The Most Quotable Quotes
From The Most Quoteable Guy...




Marat Safin!!



Fans of tennis rarely agree on anything, but when it comes to the most quoteable player, few can challenge Marat Safin as the clear winner! Not since the outrageous Goran Ivanisevic has anyone come along who can make you laugh, cry, spit out your drink, giggle uncontrollably and double over with side cramps the way Marat can! His quick wit has earned him the love of the press and fans all over the world. If you've never heard or read his interviews, you're in for a real treat! So sit back, relax, and get ready for a wild ride... and you may want to keep that drink away from your computer!




On his childhood and being Russian:

"We've been watching different cartoons."

"You have to think about where you're coming from and how much money you had before. You cannot forget these things." "You cannot lose touch. There is no chance. A shitty life, you never forget."

"Nobody can actually understand Russians. It's difficult. You can, but it's difficult, right?"

"I do not know how to analyze this in detail. Different mentalities, different lives, different ways to react. How to explain it? I am not Sigmund Freud!"

"I wasn't interested in tennis, but didn't know what to do with my feets, too."

"You want to sit in the five-star hotels? You have to get here and, believe me, it's a long way. Years and years of working hard and traveling the world, and shitty hotels with no TV and no bathroom. I did all this. Going to a cafe and eating off the $5 menu. You start with $100 a week, maybe. I was down to nothing sometimes. I had to make some good results to make money. Now you come to five-star hotels, and it's, "What do you want? Coke? Whiskey?

"The mentality of Russians, it's very strange. Actually, very strong on the court. We know what we want and we fight."

"It's the atmosphere. That's my place, and everyone has their place. I was born in Moscow and that is the place I am going to live the rest of my life. When I retire of course I will go back. The best looking girls live in Russia. It's true."

"Places like Bronx or Queens are worse. Moscow isn't even close. Of course some people get shot by accident, but nobody is getting killed in the street. There is not a war."

"I wasn't a genius I wasn't stupid. I was okay. I was a normal guy. Sometimes I cheated in exams. we all do."


On His Idols:


"I'm not like American. I have my own picture on wall."

"I think I can't play this game. Who knows what can happen, but I would like to play like this. I will try (laughter). But I'm not sure, because I have to work a lot to be like him. Half of Pete Sampras, to be half of Pete Sampras, is enough for me."

"Robert de Niro, because he is as good playing a taxi driver as playing a banker or a gangster"

"Ion Tiriac is Mister Tennis and I admired him when I was a small boy how he ran through the tennis-circuit with his giant moustache. I hope that he can show me the way . He had formed Becker and Ivanisevic and nobody hadn't complained about him. I didn't wanted to be a small fish in a big firm, but to have somebody who have time for me, too."




On being a star:


"The stars are only in the sky"

"I don't want to be Agassi or Kournikova."

"Sure, I would love to be the next Pete and I'm doing everything possible to get there."

"I want to be happy, to enjoy, that's the most important thing. I don't want to say that I like being famous or that I look for it, but people recognize me or whatever, why would I not be nice to them? We have a good life here. If part of that means that I am recognized or people want my autograph, it's OK."

"I prefer to be nobody, so nobody expects a lot from me. Nobody is putting me under pressure, you know, that you have to win and you have be one of the favourites."

"When I look at a dollar note, I only see a picture of George Washington on a piece of paper. Money is only money. It makes the life easier, but I don't feel sexy or mighty because of that."

"When I was ranked 40 in the world, nobody cared about me. I started to win matches because I had no pressure. Now everybody's expecting things from me. Every time I have to win, I have to win, Safin has to win, Safin, Safin, Safin, Safin, Safin, Safin, Safin! Then one day I sat down and said no, no, no. If it's going to be like this I cannot play. When I have so much pressure I don't enjoy tennis and I feel bad. So I tried to calm down, tried not to make such a big deal of it, even if I don't win a tournament this year."

"I try to have a normal life, but during the tournament it's impossible. Everybody wants something, a photo, an autograph. Me, my job is to play tennis. I don't care about popularity. I don't want to be invited to all TV shows, I don't want to see my mug in the front page of all the Russian's newspapers. I just want to live my life, to do my job and when my day at the office is finished I want to be a normal guy. Here, it's impossible. And Yevgueni who bores me in order that I make at least a semi final, in order that there is a lot of public/audience. I know what he wants: a head to head between him and me..."

"After I had won the US Open, my recognizing value climb up. Unfortunately the funny things don't happened to me now - such as last new-year's-eve in Moscow. I wanted to go to a famous club and they didn't let me in. I liked it. When today somebody don't recognize me and ask me what I do professionally, I always answer that I'm a poor student. That's more interesting and funnier."

"I am not a singer or a rock star. Tennis is tennis. If you want to see a clown, go to a circus."





On Women & Friends:


"My friend, there is nothing so sexy as a woman who is angry. Perhaps she is even throwing things."

"You need somebody. Otherwise you are too lonely. You get sick of the guys. You want to see a beautiful girl, to talk, discuss about things, get angry, make something happen. Otherwise life is boring."

"All the girls, they want to be famous, right?"

"When you are losing to a girl, I say, "What are you doing? It's not normal." But it happens in this age."

"Anna Kournikova. She is a very beautiful girl or young lady - whichever you'd call her. I also like the German Jana Kandarr, she is more a model. But I like Anna and Jana more outwardly - from afar. For example, I wouldn't marry Anna."

"They (the sleazy blondes) are not my types. My type? Not this type."

(on being a ladies' man)"Of course! I'm not gay! Find me one normal guy who doesn't like women's company. I think it's good. It's natural. You cannot fight against the nature, right?"

"Do you like Madonna? I love her"

"You count me as a manufacturer? I think that there are many people in Russia who would like to spend their sperm for money. If I need a child, my love will give birth to it."

"But now I am a bit... 2 years older and I am a little bit smarter so I can do it without the girls."

"I have all my family, and my team, a massuer and my coach and it's enough. It's ok.. let's try to focus a little bit on tennis."




On finding motivation and his game:


"I just want to be on my line.. playing Marat Safin style."

"It's like love. When you look too hard, you don't find it. When you let it happen naturally, it comes."

I'm looking for it, trying to. But is already half a year passed. Not many months is still left so I have to hurry up (laughter)."

"To be honest, sometimes I really don't feel like hitting the ball on the court - I am so lazy."

"So I understood, finally understood at the age of 23 and becoming 24 that it's not the way I should treat myself and suffer on the court trying to get pissed."

"Try to get back to where I was, where I was before, it's a long way, it's a difficult one, but also the year is starting so I have to...to, you know it's time to wake up!"







On his off-court activities::


"I did a little bit of fishing, a little bit of camping, all those things that make you think about life a little bit."

"Fishing like was great. We were staying like eight hours a day on a boat, you know, just sitting with our beers. We had everything. Whatever you catch, we cook and we eat.
But the problem was I couldn't swim. Was great weather. But was okay. We had wine at the night, you know, with the dinner. So it was really, really good. Just make your mind a little bit relax. Just chill out. What else you can do?"

"Do something. I mean, spend a lot of hours sleeping, try to make a couple of massages tomorrow, I mean, one or two. Just try to recover, my legs, start to prepare myself for the final. Just do something. Go for a walk, for example. Enjoy the sight-seeing. I will find something. I went two days ago in the zoo. I had so much fun. I will find out something to do."

"I try to do my best to have fun off the court, you are only 21 once. I am aware I will never get back to this time. You cannot make big parties, you cannot take cocaine or whatever, obviously, but there are plenty of other ways of having fun. And anything you can do you ought to do I think."

"I watch TV, go to restaurants. I saw Shallow Hal. That was the worst I ever saw. Terrible, horrible, disgusting movie. I think the director never watched it after he finished filming. Stupid movie." I also enjoyed "Dumb and Dumber", but I would not consider it a master piece."

"Sleep? Give me a break! What sleep?! We are cutting loose!"

"Anyway, where can I go? I have no time. Today I woke up at 11. I came here to practice. Then I played a match. I finish the match at 11 o'clock at night. Then what do I do? I go back to the hotel, I have dinner and that's it. I have to go back to sleep. Because another day is coming and I have to wake up and go to practice."

"I like to sit down and to laze around, I can spend an entire day without moving off the sofa. Me I am quite passive,I like to see life flowing."

"I am not hiding" The thing is, I like to socialize with friends, listen to the music, sometimes have some good wine. The main thing is to control oneself."

"You cannot practice during a tournament, so you play one hour and a half, you go to the gym and, what do you do with the rest of the day?" "You stay home, watch stupid TV. That's all there is? It's boring. I want to enjoy my life. I am living now at Miami Beach. I'm having so much fun. So why do I have to change my way of life? I love it."

"I had my driving licence in the last June. I don't want to be fined too soon. I love the cars. Hey I'm just 19 years old, it's normal. Every young men are little mad."

You never know what's going to happen in your life, and if you don't enjoy it now, when are you going to enjoy? When you are 30 and when you are 40, it's already too late because your best years are between 20 and 40. So you have to try to have fun. Just enjoy it and do whatever you like, and just listen to the people closest to you. You can't listen to everyone. Just live, just enjoy."

"Good or bad, I try to eat everything."

"I do the house cleaning, I wash the dishes, and I do the shopping myself. There is no woman in here"

"I have an empty refrigerator and nobody takes care of things around the house. I have nobody to cook for me, so I go to restaurants. Me cooking? No idea! Me washing clothes? No idea! I can't do anything domestic!"

"Sometimes I feel like reading a book or playing computer games. At times I manage to go to a club. I like listening to music and I like different types of it: Metallica, Halloween, Enigma. I should say that the hours of rest I have are based completely on my mood, and my mood changes 10 times a day!"

"I'm doing bad things, I'm doing good things, and I'm satisfied with that. I'm like any other person in the world who wants to live his life. Of course I'm doing stupid things, of course I'm making mistakes in my life, so I don't want to be the centre of attention. I'm okay with myself."

"Watch some movies, read some books, interested in music , you know try to have a great time. This week will be casino, try to spend some money or maybe if I am lucky I win some. So you know, I try to have fun."







On his talent:


"It's quite impressive, actually. For myself, I didn't expect that I will just -- I will win so many matches straightaway."

“How did I beat this player? I don't know, I don't know."

"It was like in the movie, you know? Everybody, of course, wish after this jump that you turn the match completely different way and you have to win this match. But (it) is real life and you have the No. 1 in the world. He's still fighting. He's just still there. Nothing changes. I make the good shot, and that's it. But is not Rocky and is not Rambo."

"I'm big so I have power but I don't have touch. Small guys are smarter than me. Yeah. The small guys, most small guys, they are very fast, great anticipation, and great hands. They're very quiet. They're smarter than the tall ones some moments."

"Today I was quite -- no, very good. Even me, I was impressed with my game (smiling)."

"I had a smash. Okay, I miss it. But if I don't miss it, then you will not ask me this question, right? Why you miss it? You have to ask the question, "Why you miss this point?" I will tell you. It's because the ball was too high and then it was too far away from the net and then is breakpoint. So you already have all these things on your mind. So that's why I miss."

"Everybody has a weak points. Is almost impossible to have two the same shots, if any forehand and backhand. It doesn't exist in tennis, right? It never exist. It's just rules, it's written in the book."

"In my case, a lot of people, they think that it's kind of easy for me, tennis. You know, I have a lot of talent, that I have potential to win a few more Grand Slams, I have a big talent, but I'm just not focused enough, I'm not working enough, I'm not into it anymore. All the time they find to put me down all the time. It hurts. Of course, it hurts."

"In 2000 I think I played amazing tennis. I had so much confidence. I was playing just great. I was impressed myself that I could play such great tennis."

"And how to say this one? The Russian one, doesn't have a bad one also. What is his name, the young one, the tall one? This guy, you know (laughter)? The one not playing too bad. He beat once Sampras in the finals of US Open. Do you know him (laughter)? Safin, maybe Safin? I mean, I don't know, I consider myself I don't have a bad backhand. Not super, but I'm working on it."

"I'm living my life. I'm not living the life of anybody else. I know what I'm doing, and I've been doing it for a long time. The better I get, the more people like this I get. They advise me to get a coach, to do like this, to live like this; I should do this, I should wake up at this time or go to sleep at that time; don't eat this. If I were winning five Grand Slams and being No1 for a long time, the people will still say that I can be much better. You have to live with this, and I try not to react to that."

"I would not have a bet on myself."



On the fans:


"I only sign for beautiful girls"

"They paid [for] the ticket for the final, one guy is half-dying, another one is playing his best tennis. They want to see a little bit of entertainment."

"Don't give me a hard time, I'm just trying to do my best,"

"If the crowd is like this with me tomorrow, I have no chance to be somebody in the world. "Maybe I'll wear a sign on my head that says, 'I'm Marat Safin.'"

"It's not a football match, it's tennis. I always thought it's not a cheap sport, but some of them don't respect the players. If somebody is insulting you, I don't think it's good to be quiet and keep it inside of you."

"Okay, you are a fan favorite like everybody says." I'm not inventing anything. So the guy is coming on the court, he has nothing to lose. He's small. He has charisma. So, of course, everybody's supporting him. Also he's a French-speaking person, right? Belgium. Next to France. I think they're closer. Rochus is closer to the French people than Russian to the French. Maybe that's the reason. I don't know."

"Thanks to football, the stadium was not full and I had a chance to play and break. Itís difficult to play against the public so it really helped."

"I have never been so humiliated in my whole life," "It was a terrible feeling to hear the fans whistle and boo me on the court. I was trying my best, chasing every ball, fighting for every point. I have had enough. I wanted to quit right there after the first set as I couldn't bear to hear them shouting insults at me. I just couldn't take it any longer."

"Last year,the crowd hissed me, here, at home, because I had difficulties in finding my game. They put my head underwater until I drowned myself."

"I don't think the people would like it if somebody will smell on the court"

"Of course it's important to have some crowd behind you. Just but if the people, they enjoy my game, I'm more than happy. I mean, everybody is here just is coming for, you know, to play the game, to win the tournament, but also for the crowd to enjoy. It's a part of the game. You have to try to do everything as possible to make the public happy. They are paying the money. I mean, they are paying to watch the matches. They want to see entertainment. If you don't see the crowd, it's not really... Just couple of good points, great matches, you know."

"I can't ask for anything else. Is probably the best birthday I ever had, especially when it's like 15,000 people that's standing in there, you know, singing the "Happy Birthday." I mean, it's really nice. And after especially the win, beating No. 1 in the world, it's really nice."


On Having/Not Having a Coach:


"I'm starting to take it personally, maybe nobody loves me."

"I can't understand it. "You get to spend 24 hours a day around me. That should be hard to resist, shouldn't it?"

"I'll be honest. It's difficult to find the coach. I tell you what's reasons. First reason is that, you know, big players, big guys, they've been in Top 10, you know, they have families. It's very difficult. And on other hand is also that is difficult to find the coach who will understand your game, who will understand who you are, who you want to be, and what -- which way you want to play."

"I don't need someone telling me what to do all the time. I don't like it when coaches talk to much, try to teach you too much." "If they talk to you from 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. it drives you crazy."

"I have time and I'm not doing so bad without coaches. I mean, I would have to think about this, but I will try to think about the coaching after U.S. Open, after the Super 9's, after the Grand Slams, and after I have enough time to think."





On losing matches:


"Shit happens, you know. What can I say?"

"What am I supposed to do? Lock myself in a room and cry?"

It's not like I played against a yo-yo, a guy who doesn't know how to play tennis. You know what I mean?

I would have liked to have won the final, but I will survive."

"Sometimes my concentration just goes away in the game and it's difficult to get it to come back."

"The guy just said that it's for tanking. I mean, at least I'm in history already."

"It was horrible. But at least I saw some people and make some good pictures."

"I'm trying to -- not to getting too excited. When you are losing, you can be very sad. I prefer to be okay. When I'm winning, I'm okay. When I'm losing, it's okay."

"Unfortunately, is bad day at the office."

"It's like -- it's so pathetic and it's -- I'm just like I'm laughing at myself that how, how bad I could build the match, how bad I could build it tactically and just being so -- you know, to not have been enough balls to win this match."

"Why are you saying it's frustrating? What, I look bad? I look like injured? I'm disgusting, playing terrible tennis. "Frustrating would be like if I will drop to top 200 and never will be able to come back. I'm still top 10. O.K., maybe it's not my best shape at the beginning of the year because I was injured. But still there is a lot of time coming. You know, it's not the end of the world."

"That is how it works, but it is tough to take and it has taken me a while to get over it. But what can I do? I still have a few years more. I cannot do anything. I have to cry a little more."

"When you cannot remember how to win a match, it is worrying"

"It's been disgusting. Right now, I'm impressing myself with how badly I'm playing."

"People should understand that I'm human. There are bad days, bad months. Just because you have this great moment doesn't mean you're going to be playing great tennis for the rest of your life. You play very bad, a little bit bad and then you can come back. You know, the stock market, I think it's this way, too."

"On the court it was completely different. I was shouting at myself. I even broke one racket, because I couldn't believe I could play so badly."

"I had to play my first match very early, so I just got to wake up at 9, I'm not used to do this, waking up at 9 I was completely out of the court, I was in the bed."

"I came, I win two sets. I don't know where I've been the other two. I was in the locker room, I think."


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