The sublimely talented Marat Safin is primed to regain his place among the world’s elite if new coach Hernan Gumy is to be believed. At 28, the Russian former world No1 has not won a tournament since he triumphed in the 2005 Aussie Open…

Fighting his way back to the summit of world tennis is no doubt proving a similar task to the one he faced in December 2007 when he attempted – unsuccessfully – to scale a Himalayan peak.

The tennis landscape has changed considerably since January 2005 when Marat famously outlasted Roger Federer (9-7 in the fifth set) in the semi-final at Melbourne and then thumped Lleyton Hewitt in the final.

Broken rackets and spirit

Injuries and a certain lack of motivation have plagued the big man for the past three years. His comeback following a knee operation – which kept him sidelined between August 2005 and February 2006 – was a period of self doubt when Marat earned a reputation for smashing rackets as one winless week ran into the next.

“I hit rock bottom,” he admits. Dumped out of tournament after tournament Marat was producing little to remind tennis fans of better days. He needed help to get his game back on track, and it came in the form of Hernan Gumy, ranked No39 in the world in 1996 and former coach of Guillermo Coria and Gustavo Kuerten. Gumy teamed up with Marat in August 2007.

Gumy to the rescue

“His manager spoke to me about teaming up during Wimbledon” Gumy explains. “Then we started working together in LA in the run up to the US Open. And because things are going well we’re still together. To start with I found Marat in bad mental shape. He wasn’t playing well and he was overweight. Everybody was telling him it was a confidence problem but I looked beyond that. I studied videos and compared matches he played in 2000 with matches he played in 2007. I noticed that he was positioning himself differently when he hit the ball. He’d started putting his left leg more forward to protect his injured knee (he mimes a backhand). I noticed that he was doing the same for the forehand.”

“These are the small details that ended up ruining his game,” Gumy continues. “When I showed him the montage that I’d compiled, he was like ‘Wow! That’s incredible!’ In fact, I took a different approach, based more on technique than psychology.”

Still there!

But to develop this approach, Safin needed to improve his physical condition. He had to start again for the beginning, working out three times a day to get himself back into shape.

“It was difficult but he was ready to put in the work, to take up the challenge. Contrary to what people say, Marat isn’t lazy,” declares Gumy. “He’s very motivated. We’ve worked hard and he’s in good condition again. It wasn’t always easy and he exploded lots of times, threw his racquet and shouted at everyone. When that happened, I just left him alone to get it out of his system and afterwards we got back to work. Marat’s like that. He’ll never change. That’s just who he is.”

More independent than before and with a new technique, Safin is back to his old self. A few good wins over Berdych in the Davis Cup and Ferrero in Valencia and have chased all thoughts of retirement from his mind. “I still enjoy playing. My tennis is getting better now. Why would I stop when everything is starting to come together again? I’m not going to retire anytime soon. I’m still here!” he declared after his rain-delayed victory over Jean-René Lisnard.

Thanks Gumy

Whatever the result of his second round match against Nikolay Davydenko, which Safin expects to be “an exciting Russian derby", Safin is grateful and recently thanked his coach publicly for his perseverance.

“The hardest part is over,” affirms Gumy.“He’s back in shape, he’s found his tennis again and when he gets his confidence back, he’ll be able to do some damage. For a while he thought that his time had gone, that he was finished. I can tell you that he no longer thinks like that. He has big ambitions!”

Safin is at the foot of the mountain. The climb is just beginning…