On The Art of Winning Matches:

"You've got to show the people you've got something between your legs, you're not just a pretty face"

"I have to be a tough guy on the court so everybody has to be scared of me."

"If you want to win, you have to risk sometimes, you have to take the risk. You cannot play a hundred percent sure and just win a match. It doesn't work. That's not my style and it's not my game."

"You know why I want to win? Because of 15,000 reasons inside of the tennis court."

"Sometimes you have to work a little bit more than normal, like I did against Pete. It was a great match and I deserved to win. So today was a present."

"I had no chance to win if it didn't rain," "Thank God it started to rain," "I needed the break and God gave it to me."

"I began to think with my head and everything went normal"

"Sometimes you have to hit the ball with, you know, closed eyes. (laughter) which I did yesterday, sometimes...it works."

"It's the kind of match that you have to win. Doesn't matter how, but you have to win. I don't know. I'm happy that it passed away actually, and I don't have to go back to the court and start it over again. So for me it was -- I'm happy that it's over."

"I'm too many kilos and I have to run on clay. It's difficult. Believe me, it's quite difficult. But I'm still there, and I have a serve, which is I can save some points, make a few easy points. Otherwise I'm in big trouble."

"You have a head, and you sometimes use it."

"In every match, you have this feeling that you are losing your game. It means you are losing a little bit of concentration, you know this. You try to hang in there. But it's difficult. The other guy is feeling this, and he's playing much better because he has more confidence the way the match is going. You have to be careful in this situation because you know, you can feel it, you're losing your game, you're losing your concentration. If you miss this kind of ball, these two kind of balls, probably is the key of the match because you can get in such trouble that you not be able to come over. You have to, I don't know, try to, I don't know, breathe or whatever. Every guy is doing different things. But it's quite difficult. It's quite difficult. Then it starts the choking, which is the worst part of the game. You don't want to get there. You don't want to play these kind of games. So you try to, I don't know, whatever, just walk a little bit, try to concentrate as fast as you can. Because if you lose this moment, you're gone, then you have a problem."

"I'm getting older, so I know a little bit the game (smiling). I know the game a little bit more. But as soon as you know the game better than before, you start to choke more."

"I just became a fighter whereas before I was a disaster"

"No. I give you example. When you're 28, 27, you know the game so well, it's so difficult. When you understand the game very much, you start to choke. You not understand it, but the players understand. It's basically that's the point. So is better to not to understand very well the game, just play your match the way it comes, you know, just hit the shots, just give yourself a little bit of space, just feel free on the court. Because if you start to think what's going to happen after I lose this court, play cross-court, miss it down the line, then you have a problem. Just you need to be a little bit feel free on the court and just play your game. If you miss it, then you have problem. Then you are getting into trouble. But you have to risk sometimes. Sometimes the risk is very important, to be able to risk on some difficult points. What a speech, huh?"

"You cannot be very happy when you're winning, you cannot be very sad when you're losing. You have to keep the balance. Is a good answer?"

"These kind of matches are important. You can shout, throw rackets, do whatever you can to win them."

"I have to play good tennis to show them I'm not the yo-yo from Moscow"

"I never used to fight. I didn't know what it was. If I'm playing good, I was playing unbelievable tennis. When I was playing bad, I couldn't win ... I couldn't beat my mother."

"Like normal human beings, I was afraid. I had eyes bigger than my face."

"What do you want me to do, you want me to jump around here or what? The final is nice, but you don't have to be too happy, because tomorrow it's a final. we're going to have a party for sure, definitely. If you want to hear this, okay."

"I just told myself that I can do it, that I have enough head, enough balls to beat him, which is very important to me."


"Don't let your body do one thing and your head another thing. Otherwise there's no chance to win one match."

"I had won the US Open and even didn't took my vitamins. Since 6 months they were lying in my suitcase. I drank tap water on the court. That was my doping."




On Finding The Motivation To Succeed:



"It's too much maybe, but that's the dream. We live because of the dreams."

"You have to be afraid every time you going to the court. It gives you, you know, motivation, adrenaline is going to your body. Otherwise you go to the court like to the beach."

"I need to find the motivation, you know, against Sampras. That's why I brought so many blondes here tonight."

"When I have fun, I enjoy my tennis, and the only reason I enjoy my tennis is being with my friends."

"It would be a pity to spend probably the best years of my life just living with tennis. It would be the biggest mistake of my life. I don't think you have to destroy your life because of tennis. I don't think it does any damage living your life and doing your job on the court."

"I still want to win the final. I want to feel this situation. Maybe I'm going to shout or get undressed on court. "I don't know what I'm going to do if I win. It would be a great feeling to be champion at the U.S. Open."

"You cannot compare pleasure with the business, my friend. It's two different things. So you have to dedicate yourself to the business or to the pleasure. Sometimes you have to choose between business and pleasure; you choose business. This is my case."

"So it's difficult also to play because it's coming from the head. Of course, it's coming with the years. When you getting older, you getting better with your head because you start to understand your life. It's a little bit philosophic, I know, but it's true (laughter). It's true, that you getting clever with the years, with the time. As soon as possible is better."

"Ooh-la-la, today I'm going to fight a lot. I'm going to run."

"you lose a lot of years on this game. You can come completely white"

"you think about dinner, your car, playing golf and sometimes I thought about sex… But these thoughts don't have to get out of control, otherwise the point, the set or the match got lost very fast."




On Winning Tournaments:

"It’s true that this victory in 2000 has changed my life, but it’s not a reason to climb up the curtains every time I see Flushing Meadows in the distance!"

"Never give up. Last year I was trying to give up but I couldn't."

"I'll go for everything -- I'll fight like a dog. I'll jump, I'll dive, I will be there. I'll do everything possible to win some tournaments."

"Every player on ATP, just in all the other sports, every single player has this kind of day that you will wake up in the morning, whatever you will do, it will be perfect. It was this kind of a day. Like everything I would do was perfect. I couldn't miss the ball. Even if I will try to miss a ball, I couldn't miss it. I was happy it was exactly this day, like on Sunday against Pete Sampras in finals of the US Open."

"You have to enjoy the moment. It doesn't happen very often"

"I'm so happy, I'm so glad. I cannot describe what I'm feeling right now. It's just something that is just so great, it's the best. Better than sex, you can say that."

"I don't sleep that night. I had to celebrate what had just happened. No one could blame me. I may never win it again."

"It was too perfect. It can happen once in my life, last year. If you come back and try to win again it's an unbelievable, beautiful feeling because you have an unbelievable reason to have a huge party with your friends. That's why I'm coming here. I want to win again because it's a nice feeling."

"I was too tired and too nervous to dance, I didn't know what I just did."

"I just -- I'm the guy from Russia who had not a lot of spectators here, so I had nothing to lose, completely nothing."

"That moment was the best moment of my life, right after match point. It was the best moment, it felt so good, but I can't describe it. It was just perfect. You realize you won one of the biggest tournaments in the world only two seconds ago - it is the perfect feeling."

"Magic? It only happens once, it doesn't happen twice. It can't change from bad to unbelievable. That's once in a lifetime."

"Right then, I was the king."

"I think I'm playing great tennis, and I've won enough tournaments to show it. I'm not lucky, nobody is. At this moment, I am No 1. Maybe some people don't like it, but that's life."

"I can't live with one tournament. I won Boston, so I'm a king there (laughter). That's it. I was happy for one day -- okay, for two days (laughter). That's it."




On Smashing Racquets & His Temper:

"You can destroy one racket. You can destroy a chair. But you can't destroy a racket and a chair in the same match. There has to be a limit. One racket. One or two, maybe. Otherwise this is the tennis of a sick person. People don't want to see sick people like me on the court, throwing their rackets at chairs."

"Sorry, but I was No. 1 in the world. Who wants to tell me to change? I don't understand why everybody is trying to tell me that it is bad for me, I've been doing this since I was a kid. How can I change my character, it is me. I'm doing well -- even breaking 50 rackets. I mean, I was No. 1 in the world for two weeks, that means something."

"I will try to be a little bit more calm. If it would help my game, it would be great. Otherwise, I will have to start again and throw the racket or do something. The difficulty is that the fans complain if they don't see any action on the court, and then they see someone breaking a racket and chanting and they complain. Basically there is no middle ground. I think at the end of the day they like it."

"The Wimbledon crowd seem to like me so, hopefully, there will not be any need for me to lose my temper!"

"When you are losing, two sets to love down, and you trying just to put a return or just put it back, the ball, deep, and you cannot make it, what a conversation you can have with the racquet or with yourself? What conversation you can have? I give you the answer, but I don't think is the right one. But still...I was pissed. As you can see, I think so. I was very disappointed, so I need to do something because it was going for too much already. I could explode. But then it's bad for the public."

"Me, I'm not different, not completely nut case."

"I was going nuts, I had no more rackets and the chair umpire already told me that I should be careful. I had no more power to shout or throw the rackets, so I couldn't anymore."

"I have to push myself sometimes when I'm losing. I have to push myself. I have to break racquet, whatever, just throw the ball out of the court. At the end it helps me."

"I'm not like Stefan Edberg; I'm not a robot. I'm an individual who gets mad. If I break a racket, who does it really hurt?"

"It's good in this way, and it's bad because I'm showing too much that, you know, I'm too - how would say - I show too much on the court my emotion. I'm too emotional. So it doesn't help me. Of course, it helps me. It's just the way I am. I cannot change myself when I'm 22."

"It's the way I am. It's nice actually to hear a lot of people, they like watching me play. It's very nice. But just, you know, the tennis stars, you don't have to forget at the end of the day it's a beautiful sport. I don't know, it's a gentleman's sport, whatever you can say. But is entertainment for the people, for the spectators. And they don't have to forget this thing. We are just entertainment."

"I cannot play quiet, I have to let my feelings show. I try to say to myself don't worry but it doesn't usually work. I need to shout and throw the racquet because otherwise I get too nervous. But now I try not to go crazy too much."

"Sometimes breaking a racquet helps, You let out all the bad energy -- you have to let it out somehow. Also, I think a little drama in the final never hurts."

"It's not a question to break so many racquets, but sometimes you need this and I think the people, they understand this because we are human beings and we need to try to break it because it's only a racquet, it's nothing else. But I know it's not very nice on the court. It doesn't look very, I would say, very educated. You are just thinking about the racquet, then you need it. You can't live without it."

"No, I don't want to think about this, because when you start think, you go crazy."

"Not many good things I tell myself normally. So normally I talk when I miss the ball and when I'm making easy mistakes. But it's not a question of confidence. You try to explain to yourself that you are stupid, that you don't have to do like this next time. But I think it's not normally, the concentration you get from other point. But normally, when you talk to yourself, you say, "I love you, you're a good guy, but don't miss next time, okay." More or less like this. In other words, if you have confidence, it's much more easy to get upstairs and everything."



"You have to do something to keep people interested otherwise they will stop coming to watch tennis."

"Of course sometimes it's not the best way to act on the court. But I think, first of all, I was like this since I was -- since I start to play tennis. Second, because you need this. You're gonna play tennis, you're not a machine. My mind, sometimes I get scared. Sometimes I get -- I'm afraid on the court. I'm afraid with the ball. So I need to do something, you know, to be little bit more relaxed. I mean the people, there are a lot of people there in the stands, and I think they don't shout at me when I am breaking racquet. I didn't destroy racquet, they start to shouting and everything is bad, I don't like this crowd. But I just broke my racquet; that's it. It's not so dangerous. I didn't kill anybody. It's only racquet -- it's just a piece of graphite. That's it."

"If you're making a show on the court, you know, throwing the racquet, telling the chair umpire that he's a very nice guy, I mean, I'm trying -- Nobody's hurt, I didn't kill anybody, I didn't destroy any rackets, everything was perfect."

"occasionally angry outbursts belongs to me. After all I'm not a robot, from time to time I have to work off. And the ATP properly recognized, that interesting blokes are good for the circuit, so let us be, as we are. However I couldn't hardly change myself even with severely rules. Angry outbursts are part of my character. I have to let out of my body the negative energy. Otherwise it builds up and sometime I get ill."

"If you can pay all my fines, it's okay. I can broke many. You know how much I paid already this year? Close to probably was 250 in Australia, close to $7,000, or even 10. Guys, for $10,000, you know what I can do? You don't want to know what I can do with $10,000. You going to go out to Head to tell them, no? 35, 36."

"just...the problem is that you have to pay after you break the racket. (laughter) you have to pay a fine. no, no, they say thank you, you are doing well."

"But they (Head) knew since the beginning of my contract that I am this way, so what can I do? I cannot fight against myself. I think the people at head watch tennis and they watch TV. So they know how I treat the rackets. But it is OK. I don't think it's a major problem for them."

"The racquets were new. They are too new. I string them yesterday. I didn't want to -- I promise to myself that I will not do it today. Actually, I was quite nice on the court, no (smiling)."

"Today I break racquets, for tomorrow we die."




On His Fellow Tour Players:

"Being told I am having to play Santoro is like being told I am going to die."

"I couldn't talk I was so disappointed because I hate to play against him, really (laughter). For me is like almost, "You going to die tomorrow. How you feel?" Same as they told me I have to play against Santoro . You will go out from the court without tennis, you will finish this match. You will not put one ball. You finish and you can't put one ball in or you play unbelievable. Normally is going I can't play tennis anymore against Santoro. I need two weeks to prepare. I need two weeks to practice to play the next match. Let's see. Let's see"

"He's the only person in this world who can beat me - no, I mean who beat me five times in a row without any problems. This is the only one who can drive me crazy on the court like he did already for two years.

"I want to say that I play against Fabrice in the Olympic Games. I went there with all the confidence of the world, and he drove me crazy one more time."

"Best day in my life. I was scared already before the match, and it's difficult to play like this. I play today like against a normal guy. I try to make what I have to do. I knew that sometimes in some moments I will have to rush a little bit, you know, to risk. I didn't look at him, what he was doing, because when you look at him, you forget how to play tennis, for sure. You know, you start to risk, you start to make some crazy things, dropshots. I'm satisfied that I didn't get scared, I didn't get paralyzed on the court."

"Everybody. Everybody's great. We all get along. We go out to dinner or the bars, I get along with everyone. That's the thing with men's tennis. We compete. Then we leave the court and we are friends. We go to eat, we go to bars. Just because I play you in a match, I have to hate you? No."

" The people, they can play tennis - short, long, big, fat, whatever; everybody can play tennis. Everybody knows how to do it."

"You never want to play fifth set against Pete. I saw him for three hours - it's enough for me. He's too big, too dangerous."

"I think Goran, he was like this since the beginning. He didn't just become crazy when he was on ATP. He was already like this when he was young, the same like me, yes. Yes, I was like this already. I think it's a question of parents. Normally the father, if he's a big fighter, normally you become crazy. You smash racquets, you know, you get crazy on the court like your parents."

"That is a question without any answer. He says yes but, you know, Yevgeny has like seven Fridays in a week."

"Ask Yevgeny what is on his mind. Why should I know?"




On Chair Umpires & Linesmen:

"I cannot talk to the person with sunglasses... he should talk to me with respect like I am talking to him."

"Nobody expects these kind of things from the chair umpire, but I think, you know, he likes to be involved in the match. It's okay. He can play tennis also, after the tournament."

"He's talking to me like, you know, `I'm the king of the court and I can do whatever I want'.''

"We were playing great tennis and the guy just, he wants to show off. I don't know what is his problem."

"Everybody can make a mistake. The chair umpire has to use his brains sometimes."

"I'm coming here to play tennis, not just to fight with the chair umpire."

"Because of your bad calls, I'm losing the match."

"When it's happens once, is okay. Twice, you start to be little bit worried. Three times, you say, "Come on." Four times, you want to kill the guy. I mean you say to him, "Pay a little bit more attention on these bounces, please." I mean I came to him, said, "Come on, man, let's be little bit more concentrated." "Yes, yes, the machine doesn't work." What it mean, the machine doesn't work? The machine count. The ball is out, you have to call. So why you sitting there? Or you are not good enough, so why you sitting there? Or you pay a little bit more attention on the court when the players are there. I hope he will do it, the guys from the TV gonna show him how many mistakes he make in the match. Of course I went crazy because I am telling the ball is out. The guy, the linesmen also, they are watching me with a face like I'm stupid."

"I don't understand this. So why we don't -- why we don't put any fines to the chair umpires when they make easiest mistakes? If I would lose, I would lose because of this guy. The machine doesn't work, but I think he has an ear, no?"

"I was close, very close to break one racquet. And if I will break the racquet, of course who gonna say, "Violation, racquet abuse, Mr. Safin." Everybody knows this like, you know, they can be a genius."




On His Travels & Various Tournaments:

"Basically, you end up with more kilometres than a taxi."

"I think for me it's difficult because I'm also scared of flying, yes. I have this paranoia. No, it affects me. Not tennis, it affects myself. Every time I go in the plane, sometimes I'm too scared. is difficult. But I'm taking sleeping pills, so is okay."

"Of course, you can feel how special it is to play, you know, in Wimbledon. Even starting from you have to wear the white clothes, and be nice and polite, don't hit the racquet. It's for some people, it's nice. You have to be polite and all these things. For us, for the people who are a little bit more emotional on the court like me, it's difficult, you know, to be quiet - because you need to get upset, because it helps you sometimes, you know, to come back."

"There are so many things I don't understand about Wimbledon's attitude. It has to change, things can't go on like this. Wimbledon could be much nicer to people. That's my opinion and I will keep it until something changes. I don't care if I am allocated only one ground pass for saying these things or whether they give me 10."

"They are nice to those who can play on grass and not nice to those who can't. Wimbledon will never be as special as the other Grand Slams."

"Everyone knows how to play on grass but it is one thing to know and another to actually play".

"Listen, one week on grass was more than enough. You can't return the ball properly because of all the bad bounces." I know HOW to play on grass but to actually do it is different."

"They could have put me on the center court in Paris. I think I deserve it."

"If they want to bring the hospital to the Australian Open...they're gonna have a big problem with that. It's like something from another world, I'm not agreeing with that."

"I can't live in the United States - I'd kill myself. "It's not my style of life, it's not the country for me. They don't even let me drink a beer in this country. I was born in Moscow. Then I went to Spain and my life is like a festival everyday."

"Of course I've had the chance to take in the city of the Beatles and its fantastic nightlife."

"I really have a good life. I travel from a town to another to play tennis. I make people happy. I see the tennis like a little world, nice, I have a profession by dream, which is maybe not as easy as people can think."

"I'm satisfied with my life. I'm satisfied with my age. Maybe my brain is a little bit less than 21 years old, but I think that makes me feel good. I'm happy with this."

"I'm enjoying my sport and I'm happy to be here in Paris instead of cleaning the streets in Moscow."

"Sometimes it's a little bit boring. So you have to make it very interesting for yourself not to get bored, because it's really difficult job and it's really difficult thing to travel around the world and living in a -- traveling with a suitcase and living in hotel rooms. So you have to make it interesting."




On The Press:

"The journalist asks me: "Do you drink?" Our conversation took place during the tournament, plus it was the tournament where I was playing for the first time. Was that serious to ask me that? So I answered, in a joke: - I do. - Do you smoke? - I don't. - Did you go some place here? - I did. - What did you drink? - Whisky... That was the funny conversation we had. And then I found out from the newspaper that I liquor up every day. What I just can't understand is how did I manage to have enough strength for seven matches, three of which, with Kuerten, Agassi and Pioline, were five sets matches..."

"First of all, I would like to say that how they put in the press and everything, it was completely different. Because nobody knows more than me. It's unbelievable how the people from the press, they know what I did."

"I played one hour and a half, and I met the press for already 25 hours."

"Lady, can you speak up a little bit -- Indianapolis is a little bit far from Europe, so I can't hear you."

"You are hot temper, like hot Italian man. You always think about one thing."

"Yeah, but, darling, come on, I have quite decent career."




Random Ramblings:

"even when I lie I tell the truth"

"It's easier to call a trainer than a shoemaker."

"First, the hormones are stirred. Second, the superfluous excitement before a start of a match goes. And I read somewhere, that when a person is very sexual then he's also very ingenious."

"I am a man and I do not always look in the mirror, and frankly I don't really care how I look."

"I'm trying and I'm trying, and I'm growing up. I'll be 23 soon."

Q:'So, Marat, who would you want to be your partner if you were on the Survivor show?'
A:"For sure, Macaulay Culkin."
Q:Why?
A:"He showed he could get out of danger at such a young age. He's older now and must be a much more clever guy to help me survive. Is good answer, no?"

"We are just tennis players. Who cares about us?"

"Anyway, you don't know what's going to happen tomorrow, so it's OK. One day I will die. I don't mind. I cannot wait for something bad to happen all the time. I cannot be scared in case something's going to happen to me tomorrow. I live my life. I like the way I'm living. I don't need a bodyguard. I'm not the president. I'm just here to play tennis and make some money. I try to win a tournament. I try to make the people happy and see them smile. That's my job."

"Last year is the history already. It was one year ago."

"We're in 16 of January, man. 16 of January, I don't know if I will be alive tomorrow. Don't ask me what's going to be in September."

"I don't really care about politics because I don't know what the situation is. Seriously… I don't care. I have my own problems to worry about."

"It would be a pity to spend probably the best years of my life just living with tennis. It would be the biggest mistake of my life."

"This is the best time . . . enjoy every moment of your life, every day and not regret afterwards," he said. "It's really important to enjoy what you are doing, enjoy the way you are living because time is running really fast, every year faster and faster and your best times are when you are young."

"Everything is possible in this life, as you can see."

"Come on, I'm 24, man, a little bit too old to take care of."

"Let's say they stole my passport. I don't know who stole it. If I would know I would call him, I would call this person."

"I'm growing, I'm getting older, I'm getting really older. I'm going to be 24 years old."

"They took me to really good doctor -- he is also doctor for the movies. Yes, yes, because actors, they get injured also (laughter). I don't know. Somehow. Don't ask me how."

"Don't fight the nature. Don't fight it."






author's note:
This webpage is a continuous work in progress! Marat Safin continues to dazzle the tennis world, and will for many years, and all the while, he keeps on talking! :)
thanks for looking!
safinator@hotmail.com