season in the world, we only have a two week break in winter, we play 25-30 tournaments per season and you should make 5 – maximum 7 tournaments your top priority, the rest – are just passing by”.

Payback for the efforts of becoming the unbeatable came in the form of psychological instability, mountains of smashed racquets, conflicts with umpires, etc. but worst of all – serious injuries. The state that came over Marat urged him to get out on court not being 100% fit. As a result old injuries got worse and the new ones piled up on top. Yes, he did play some truly outstanding tennis every now and then and was in Grand Slam finals three times but nevertheless he started slipping downhill in ratings. November 2000- Safin is world’s Number One, the season of 2004 he started 77th.

“You do not want to miss a step in Russia: not only won’t they help you, they’d push you in the back, too”. Marat probably reached this sad conclusion during that “black” period of his life. Because this is exactly when Russian press poured all sorts of dirt on its idol. Russian paparazzi hunted for Marat. They were trying to expose him as someone who leads a dissolute lifestyle and that lifestyle is a cause of all his problems. A really great opportunity for these accusations turned up at Australian Open 2003, where Safin was accompanied by 3(!!!) stunning blondes everywhere he went. Marat had a close relationship with only one of them – a model from a US Agency “New Generation” Katya Bestuzheva and the other two were none more than her two Australian girlfriends. But noone really cared about that, did they? “The reason for Marat’s poor performance are his wild pre-match orgies!” That is what the journalists wanted to see and they obviously did see and write what they wanted.

About sex, by the way. A legendary basketball player Wilt Chamberlain insisted that he wasn’t able to play well if he spent the night before the game without a woman. Something on those lines was also admitted by an English soccer player from that era George Best. But sport has dramatically changed since then and Safin speaks differently. “Sex is a tremendous hormonal shaking. All pre-match excitement disappears after good sex. I also read somewhere that the sexier the person, the more of a genius he/she4 is. However if I had sex the nights before the game, I’d break down for spare parts on court”.

Meeting of Titans

It’s hard to say how Marat’s sports life would have turned out if in 2004 he didn’t meet a tutor he always needed. It was Peter Lundgren, who had trained today’s World Number One Roger Federer for seven years before that. They say Lundgren was meaning to take a break for a year or two from a hectic life of a coach but couldn’t resist a temptation of working with an extraordinary tennis player like Marat and postponed his planned leave. When a new union became public knowledge journalists asked Lundgren “Was it easier with Federer than with Safin?” An answer followed, “On the contrary, it’s easier with Safin for me. He is a straightforward guy, doesn’t hide his emotions and speaks his mind even when it concerns something unpleasant. It is much easier for me to work with people like that than with someone, who listens to you carefully, but will remain with his own opinion. And that is exactly what Federer is like”.

Lundgren drastically widened tactical and technical arsenal of Marat. If before Marat’s main strength was his powerful serve and he hated long plays, now his game is much more versatile. The most important factor, however, is that Peter managed to change Marat’s tennis psychology.

“In order for someone to once again transfer from a loser to a winner, it’s best to look the past in the eyes and chuck it out of your head forever”, Marat says nowadays. “I sold my luxurious cars, got rid of the will to be unbeatable, learned to accept defeats. I realised that I cannot waste time being miserable. I want to play tennis while I can. So why not enjoy it?!?”

There are two types of tennis players. First type are the ones, who play for themselves and for that reason they become champions faster than others. That’s what Federer is like today. The second type play tennis for the tennis itself and for that reason they become crowd’s favourites before they reach the top. That’s what Marat Safin is like today. Practically every match he plays, irrespectable of whether he wins or loses, is a drama. Yes, he has become more consistent, pushy, patient but you can never guess what is he going to do next: either an incredible combination or the stupidest mistake ever. He often brings the game to a tie-break, where one single shot decides a whole match. Just like before he smashes racquets, argues with umpires and entertains the crowd with exceptionally bright facial expressions and dialogues…with himself. Sometimes it seems that if Safin wasn’t a tennis player, he’d become an outstanding actor.

Safin and Lenin

“Life is short and I want to live it the way I like. There is no perfect player, everyone has weaknesses. Life presumes a balance between your strengths and weaknesses. No matter who you are you have to be happy. You cannot change yourself completely and there is no point in pretending you can when you can’t. Noone can change you no matter how much they try and how much time they waste on it.” This is a part of Marat’s philosophy today.

During one of the numerous press conferences he literally stunned the journalists when he said that he had been carefully studying Vladimir Lenin’s biography. He then explained, “I am fascinated by the phenomenon. How could anyone so small and weak force his will upon millions of people? Generally, if I admire anyone the reason would be their way of thinking”.

That is what keeps a “Russian wild cat” (as Tennis Magazine once called him) occupied these days.

“Safin will never let you get bored”, Peter Lundgren noted once. By the age of 25 Marat has earned over 12 million dollars, in addition to that he receives substantial pays from sponsors and advertisers. However, he prefers to buy his jeans on sale. “Everything on sale”, Safin adds. “But it has nothing to do with greed. It’s a drive looking of looking for something and then finding it. Cheap doesn’t necessarily mean bad, expensive stuff is in excess everywhere”.

In addition to that by the age of 25 Safin obtained three serious injuries that will remind of themselves for a while. This forced Marat, whom ACE Magazine announced the sexiest sportsman, seriously think about justice of rules in professional sports. “We are simply exploited but we cannot do anything about it. ATP Tour bosses are cool, dodge businessmen, they will not let profit slip away. What comes as a result? Every single one of us, tennis professionals, has a list of prohibited medicine, there are hundreds of brands in there. Often sportsmen don’t have a right to take widely used medicine like Coldrex or Fervex. Once I had extremely high fever and I was literally scared to go to the pharmacy. What if I buy and “swallow” something prohibited?!? Abnd stuffing yourself with antibiotics, which are sort of allowed, is a major knockout for your immune system. Now tell me, what normal person can bare 3-4 hours of running around the court when it’s +35 C??? You feel roasted, your pulse is about 200 beats… We are victims and it hurts to know noone cares. This means we have to think for the future and take care of ourselves. Now, for example, me and Mr. Arkhipov (he is a very famous Russian surgeon) want to establish an aid fund for the veterans of sport. And that’s not my only idea of this sort”.

The Famous Tie-Break

Specialists come to a unified decision that in the next few years the main “decoration” of male tennis will be the battles between pragmatic Federer and adventurous Safin. Roger and Marat already handed us a few matches like that. The wildest of all was the Australian Open 2005 semifinal, which lasted for 5 hours. Marat lost the first set, won the second, lost the third and snatched out a victory in the final fourth set in a manner that is very popular with a “Russian wild cat” – on a tie-break. By the way, Marat’s birthday was on the same day.

This time in Safin’s box there were no sexy long-legged blondes. There was however a sweet dark-haired girl named Dasha, whom the journalists hurried to sign in as Marat’s fiancée and a daughter of some Russian oligarch Zhukov. Furious Marat accused the press of lying once again and said that Mr. Zhukov is not an oligarch but simply a successful businessman. Later, having cooled off a little Marat admitted that Dasha andhim have a long-term relationship but there is no wedding in plans. “Look at my curls, and you want me to get married?!?! This responsible step can only be taken at 60, when your kids are grown”. And then he adds seriously, “A happy marriage to a tennis-player is tough, so why risk it? We, tennis players are used to belonging to ourselves, we never report to anyone. These are not the bet habits for family life. And then, what kind of family will that be with my never-ending travelling?!?!”

Australian Open 2005 final was the 100th one. Safin played Lleyton Hewitt. Easy to imagine how the whole crowd prayed for the Australian to win. Lleyton could have presented his country with a national holiday but...Marat snatched the opportunity away from him and won his second Grand Slam.
The day after the final, an Australian newspaper “Today” wrote, “There is also something else about Marat. It’s more than tennis, It’s his humanity. Being as emotional as he is he didn’t dance, roar, throw fists in the air after he had beaten Federer, he just stood there, reserved…calm. After the final Safin was calmness itself. It was a part of winner’s politeness. He ruined Hewitt’s and Australia’s dream but there was no need to rub it in”.

At the end of August a US Open tournament will take place, a tournament, which Marat’s stardom began with. Marat is amongst the favourites, we hope for his victory.