| ..:: ARTICLES ::.. | Nalbandian drops in, makes Safin drop out
By Bud Collins
Globe Correspondent
June 1, 2004
Was this the choice of the 15,109 tennis devotees who filled the big, dirt-floored room at Roland Garros for another Russian drama beneath a suitably grim, gray sky? Where did their rooting loyalties lie?
No contest. Their hearts -- except those of the few Argentine flag-flappers in the upper deck -- belonged to the mischievous Muscovite, Marat Safin, who was officially chastised the other day for lowering his shorts while winning a tense five-set match against Felix Mantilla.
Nevertheless, the victory that led to the French Open quarterfinals yesterday belonged to Argentine David Nalbandian, the eighth seed. What he dropped were deceptively launched, delicately spun, maddeningly elusive shots barely over the net that frustrated an already depressed Safin and tilted the enthralling 3-hour-23-minute struggle Nalbandian's way, 7-5, 6-4, 6-7 (5-7), 6-3.
"I thought he'd be a little tired after all the long matches he's played, and drop shots would be a good idea," said Nalbandian, whose spectacular puffball performance reaped 13 points on 17 attempts, outright winners or set-ups for winners.
But Safin had more on his hands than Nalbandian; painful blisters required repatching by a trainer five times during the match.
With a mournful smile, the gritty Safin held up his bandaged hands to reporters.
"I had some new ones after the third set," he said. "You want to count them? I will for you. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 on the left. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 on the right. That's 11.
"I don't know where they came from. Never had them before."
His many admirers probably considered them stigmata, and kept chanting his name in an attempt to raise him to the quarters that he had occupied in 2000 and '02. They leaped up to create The Wave after Safin startlingly won the third set that Nalbandian was serving for at 5-4 in the tiebreaker. But all that did was summon the real thing: water, in the form of rain, though not intrusive enough to curtail play.
No happy ending for the morose Safin. Could he have gone five, as he did against Spaniard Mantilla and Italian Potito Starace (saving two match points in each)?
"Fifth set? I wasn't able."
Safin, in his Musketeerish mustache and goatee, paced the court disconsolately, wearily. He muttered, thrust his hands upward in despair, shook his head, pitched the racket a couple of times, all in his repertory of stagecraft. But he didn't indulge in a specialty: racket destroying.
He came closer than it might seem: a set point in the first at 4-5, liquidated by Nalbandian's high-kicker serve and drop shot; and two points on serve to lead, 5-4, in the second.
"I had my chances," conceded No. 20 Safin. "I was missing by a little bit, or he would play well. Nalbandian can do everything -- baseline, volley, great hands with those drop shots. I couldn't be there 100 percent, maybe trying to go for a little too much."
Still, there was much brilliant shotmaking from both. Nalbandian sagely took the sting out of the big guy's mammoth serve by receiving 3-4 yards behind the baseline. He was speedy enough to get right into the point.
"It was not easy for him, but I play too good for him today," said Nalbandian, exhilarated by the win and the prospect of an unprecedented all-Argentine semifinal round. Compatriots Guillermo Coria (against Charlie Moya), Juan Ignacio Chela (against Tim Henman), and Gaston Gaudio (against Lleyton Hewitt) also have a shot at the final four.
Nalbandian felt the blisters didn't lessen his opponent's power. But Safin said, "Too many things in my head. I thought all the time maybe I can't go on. It took too much concentration and energy. It was another big opportunity for me to fight for a title. Just to waste this opportunity this way, it's a pity."
His faithful sadly witnessed the departure of this unpredictable 6-foot-4-inch chunk who wears his emotions out front. Why was he a drawers-dropper in the second round? Auditioning for a Calvin Klein commercial?
"I don't know why," he said. "I was happy for a good shot. That's who I am. That's me."
Why didn't he try a golf or batting glove to counter the blisters?
"Next life," he shrugged.
Many of the same crowd booed Safin fiercely Saturday when he unsportingly took an injury timeout at 4-5, deuce, in the 10th game of the fifth set against Starace. Having just ducked two match points, he let a furious Starace stew for three minutes. Down rained the whistles and boos.
"They're allowed to do anything they want," he said. "That's why they're paying the tickets."
Blistering play costly for Safin
By Karen Crouse
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, June 1, 2004
Marat Safin's hands were so raw, they looked like the French's interpretation of a steak cooked medium well.
If Josh Beckett isn't fit to pitch with one blister, there's no way Safin should have been playing at the French Open with legions of them.
Safin's hands were Polaroid pictures of pain, with new sores developing right in front of his eyes. He started his fourth-round match against David Nalbandian with nine blisters. Three-and-a-half hours later, he had 11.
There were six on his left hand and five on his right hand. Forget the match. It must have been pure agony to shake Nalbandian's hand at the net after the Argentine's 7-5, 6-4, 6-7(5), 6-3 victory.
It was torture watching Safin grip his racket. We can't imagine how it felt to be him on this raw, slate-gray day at Roland Garros.
"It was quite painful," a sulky Safin said.
The Russian is a roulette of emotions in the best of times. So it was something less than a news flash when an ATP official was overheard after Safin's match speaking by walkie-talkie to a colleague in the locker room and saying, "Yeah, Marat gets like that. Try to keep him calm until (his news conference)."
Monday was a bank holiday here and Safin tried to give the fans at Court Philippe Chatrier their money's worth. They repaid his gallant effort with an ambivalence bordering on antipathy.
Their boos, like their aversion to all things American, were sadly misguided.
The fans reacted the way they did because they still had their handkerchiefs in a twist over how Safin handled his boo-boos in a third-round match against Portito Starace.
In that contest, the blisters were in full bloom by the fourth set. After saving a match point at 4-5, Safin called for an injury timeout to have the open sores on his left hand treated and taped.
That he was well within the rules to do so held no sway over all the paleoliths who persist in seeing tennis as all gentility and lace. Tennis purists came out of their box seats to decry Safin's bad form.
How dare he interrupt the poor Italian's service! How dare he try to steal Starace's momentum!
There was no question Safin's hands were pulp by then. There also was no doubt Safin was killing two objectives with one timeout: He was alleviating his pain and practicing a little gamesmanship.
To which we say: So what?
Athletics at the highest level is as much a psychological battle as it is a physical test. May the best mind win and all that.
You didn't have to be standing across the net from Starace to see that serving for the match made him very, very nervous. Starace was a qualifier and his Grand Slam inexperience became one more weakness for Safin to exploit.
Breaking an opponent's concentration, breaking his serve; all's fair in love and love. As Safin said after schooling Starace 6-7 (4), 6-4, 3-6, 7-5, 7-5, "We're not playing junior tournaments. It's like a professional tour."
That's where Safin's wrong. Even juniors know the score. We've seen 16-year-olds take a timeout to change their shirts in the third set of a close match. Then there are the 14-year-olds who untie their sneakers just so they can stop and retie them and make their opponents chill a little.
Honestly, the idea that gamesmanship is something only poor sports do is laughable. If you're the Dolphins and you have a timeout, is it wrong for you to use it when Adam Vinatieri is lining up for the Patriots to kick the game-winning field goal?
Was it wrong for the Phillies to have St. Louis reliever Julian Tavarez's cap inspected during a game this season? Is it a blight on baseball that Cardinals manager Tony La Russa retaliated by having Philadelphia outfielder Pat Burrell's bat confiscated and inspected for cork?
That's sports. Sometimes you're the arrow and sometimes you're the bull's-eye.
It's funny how the fans at Roland Garros didn't turn on Nalbandian when he pecked away at Safin's backhand -- the side that brought both blistered hands in play -- or when he exacerbated Safin's discomfort with a medley of drop shots.
Nalbandian exploited Safin's weakness as unashamedly as Safin had exploited Starace's. Of course he did. He's a competitor.
"I couldn't take my chances, couldn't concentrate and really get into the match," Safin said. "I couldn't be there 100 percent. There were too many things in my head. Every time the tape (on his hands) was opening, it was quite painful."
Safin was asked if there was a point in the match when he thought to himself: "I can't go on."
"This thought was present the whole time, from the first point of the match," Safin said. "Just because you cannot focus just on him and trying to beat him. I was really hitting the ball well. But every time I looked, (one blister) is opening, another one is starting to hurt me and I have to tell the chair umpire, 'Please call the doctor again.' It takes too much concentration from you and too much energy... You want to win, but you cannot."
Safin gave it his best shot under trying conditions. Ultimately, isn't that the mark of a true sportsman?
Nalbandian ousts Safin
BY LINDA ROBERTSON
lrobertson@herald.com
An outbreak of blisters and the finesse shots of David Nalbandian were too much for Marat Safin in the French Open's round of 16.
Marat Safin swabbed his raw wounds with medicine and bandaged his fingers. He tried to ignore the pain of gripping a racket.
During changeovers he studied his bloody hands despairingly and wondered if it was worth it to keep playing.
In the end he could overcome neither an inopportune breakout of blisters nor the drop shots of David Nalbandian, who wore down the tired and tortured Safin in four sets, 7-5, 6-4, 6-7 (7-5), 6-3.
Safin won applause Monday from the empathetic Roland Garros fans, but it was Nalbandian who earned his first quarterfinal berth in the French Open. He is the top seed among four Argentines in the final eight.
''I really suffered,'' Safin said. 'I was really hitting well the ball, but every time I looked, this one is opening, another one is starting to hurt me. To chair umpire I say, `Please call the doctor again.' It takes too much concentration from you and too much energy.''
Safin's French Open adventures continued on a chilly, damp day. On Thursday night he had dropped his shorts to celebrate a winning shot and was penalized a point. On Saturday, he took an injury timeout to have his blistered hands patched just when qualifier Potito Starace was on the verge of an upset. And on Monday, he played gamely but said he was constantly distracted by the 11 blisters on his ravaged hands. Five times he sought help changing the tape on his fingers and palms or had the blisters treated with antiseptic or Tough Skin spray.
Safin had a chance to break Nalbandian at 5-4 and win the first set, but Nalbandian won three straight points. Nalbandian controlled the second set but wasted opportunities to close out in the third when he led 6-5 but lost his serve, then led 5-2 in the tiebreaker.
MOMENTUM SHIFT
After Safin hit three tiebreaker winners to tighten the match, he seemed to lose momentum while Nalbandian turned up his resolve. Nalbandian, the No. 8 seed, won the first three games of the fourth set before ending the match with an ace. He kept Safin -- who had survived two five-setters in a row -- scrambling with feathery drop shots.
''I tried to move him a little bit more because he maybe was a little tired,'' Nalbandian said.
Russia's Safin, known for his temperamental behavior, was aiming to get to his second straight Grand Slam final after losing to Roger Federer in the Australian Open.
But it will be Nalbandian trying to end another inspired run by Kuerten, who has dominated his matches with a strong serve, judicious trips to the net and a slashing backhand.
Although he twice needed changeover massage on his sore right thigh and hip, Kuerten showed he can still move well when he dashed for a forehand in the corner and passed Lopez with a cross-court winner for a break en route to winning the second set 7-5. Altogether he had 29 winners to only 26 unforced errors.
''Of course, you never underestimate Guga,'' Nalbandian said of Kuerten. ``He's a very dangerous player. He'll have the crowd on his side. I'm really impatient to go back on the court and play that match.''
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/sports/tennis/8807172.htm?1c
No. 8 Nalbandian increases Safin's pain
By Charles Bricker
Posted June 1 2004
Marat Safin leaned forward in an interview chair just far enough to get his face near a microphone, moving his lips languidly above a dashing goatee that made him look a bit like a very tired and very beaten Porthos, the largest and most foreboding of Les Trois Mousquetaires.
Porthos with 11 blisters on his hands.
There's no question about the number of wounds, which pained him throughout a 7-5, 6-4, 6-7 (5), 6-3 loss to slick stroking, drop-shotting Argentine David Nalbandian. He counted them for a room filled with reporters.
Six on the left hand, five on the right. Not quite sushi grade, but raw enough to leave a few viewers cringing.
"The hands I don't care about actually anymore because I'm just a little bit frustrated. It was another opportunity for me to fight for a title. Just to waste this opportunity this way, it's a pity," Safin said with resignation.
It wasn't a good day for Russians, but it was another splendid day for the Argentines -- Nalbandian, the No. 8 seed, and unseeded Gaston Gaudio, who ran through Safin's countryman, Igor Andreev, to reach the quarterfinals of the French Open.
The two victories kept alive the best sports saga in South America right now, that four Argentines could fill the four slots in the semifinals. Tournament favorite Guillermo Coria and Juan Ignacio Chela ascended to the quarters Sunday.
And so today Coria, seeded third, will play the last Spaniard in the draw, No. 5 Carlos Moya, for one of those semifinal spots while Chela takes on No. 9 Tim Henman of Britain, the first serve-and-volleyer to get this far since Patrick Rafter in 1997.
Nalbandian will get his opportunity to make the final four on Wednesday against three-time French winner Gustavo Kuerten, who defeated Feliciano Lopez 6-3, 7-5, 6-4. And Gaudio faces Lleyton Hewitt, the 12th seed, who gave Xavier Malisse a tennis lesson Monday 7-5, 6-2, 7-6 (6).
Safin, the 2000 U.S. Open champion, is one of the most antic figures in men's tennis, and he reinforced his reputation last week by dropping his shorts after putting the finishing touch on a brilliantly played point against Felix Mantilla.
He was anything but humorous after this match, in which he was visited six times by the trainer, who alternately sprayed a "second skin" on his hands and wrapped his fingers in tape. Neither was a permanent solution.
"I couldn't hit forehand. I couldn't do many things. Every time, I had to change the tape," Safin said.
He had his moments in this match and Nalbandian insisted Safin was smacking the ball every bit as hard as he did in their previous four matches, all of which Safin had won.
Looking doleful, Safin said he was thinking the entire match that he could not finish. "I was really hitting the ball well, but every time I had to look at my hands, this blister was opening or another one is starting to hurt me. It takes too much concentration from you and too much energy."
Nalbandian was hardly brilliant, until the fourth set, but he was ecstatic that he and Gaudio had pulled to within one round of reaching the semis. "It's incredible," he said of the prospect of a quartet of Argentines in the final four.
It would be the first time in a French Open that four from the same country accomplished this feat, and the fourth time in Grand Slams.
Charles Bricker can be reached at cbricker@sun-sentinel.com.
Copyright © 2004, South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Russian Marat Safin eliminated from French Open tournament
Canadian Press
www.canada.com
Monday, May 31, 2004
Russian Marat Safin's left pinkie was mummified. Parts of four other fingers were wrapped with white tape, too, and matchbook-sized patches protected each burning palm. Spots of rust-coloured medicine stained his hands.
This was no way to try to reach the French Open quarter-finals, and Safin eventually succumbed to the pain of 11 blisters and the steady play of David Nalbandian of Argentina.
Safin's colourful run here included two five-setters, three match points saved, a much-discussed partial disrobing, a rant about what's ailing tennis - and it all ended in the fourth round with Monday's 7-5, 6-4, 6-7 (5), 6-3 loss to Nalbandian.
"The hands, I don't care about actually anymore, because I'm just a little bit frustrated," the 2000 U.S. Open champion said. "It was another big opportunity for me to fight for a title.
"Just to waste this opportunity this way, it's a pity."
The eighth-seeded Nalbandian joins No. 3 Guillermo Coria, No. 22 Juan Ignacio Chela and unseeded Gaston Gaudio to give Argentina half of a major's quarter-final slots for the first time. And none faces each other next, a prospect that delighted Nalbandian.
"I'm a little surprised," the 2002 Wimbledon runner-up said. "It's not like this every day. I hope it will be all Argentines in the semifinals."
With Safin's departure, three men are left who have won a Grand Slam title: Kuerten, Moya Hewitt, the 2001 U.S. Open and 2002 Wimbledon winner.
When Safin walloped American Pete Sampras 3½ years ago in the final at Flushing Meadows, his potential seemed limitless. The six-foot-four Russian was just 20, his serve was fearsome and only his temper and a taste for the night life appeared to stand between Safin and a slew of Slam titles.
Well, he's still stuck on one such title and counting, although he did reach the Australian Open final twice. It was at that event in 2003 that he tore ligaments in his left wrist, an injury that sidelined him for the season's last three majors and sent his ranking down to 77th.
Unseeded at this year's Australian Open, he upset Americans Andy Roddick and Andre Agassi to reach the championship match, where he lost to No. 1 Roger Federer of Switzerland. Two gutsy comeback victories last week had No. 20 Safin thinking he could make a similar showing at the French Open - but they also drained him and beat up his large hands.
"The last four games, I couldn't play" he said. "I couldn't hit a forehand.
"I couldn't do many things."
By the fifth game, he was looking at one hand or the other after nearly every errant stroke. With Nalbandian serving at 40-30 in the next game, Safin interrupted play to have a trainer work on his hands, the first of at least seven times he was treated for the blisters - six on his left hand, five on his right.
Safin drew whistles and jeers from the crowd when he called for the trainer at 30-30 during the fifth game of the fourth set. He walked slowly to his seat, chucked his racket down, and threw a hand in the air.
To his credit, Nalbandian wasn't fazed much, his only real blip coming in the tiebreaker. He used drop shots effectively throughout, five times getting clean winners, and repeatedly luring Safin to the net before whipping a passing shot.
Asked about that tactic, Safin paid Nalbandian an insightful compliment.
"He has a great touch," Safin said. "He's one of the most talented people. "He has really great hands. Great hands
Nalbandian Brings Safin's Wild Paris Ride to an Abrupt Halt
www.nytimes.com
06.01.2004
By CHRISTOPHER CLAREY
It required eight days and a rugged Argentine opponent, but Marat Safin is out of his misery at the French Open. He will no longer need to read his own palms on a game-by-game, blister-by-blister basis; no longer need to spend almost as much court time with the trainer Per Bastholt as he does with his adversaries; and no longer need to drop his shorts or raise his voice.
The healing process can begin and the eight remaining contenders can finally get on with it. Between Safin's magnetic attraction to drama and his habit of calling injury timeouts when his opponents were serving under pressure, it had been tough for anyone to get comfortable over the last round or three.
"Sure it was difficult, because all the breaks kept chopping up the match," David Nalbandian said after his 7-5, 6-4, 6-7 (5), 6-3 victory over Safin in the fourth round on Monday. "But I think I handled it pretty well."
Diplomacy is not the eighth-seeded Nalbandian's strength. He has an abrupt, sometimes caustic manner, but he was on target about the way he played against the No. 20-seeded Safin.
Though Safin had beaten him in their four previous matches, Safin was a weary player in body and mind on Monday, and Nalbandian, an all-surface threat who reached the Wimbledon final in 2002, has become an even more complete player.
"He can play volley, he can play from the baseline, or he can serve," Safin said. "He has very good hands. He just improved, improved a lot."
Safin's hands were not in nearly such good shape. He developed blisters on both hands during his third-round victory over Potito Starace and he was in discomfort throughout his match with Nalbandian. By the end, with his drawn features and his fingers wrapped in bandages, he looked more like a Napoleonic soldier on his way out of Moscow than a big Russian server on his way out of Roland Garros.
"I really don't know what's going on," Safin said of the blisters. "Even when I stop to play for a long time, and I start to practice, I never have this. Getting old probably."
Even at a creaky 24, Safin has shown tremendous pluck and resilience in the Grand Slam events this season, winning five setter after five setter on his way to the Australian Open final in January and then picking up where he left off in Paris. He saved one match point against Felix Mantilla in the second round and two against Starace. But he did not save any match points against Nalbandian. When Nalbandian, an Argentine, got his first at 5-3, 40-0 in the fourth set, he pummeled an ace that brooked no argument.
It has been that sort of tournament for Nalbandian. Until this French Open, Argentina had never had more than two men in the quarterfinals of the same Grand Slam event. But that record was rewritten here as four Argentines made the final eight: Nalbandian, third-seeded Guillermo Coria, No. 22 Juan Ignacio Chela and the unseeded Gaston Gaudio.
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