Marat Safin's injury-shortened season is over. The defending BNP Paribas Masters champion pulled out Paris, which begins on Monday. The former No. 1 cited blisters on his right foot as the reason for his withdrawal. A wrist injury Safin sustained at the Australian Open in January has limited him to just 23 matches this season.

Former Australian Open finalist Arnaud Clement replaces Safin in the draw. French teenager Richard Gasquet, the 2002 Roland Garros and U.S. Open junior champion, will receive the wild card originally reserved for Clement.

Currently ranked 38th, Safin sat out three months of the season with torn ligaments in his wrist. He returned to tournament tennis in Los Angeles at the end of July only to aggravate the injury and retire from him his opening-round match against Prakash Amritraj, trailing 3-5. Safin was sidelined for another two months and made another comeback in his hometown of Moscow, falling to Wayne Black 4-6, 7-6(5), 4-6 last month.

In the aftermath of his 4-6, 7-5, 6-4 opening-round Madrid Masters loss to Jonas Bjorkman last month, Safin said the inactivity had left him feeling a little lost on the court.

"I've been out for a long time, for six months," Safin said. "So is difficult to come back and start winning matches because you lose everything. You lose the movement on the court, you lose the eye, you lose the confidence, you lose everything. Then when you come back, you start to picking up all these small things step by step. So for me at least I make three sets today, and I was very close to win the match. Unfortunately, because of my confidence, I'm a little bit too slow on the court, I don't see the ball, so that's why I problems, you know, like playing from the baseline, going to the net. I don't see the point. I cannot read the other player."

It is a disappointing end to a dismal season as Safin's season concludes the way it began — with a premature departure.

In January, the wrist injury forced Safin to withdraw from his scheduled third-round Australian Open match with Rainer Schuettler, who went on to reach the tournament final. Safin, who described the injury as "a small cut in the ligament" later sprained his ankle while training for Russia's first-round Davis Cup tie in February and was sidelined nearly a month.

When he returned, the 2002 Roland Garros semifinalist struggled to find his form in posting a 4-4 record prior to the Barcelona tournament on red clay. Playing his best tennis of the season, Safin crushed French Open champion Juan Carlos Ferrero, 6-4, 6-3 in the Barcelona semifinals in April. It would prove to be the last match Safin would win all season. The towering, temperamental talent was trailing Carlos Moya when he retired from the final citing fatigue.

Since that match, Safin skidded in a season-ending six match losing streak, stopping the slide by pulling out of Paris.

"It's difficult for me," Safin said. "It's coming too fast, so I have to take it easy. That's why I'm trying not to get upset too much when I lose, because is not magic, you know, to come back from injury, start away straight win matches. But I'm preparing myself for the next year. This year is definitely not my year. I was not lucky at all. With my injuries, my results, yeah, I had all these things."

It has been a disappointing descent for a player who appeared destined for dominance when he stormed through the 2000 season seizing an ATP-best seven tournament titles. Safin's delivered a dazzling display of championship tennis in crushing Pete Sampras to capture the 2000 U.S. Open crown as he became the youngest man to finish No. 2 since a 19-year-old Boris Becker in 1986.

Since that sustained season of brilliance, Safin has won exactly three titles in 34 months. In writing off this season, Safin remains hopeful he can script a comeback story in 2004.

"If I can find my game straightaway, if I will be able to get in a good shape, make the good pre-season program, get my confidence back, because I'm completely out of confidence. If I can get it back, I can be dangerous," Safin said. "But still, you know, it's the next year... I hope I'll be alive for next year."