Players call it a merry-go-round and it is an apt metaphor, for so often when the music stops, they find themselves in much the same place as where they first got on.

But once in a while in this peculiar, suspended sporting reality, something happens to set a moment apart. Something which has repercussions beyond the result of one match or one tournament. A seismic shift which sets new ground rules and challenges old assumptions.

On Thursday night, Marat Safin declared the new generation had arrived. His message to everyone at the Rod Laver Arena was simple yet laden with promise: "You'll be seeing a lot more of us."

Safin had just beaten Andre Agassi, a man who had not lost in Melbourne for five years. Tomorrow he will play Roger Federer, who last night dismantled the baseline game of French Open champion Juan Carlos Ferrero.

Federer is Swiss by nationality and nature, and his quiet, considered manner on the court is in stark contrast to Safin, whose racquet-splintering mood swings and mischievous sense of humour has made him one of the most volatile yet popular players on tour.

It is doubtful even Safin would have been unnerved by Ferrero, however, who last night failed to regain his composure after squandering several break points in the first set.

Safin versus Federer will be billed as power versus grace, raw talent versus touch. In truth, both players share these qualities. Federer's one-handed backhand is hailed on aesthetic grounds, but Safin's two-handed blast is the most damaging in men's tennis. Safin's serve is one of the biggest in the game, but few people can remember a better serving game than Federer produced against Mark Philippoussis in last year's Wimbeldon final.

Irrespective of who wins this year's Australian Open, a dramatically altered tennis landscape will be there for all to see. By late tomorrow afternoon, the four Grand Slam men's titles, the Tennis Masters Cup and the No.1 ranking will be in the keeping of players aged 24 or younger.

Safin's match against Agassi was one that turned on just a handful of points, yet the feeling was inescapable: if this was not the end of Agassi, it was, with apologies to Churchill, the beginning of the end.

And it is surely just the beginning of Safin.

"He has certainly got enough game to be at the top for many years," Agassi's coach Darren Cahill reflected. "It is up to him. Tennis is a tough sport and he has had some injury problems, but there is no question that he, with a handful of other young guys, is certainly going to be around the top for a long time."

Tennis will be wary in declaring a new world order because it has done so before and prematurely. Safin himself provided a false dawn at the US Open four years ago when he routed Pete Sampras in the final and was promptly heralded as the future of the game.

Safin's only appearance in a Grand Slam final since was here two years ago, when he lost to Thomas Johansson in ignominious fashion. What this Australian Open has reminded everyone, however, is that Safin never lost the raw capabilities that overwhelmed Sampras that night in New York. He has just had a tough time showing them.

Says Cahill: "He is 6ft 5in (195.6cm) and moves like a guy who is 5ft 11 (180cm). He has got great coverage around the court. He is probably the fastest big guy in the game of tennis. He constructs points well and he has got the power to get himself back into a point when he is in a bad situation. Marat did all the right things at the right times. Andre had to climb a big hill and couldn't quite get there."

It is a telling choice of words, for there is no question on which side of the mountain Agassi, age 33, now stands. The Australian Open has been more to Agassi than any of the four Grand Slams. For four years, it has been his stronghold; the place where every year, he can remind himself of what tennis looks like from the summit. For four years, he has not won a major anywhere else.

When a beaten Agassi walked to the middle of the Rod Laver Arena late on Thursday night, dropped his bag and bowed to all four corners of the crowd, their joy at having seen the re-emergence of Safin was suddenly tempered with the realisation that Agassi might never return.

Usually Agassi's bow is something he saves for Grand Slam victories. In defeat, was he telling us something else?

Agassi said it was a gesture of thanks rather than farewell.

But he also added: "You never know when it's your last, right?

"So you want to say goodbye properly."

Within the dimly lit corridors of Melbourne Park later that night, Agassi's great friend and mentor Gil Reyes insisted he did not know when Agassi would put down his bag for good.

"You could put me under hypnosis or truth serum and I would tell you 'no, we have not had that discussion'," Reyes said. But if the age of Agassi is not at an end, the knowledge that it is fast drawing to a close is at the forefront of Agassi's mind. There will be no Pat Rafter-style lap of honour for Agassi, nor a Sampras-like, protracted withdrawal. One tournament he will be playing and the next he won't.

Sitting high up in the Rod Laver Arena three nights ago, the night Safin bludgeoned his way past world No.1 Andy Roddick over five sets, Reyes and Agassi sat listening to a selection of music that Reyes always carries in a zipper bag.

It is a play list that usually includes The Beatles and Chuck Berry but this night they listened to a Garth Brooks song about leaving someone without having the chance to say goodbye.

Reyes took up the story: "When he listened to it, his reaction was one of introspection and thinking and he said: 'How about that, wouldn't it be something if you never got the chance to express how you feel?' Our unspoken covenant was to not let that happen.

"I don't think he was suggesting anything by the bow, but I do think we might look back on it one day as something significant. We might say 'wow, there it was'."

As Agassi prepares to depart at a time of his choosing, then what of the Safin-led revolution, one that has Federer and Ferrero, Roddick, Hewitt and Nalbandian within the vanguard. Will it prove sustainable this time, or another Prague spring?

One woman who might know the answer is Rausa Islanova, Safin's mother and the coach who taught her pre-teen son the fundamentals of the game. Islanova is not Safin's coach any more. She is in Melbourne and has been sitting in the players' box during his matches, but strictly as a mother, she says.

"I think that is healthy," she said in the early hours of Friday morning.

"I prefer to stay involved just as a mother. When it comes to matches, I have all the emotions of a parent but I try to stay out of the way in terms of coaching. I also have a daughter on tour so it is difficult to control both children."

There were times when Islanova feared for her son. The moment Safin beat Sampras, a world of celebrity and excess opened at his feet. Islanova wondered how someone who rarely said no to anyone could find a way through.

"He won the US Open at a very young age," she said. "Maybe if he had won it at 22, 23, he would have had different results afterwards. He might have won more Grand Slams and he would have been more mentally prepared to cope with the situation and the changes in his life.

"It was a lot to deal with and I have had my worries. All the fame and money and wealth and everything that comes with being so successful at a young age would be difficult for any person to cope with."

Safin coped in his own way and with mixed results. Successive tournament wins did not follow, but he didn't slip off the merry-go-round altogether. He has since spoken at length about how a wrist injury last year gave him the chance he needed to reflect on tennis and life.

Safin enjoys playing the tennis rogue. Two years ago he came to Melbourne with a busty blonde on each arm and one in reserve. He lives in Monte Carlo among other sporting millionaires and is happy to indulge silly questions about his off-court life with a wink and a nudge.

After the Agassi match, he was asked if the presence of his mother in Melbourne would force him to curb his lifestyle. "Come on, I'm 24, man," he said laughing. "A little bit too old to take care of."

What he doesn't mention is that he has been in a steady relationship with a young Russian woman for over a year. A brunette, no less. It is this young woman who agreed to translate for Islanova on the proviso that her own name was not made public.

Islanova has also seen a new maturity in the way Safin plays. Struggling to find the right word, she says he is starting to play correct tennis, clever tennis. "He is using his head more," she says. "He is more wise and experienced. Both Marat and Agassi played beautiful tennis. It was almost like theatre."

Islanova is a former top-10 Russian player turned coach who also taught tennis to tour players Elena Dementieva and Anastasia Myskina.

Myskina this week described her as a tough coach. In an interview six years ago, when a teenage Safin was emerging, Islanova explained how her son seemed to know the game before he was taught. "With all the other children, we had to teach their tennis -- how to hold a racquet, how to hit a ball, how to move. But with Marat, it all came together immediately, without any explanation."

The most difficult decision Islanova made was to acknowledge her limitations as a coach and encourage Marat to move to Valencia, at age 14, to develop his tennis under care of Spanish federation coaches.

"It was a very abrupt change," she recalled. "Every time he came back to Moscow I couldn't take him to the airport because it was so difficult to say goodbye."

It is something no-one needs to tell Agassi, as he prepares to leave Melbourne and some day soon, the caravan altogether.

Ex-party boy surprised by success
By Paul Malone
January 31, 2004

MARAT SAFIN's path to the Australian Open final was laid in the hardest month of training in his often wasteful career and almost ruined by the theft of his passport.

After losing six consecutive first-round matches in a 2003 campaign wrecked by a wrist injury, Safin decided to get fitter than he had ever been and hired veteran conditioner Walt Landers, who has worked with Pete Sampras, Andre Agassi, Boris Becker and, briefly, Lleyton Hewitt.

"I came to Australia to try to win it, but I didn't expect I was going to be in the final straight away," Safin said after clinching a five-set semi-final win to end Agassi's 26-match winning streak at Melbourne Park late on Thursday night.

" I just wanted to come back really strong after last year – I lost in the first rounds in the four tournaments I played (after a comeback in late September) and I couldn't run. So I just decided to take some time off, train hard and (Landers) couldn't have been any tougher on me.

"Always you have this fear that you'll not be able to come back. But I tried one month of training, to be professional. It's difficult for me to stay focused in one place and after a while when you don't play tennis the muscles completely lose their power.

"But now I have confidence that I'm physically OK."

Safin, ranked No. 86, took a day off yesterday and hopes the fruits of his labours of his December training camp will see him fight the final out despite a 7-6 (8-6), 7-6 (8-6), 5-7, 1-6, 6-3 semi-final defeat of Agassi which stretched his time played in the tournament to 18hr50min.

Landers said he was surprised by Safin's application, considering his well-deserved reputation for liking alcohol and a busy social life.

"I never thought in one month he could change completely so many things. He really enjoyed it. This was the outstanding surprise for me," said Landers, a Polish masseur who has lived in the US for 25 years.

"All December he ran hills in Monte Carlo, ran on the track, did gym and medicine ball work.

"He had the evening with his girlfriend and then he was back running and working the next day. He worked for six days a week and had the Sunday off."

Safin discovered two days before his departure from Moscow for Perth's Hopman Cup that his passport was missing, presumed stolen.

"He had two passports and the one that was stolen had an Australian visa. The tournament director, Paul McNamee, was able to help us and managed all the things (to obtain a visa for his arrival in Perth) and he really needed the matches he got there," Safin's coach Russian Denis Golovanov said.

Reformed party boy Safin said he would have a few beers to wind down from his Agassi win, as he did after his 24th birthday win over Andy Roddick in the quarter-finals.

Safin has had his new Russian girlfriend Dasha and his mother Rausa Islanova, his coach until he was 13, at his matches where he had a group of blonde fans at his past two Australian Open bids.

The Russian's task after the Australian Open is to maintain the fierce will to win. He said he had valuable experience from his 2002 Melbourne Park final loss to underdog Thomas Johansson.

"I couldn't play my best tennis then. I was too nervous, under too much pressure," Safin said.

"I'm full of confidence and it's going to be a completely different story, I hope."

Partying has done its Dasha
PAUL MALONE in Melbourne
01feb04

THRILL-SEEKER Marat Safin has gone two or three months without any real fun out on the town and his Australian Open success is a consequence of a less-complicated life.

Safin's coach and friend Denis Golovanov said the man who has been the Australian Open comeback story had a quieter life with new girlfriend Dasha in tow then at the past two Melbourne tournaments, where he had two or three blonde female guests at his matches.

Golovanov maintains the charismatic Russian – ranked No. 86 due to an injury plagued 2003 – was never quite the tearaway in his social life that Australian fans thought he was because of their fascination with his "Safinettes" supporters in 2002 and last year.

Safin will be a sentimental favourite this afternoon against new world No. 1 Roger Federer.

"Most of the times, you have some misunderstandings. We didn't have enough time for fun, the last two or three months," Golovanov said.

"There's time for fun and there's time for work. We had some fun in the (northern) summer, but he was training really hard in December and finally it's paid off."

Brunette Dasha has been with Safin for a few months now, but has mostly spoken to members of Safin's new-look entourage at Melbourne Park.

"No one seems to know a great deal about her, but Marat looks a lot more focused on this relationship and the one he had before than the others he had before that," a locker-room insider said.

"He spends a lot more one-on-one time with Dasha than his earlier girlfriends.

"His life has a lot less complications and everyone who likes Marat is glad to see him playing so well again."

Two of Safin's blonde friends, one Russian-born and one Australian, were seen at the Australian Open last week, but Safin has been dining at his Melbourne hotel with his smaller supporting group and even fitted in a visit to Melbourne Zoo earlier in the tournament.

Safin's Melbourne entourage includes his mother Rausa Islanova, his coach until the age of 13, and extends to Dasha, Golovanov, trainer Walt Landers and agent Allon Khakshouri.

Tour veteran Landers said the former world No. 1 had encouraged him with how disciplined he had been in their December training camp in Monte Carlo and he hoped a return to the top rung of the game was possible.

Safin himself said after winning his punishing semi-final against Andre Agassi that it was "difficult to stay focused for one month but I managed to do it".

"He had the evening with his girlfriend and then he was back running and working the next day. He worked for six days a week and had the Sunday off," Landers said.

Safin, 24, came to Australia without a match win since last April because of a wrist injury and then a general lack of tournament fitness, due to his extended mid-year lay-off.

"Of course, nobody expected it to happen this fast. First of all, we were thinking of him starting to win some matches," Golovanov said.

"Everyone knows he's capable of winning a Grand Slam tournament with his talent and he came here to do his best."

A drought-breaking Safin victory celebration would for a lip-smacking proposition for one lucky Melbourne licensed premises, but Golovanov said no plans were being laid for a party for the Russian's second major title or a runner-up's lament.

Safin, Golovanov and a girlfriend of his coach went camping and fishing in California in August when his left wrist was placed in a cast for six weeks.

"The fishing was great. We stayed for like eight hours a day on a boat, just sitting with our beers," Safin said with a smile.

Another final, but is it another Safin?
By Emma Quayle- The Age
January 31, 2004

The case for Marat Safin being a truly changed man: he has played three five-set matches in the past week and won them all; he has his mother in his courtside box; he celebrated his quarter-final defeat of Andy Roddick with a trip to Melbourne Zoo; and planned to recover from his semi-final with a nice walk and some sight-seeing.

The case for Safin being a not-entirely new person: he would have pulled on the walking shoes only after a few beers; he concedes that fast cars "still please me"; he is happy for his mum to watch him play, but does not want her to "give me any advices".

Does she make sure her boy behaves himself off-court? "Come on," Safin said. "I'm 24, man. A little bit too old to take care of."

The centre-court crowd needed little encouragement to serenade Safin on his birthday last Tuesday night, and it is fitting that the 24-year-old's tennis has been reborn in Melbourne.

When he lost the 2002 Australian Open final to Thomas Johansson, Safin laughed, smiled and ate birthday cake in his post-match media conference - he was young, funny and had lots of other things to do.

When he withdrew from his second-round match last year, he mumbled and muttered but admitted he was only "kind of" disappointed that he had to pull out.

Then, Safin thought the damaged ligaments in his left wrist would repair themselves - quickly - and said his enforced break would be more like a "vacation" after a long and trying 2002.

As it turned out, the injury wrecked his year almost entirely, limiting him to just 13 tournaments and driving him out of the top 50 for the first time in six years. Safin took his vacation, camping with his coach and some friends, fishing, chilling out and "just sitting with our beers, eight hours a day on a boat".

But rather than forget tennis, he thought about it more than ever. Safin trained for a solid month at his new Monte Carlo base and contemplated his place in the sport's emerging new order, deciding that not only did he belong among the Roger Federers and Andy Roddicks, he could be better than them all, and wanted to be.

"I came here to try to win it and I'm almost there, just one left to go. So everything is going my way..."
MARAT SAFIN
He also realised that, simply, he missed tennis, and knowing how to play it. "You don't feel the moment," Safin said. "You don't feel when to go to the net, when to stay back, what to do. The serves, the returns; all those things. You basically have to start from zero."

Or, more precisely, from No. 86, which is where Safin was ranked at the start of the Open. He said then that he wanted to reclaim top spot, and insisted after beating Agassi that he was not in Melbourne just to make up the numbers.

Winning the three five-setters has been good, although he would have been happier winning in three, because it means you have probably dominated. But, whatever the case, this year's final will feature a "completely different" Safin to the nervous, pressured player who "could not pull my best weapons" in 2002.

"I'm not coming here just to make a couple of good matches and to lose in, like, the fourth round, in the quarter-finals. I didn't come for that," Safin said.

"I came here to try to win it and I'm almost there, just one left to go. So everything is going my way for the moment."

Safin ready to exorcise his demons
By JON RALPH
01feb04

MARAT Safin has spent the better part of three years trying to measure up to one perfect game of tennis he can never hope to recreate.

The impetuous, erratic Russian stunned tennis circles when he wiped Pete Sampras off the court at the US Open in September 2000, claiming his first grand slam title at the age of 20.
An embarrassed Sampras, who had won the eight previous grand slam finals he had contested, could muster only 10 games against Safin's breathtaking power game.

"Marat is going to be a threat here again and at the French and Australian. He's going to win many majors," predicted Sampras, who had never before lost a major in straight sets.

But in the ensuing three years that prophecy seemed hollow. Injuries and erratic form meant Safin, for whom it had seemed the world was not enough, was suddenly going nowhere.

Every shock loss was a reminder of how he was failing to measure up. Every emphatic win was still not as rewarding as that day at Flushing Meadow.

A semi-final appearance at the US Open in 2001 and a runner-up trophy at Melbourne Park the following year were as close as he would come, and when he required surgery on his left wrist last year the doubters multiplied quickly.

Too flighty, too much of a party-boy, too happy with his one slam and his lot in life, they said.

Now the self-professed "old Marat" has been cast aside, and the next version is ready to pen a chapter in the roller-coaster epic.

It is one he hopes will stop the constant comparisons and flashbacks surrounding that glorious fortnight in September 2000.

"You cannot compare the tennis I played against Pete Sampras because (it) is the kind of tennis that probably I'll never play in my life again, especially against these kind of players," Safin said this week.

Asked if it was more satisfying to beat Andre Agassi on Thursday than flicking Sampras aside at the US Open, he replied: "For me it gives me a lot more confidence when you play in these kind of matches. It gives you much more confidence than to beat Pete in three sets, because I had the best day of my life (then)."

In some camps, no matter how solid his ground strokes or thunderous his serve, Safin is labelled as the volatile maverick for whom the stars aligned one stunning day.

Today, Safin has the chance to prove he can do what homegrown Mark Philippoussis cannot -- string together sustained brilliance against opposition of all types in seven grand slam matches.

He can show he is capable of harnessing the overflowing talent that can overshadow the hustle of Hewitt, the bustle of Agassi and the flawless games of Federer and Roddick.

Then again, maybe he has just followed the Agassi formula and got a jump on the rest of the ATP field with six weeks of gut-busting exercise in the hills surrounding Monte Carlo.

He is hoping not, and is looking forward to continuing consistency with a game that can blow away all-comers at its zenith.

"Like I said, I came here to try and win it," Safin said. "And I'm almost there. Just one left to go. So like I said, everything is going my way for the moment."

Safin has ridden his luck in five-setters against Americans Todd Martin, Roddick and Agassi and four-setters with Finn Jarkko Nieminen and American Brian Vahaly.

His fitness has come not only from those weeks in the hills, but also the motivation to train after missing the past three grand slams with wrist problems.

"(It) makes you analyse everything. You see what you want in your life . . . how you want to do it, who you want to be in the future," the Russian said.

"So it was really good. So that's why afterwards I could find motivation to come back. Don't think that I was wasting that time. I was really enjoying my life."

Three years of trying to reach that level again brought different challenges.

Safin concedes that when he lost to Thomas Johansson in the final at Melbourne Park two years ago, he was too nervous and under too much pressure. Now, he says, he has worked out what he wants from his career.

"(I'm) coming right now," he said. "I'm playing, I beat so many good players. I'm full of confidence, and it's a completely different story. Going to be, I hope."

After his commanding performance at the Masters Cup, it isn't unexpected to see Wimbledon champion Roger Federer in the Australian Open final tonight.

Most sets in a major
Player Sets Event Result
Harold Solomon 30 '76 French Lost
Gustavo Kuerten 29 '97 French Won
Boris Becker 29 '85 Wimbledon Won
Ivan Lendl 29 '81 French Lost
Bjorn Borg 29 '80 U.S. Open Lost
Marat Safin 27 (as of semis) '04 Aussie TBD

No one, however, expected to see Marat Safin there.

Due in part to injury, Safin hasn't moved past the first round of any tournament since April. He missed all of the majors in 2003 except for the Australian Open.

Yet, here he is -- in the final and trying to become the first man since Michael Stich at Wimbledon in 1991 to defeat three reigning Grand Slam champions. (So far, Safin upset U.S. Open champion Andy Roddick in the quarterfinals and Aussie defending champ Andre Agassi in the semis.)

In six matches, Safin has played 27 sets -- just three short of the record. Because of a scheduling quirk, he will get two days off instead of one to prepare for the final. "Mentally, I'm a little bit tired. I mean, tough matches, they take a lot of energy. And then you make a lot of kilometers, a lot of hours on the court. "So, basically, an extra day for you, it's really, really helpful."

Injuries appear to be less of a concern. In November, he spent a month with fitness trainer Walt Landers preparing in Monte Carlo.

"It's really important for me to keep myself in shape," Safin said after his five-set victory against Agassi. "It's also difficult to stay focused for one month. I mean, staying in one place, doing your job from the morning till the night. And I managed to do it. And ... I'm getting a lot of confidence from that also."

Staying focused does not usually describe Safin. Head case has been a more frequent characterization. After Safin upset Pete Sampras to take the 2000 U.S. Open, great things were expected. Instead, Safin has been in only one other major final -- the 2002 Australian Open. Berated for playing around off the court, Safin made multiple double faults at crucial points in the match.

"It wasn't my best tennis (two years ago)," Safin said. "I had problems with myself. ... I couldn't get over myself in that final. I just lost -- I couldn't play my best tennis. I was too nervous, too much under pressure. That's why I couldn't pull my best weapons in that finals.

"But coming right now, I'm playing -- I beat so many good players, I'm full of confidence, and it's a completely different story. Going to be, I hope."

Federer, though, is no pushover, even if you are 6-foot-5. Because he's had success on every playing surface, Federer is already being asked if he has the talent to win a Grand Slam on all surfaces.

"Now that I've played well at the Australian Open, I know I've got definitely a better chance also at the U.S. Open," Federer said.

"French Open gives me confidence, knowing that I played finals in Rome, won Hamburg and won Munich. If that is enough to win a Grand Slam ... I don't think so."

An admirer of Pete Sampras, Federer's behavior on court is just as low-key as the 14-time major title winner.

"You always get nervous when something means very much for yourself," Federer said. "I'm definitely a guy who is rather calm on the outside on the tennis court, but very emotional inside."

When Federer took over the No. 1 ranking following his semifinal romp over Juan Carlos Ferrero, his joy was apparent.

"It's just something I will never have again in my life," Federer said. "You're only one time No. 1 in the world for the first time in your career or in your life, maybe. So I really wanted to kind of enjoy it."

Most aces without a double fault since '91
Name Aces Event Match Result
Marat Safin 31 '04 Australian won
Alex Radulescu 27 '96 Wimbledon won
Ivan Ljubicic 27 '03 Basel won
Richard Krajicek 25 '99 Stuttgart indoor won
Kenneth Carlsen 23 '03 Stockholm lost
Although on top of the world now, Federer, too, struggled after his own upset of Sampras at Wimbledon in 2001. The next year, he was bounced in the first round of the French and Wimbledon. Then things changed in 2003 when he won The Championships at the All England Club. But even afterward, nerves crept in as he had the chance to take the No. 1 ranking from Roddick in Montreal.

"I feel like I totally learned out of the Montreal match against Andy where I missed my chance for No. 1. (Against Ferrero), I was much more relaxed. Definitely I was nervous, too, in the end. ... So there I missed it. And it was -- how do you say -- it was the defeat that hurt me the most last year. And now to have made it, to have served it out, it's just really -- it's just really nice."

The problem now is that this revived Safin is really something of an unknown quantity. "I know he's definitely got the game to win these tournaments," Federer said. "But to right away do it in the beginning of the season after he had some strange results at the end of the season, I don't know how much he was injured. I only saw him play in Madrid, where he lost in three sets to Bjorkman.

"But, it's good to see him back. We're all happy, but we're scared at the same time, so ..."

Rightly so. Safin went toe-to-toe with Agassi on the baseline. Looking for his chances.

"And I was waiting," Safin said. "I was waiting. I had my chance, and I took it straightway."

Tonight, he's waiting for Federer.