Nice, Steve. Thanks.

I like your theory about lack of killer instinct; maybe because he is just so talented—it's not that uncommon with very talented people, they take everything for granted. Reminded of what a big Russian bear he is, dwarfing Djokovic, and that backhand, whoooosh.

Love to see Marat in the semis; though as a Fed fan, I'd be very afraid.

Safin is my idol. He has a vein for drama almost none of the ATP players have, except maybe Santoro (more of a joker) and of course, Roddick. He has that defiant look that can make almost any player poop his pants and call mommy, at least inside. But yeah, he won't beat Federer, not in a million years, not with a stick, not with anything except a handgun. Too many unforced errors, not too much heavy topspin, and he is not as defensively apt as Djoko. In a situation where both have to think of winners as their only weapon to take the big points, Roger gets more winner shots from forehand or backhand than anyone. In fact, I don't believe Nadal will beat him.

Yes, Steve, Safin showed an even keel today. Great shotmaking is expected from him, but today he didn't let the little things bother him. He stuck to hius guns (literally, his serves and backhand) and all ended well for him. I hope he can continue to play with this quiet confidence, as it has been seen too rarely from him. Bit when he does, well... we know what he is capable of. Now, a little work on staying in rallies when he gets pressed on the forehand wing, and look for a backhand to take the offense, and he'll be in good shape going forward.

Brilliant! The usual outstanding -and timely- delivery by Steve Tignor.

why not? If safin improves upon how he played today, ofcourse he can beat Federer. Federer has lost to much lesser players (mardy fish and Stepanek) this year. Losing to one of the greatest talents in tennis history when he's focused and fully on is not an upset.

why not? If safin improves upon how he played today, ofcourse he can beat Federer. Federer has lost to much lesser players (mardy fish and Stepanek) this year. Losing to one of the greatest talents in tennis history when he's focused and fully on is not an upset.

why not? If safin improves upon how he played today, ofcourse he can beat Federer. Federer has lost to much lesser players (mardy fish and Stepanek) this year. Losing to one of the greatest talents in tennis history when he's focused and fully on is not an upset.

Oh Steve thanks for the insight, and too bad you couldn't see the first set. Safin came out with focus, Djoko came out a bit off kilter and it was enough to give even sarcastic Safin a glimmer of hope. He has been working hard, I'll admit.

I'd like to make an insightful comment here, but ESPN2 was showing th Dechy/Ana match during the entire Safin/Djokovic match. I think they should have went back and fourth more, so we could have seen more of Safin's match.

great post..
not to be pessimistic or underestimating safin, but does anyone else believe he'll be crashing out in the next round? or not later than the 4th round where he faces wawrinka.. stanislas is 2-0 against with the two wins relatively easy...
i'm saying this because suddenly this quarter is empty with baghdatis and wawrinka the highest two seeds, both of which have something to prove... especially since marcos does well on this surface, and stanislas wanting to get out of the shadow of federer... while safin will be content with his win over djokovic for now..
whatever the results will be , we'll have some great matches in this quarter..

'But yeah, he won't beat Federer, not in a million years, not with a stick, not with anything except a handgun.'

He SHOULDN'T beat Federer, but to say it's impossible is really silly. He beat one of his AO '05 victims today- why can't Federer be the next one?

I really enjoy Safin's first match at "W2008". It was a very classic act by Marat. Technically ,the strings did their job while tactically Djokovic embarrased himself! Definetely Djokovic was not there! While Marat was present! Pityful indeed that ESPN2 did not show this encounter properly! This match will be talk for times to come! By the way,now you know why Djokovic did not wanted to play at Moscow's Davis Cup in 2008! RF is happy today! Enjoy the strawberries and cream!

I guess Safin's success at Wimby entirely depends on his focus and ability not to get frustrated. And he still has no chance against Fed. Fed is too good on this surface and he is too eager to restore order in his kingdom (tennis). For that matter I don't think he is delighted that Djoko lost - he loves beating his nemeses himself. BTW don't you think Fed intentionally lost his serve in the third set to see whether his old magic still works?

I give credit to Djokovic - he was losing, but still didn't retire citing his breathing problem...

Watched the match this morning via the Wimbledon feed as those silly people at ESPN wouldn't shut up or prioritize. Yes the Ivanovic/Dechy match was fun but to ignore the Captain at his finest in a long time is quite frankly, a crime. I am a true blue Fed fan but today belonged to Marat. What a presence he is on the court, coupled with that backhand and cannon serve..ooh what a thrill.

I am not sure what happened to your Nadal-Djokovic prediction

Very happy to see the Cap'n come off with a big win. I don't know what it means for his future play, but I'll take it.

I definitely agree about the killer instinct deficiency. It seems he almost feels bad for the other guy sometimes.

Hello, Steve. Beautiful reporting, as usual. You should go to ALL the tournaments! Doesn't Sampras say in his new Pete/book that the key to grass is holding serve and eking out a break or two? That probably still makes the serve the most important stroke on grass, but it clearly makes the return almost as important. You wouldn't be asking the question if Marat didn't have a huge serve and not just a heavy return.

I adore Marat- but yeah, I don't know who you're kidding when you say he's not insane.
Being great and being insane are not contradictory statements, lol. Precocity will do that- it's a wild crescendo with exhilirating heights, but no stable center point.

AAA - Yes, having a great serve definitely helps, but as Kamakshi mentions in her writeup, having just a serve isn't enough. You need more than that. Also, Agassi kind of proved that a deadly return can help you win Wimbledon.

Marat has a chance to make it past the QF at Wimbledon for the first time in history:

3rd -Seppi
4th - Wawrinka(most likely)
QF - Lopez or Baghdatis

However, if he does not capitalize on this chance, he will not have another golden chance to win his 3rd career Slam.

Very nice.

Yeah, Safin's balls do have that kind of ka-WHUMP sound, don't they? I love it, just love it.

I don't have it, but a man's reach must exceed his grasp, else why a heaven, right?

(Apologies to women, whose reach is to be viewed the same way.)

I hope his sister's success in RG has fueled his passion for success and tennis again.

Hi Steve, re: Safins "mental" problems, I found his coaches remarks during the French Open instructive. He said when he started with Marat he didn't concern himself with the whole mental thing and analysed instead his game and found some faults with his backhand in particular, that Marat was subconciously trying to protect his knee after injury. Since then they've corrected it and Safin needs matches and victories to get himself flowing again.
Made sense to me, and I wasn't at all surprised to see him step up strong again today.

Djokovic: we commented before about his antagonism towards the crowd, particularly at the US and Australian Open. The presumption was that he needs that energy to perform, but on the other hand it can be very sapping to have to battle the crowd as well as your opponent every match. Only John McEnroe seemed to be able to succeed consistently under those circumstances, but he was exceptional in lots of other ways as well. My opinion: Djokovic is paying for it now and the "mental tiredness" complaint is the result of that negativity. Djokovic will have to work on his oncourt persona if he wants to keep performing at the top for a long career full of Grand Slams.
For now, I imagine he'll to go hibernate for the next month or so before emerging fresh for the hardcourt season, which is his preferred stomping ground anyway.

Safin should in the top 5 all the time in ANY tennis period. (I remember as a new and young guy playing David Cup, he had Courrier 2 sets to love until McEnroe told Courrier "you can't hit with this guy" and Courrier reluctantly had to throw in junk balls to win the last 3 sets. It was back when Courrier pretty much was No. 1.) When Safin is playing well, except for Fed and a couple other players (like Santoro), whoever has to play him next will have tears rolling down their cheeks...starting the night before :)

Something tells me that Marat may have a few more days in court before he's done.

Roger has 1850 points to defend in North America hardcourt season. Novak has 1205; Rafa only 380 (!). Assuming no injuries, I see Novak losing further ground on Rafa, for two reasons: the mental ton of bricks won't get any lighter for Novak any time soon, and Rafa will do better than last year -- he is a better player, and if he competes well at Wimbledon he has a shot at number one if Roger slips during the summer.

Like many of the rest of us, I did not get to see much of this match on TV.

However, it is not that surprising. Safin's victory over Federer in the 2005 AO was one of the most amazing things I've seen on a tennis court.

Jack Kramer once did a mental exercise of not only picking the GOAT by 1-year, 5 year, 10 year, and 20 year increments, but also picked, I believe, Lew Hoad or perhaps Ellsworth Vines to play the best single match.

Having been too young to see those guys, I might have to take that Safin 2005 performance.

Unlike Federer, who has an amazing defensive game, Safin in that match was pretty much all offense, just creaming every ball at a line, and hitting them.

Federer did not, in my memory, have a bad day.

Notwithstanding Safin's well known "instability" I think he's always suffered from a lack of defense in the way he plays. Federer, Nadal, Djokovic, Davydenko, you can go down the list of top tenners, and they all have very good defensive games.

Hat's off to the Captain.

Thanks for a great read. I was struck by Safin's interview on ESPN in which he looked really young and fresh. I think of Safin as a world weary charachter who could be in his 50s at 28. However, in the post-match interview he showed an ingenue's enthusiasm for the game that was startling and he evinced the kind of honesty and self-appraisal that reminded me of Federer. It was refreshing and hopeful - it would be terrific if he can make a run here.

Hey Steve, still here in the Press Center...

That characteristic sound is the same sound that mindboggled me when I first saw him play in the qualifying of a challenger in the Azores islands back in 1997 -- it's the unmistakable sound produced by the mix Marat Power/Head Prestige. Yes, because he's still playing with the same frame more or less updated from the original Prestige in the 80ies, though with different cosmetics...

Still on raquets and an updated classic from the original Wilson Pro Staff from 1984: Roger Federer will never ever beat Rafa Nadal and win Roland Garros with his smallish 90in frame. He went from the original 85in headsize to 90in in 2003 right before winning Hamburg and becoming The Mighty Federer 5 weeks later at Wimbledon; time to get a bit bigger headsize to cope better with Nadal's vicious spins...

Having not watched Marat on TV for a long, long time, seeing portions of the rerun of his match on Star Sports last night brings good memories of the Safin we first knew. Not the memories of Safin and raging at the skies but the Safin who has been described as the almost perfect, even perfect tennis player. There is a difference in the way he strikes the ball, the effortess way he moves forward, for a big man, to take a shot; the big, booming unreturnable serves ...

Safin has been given a second chance at life on the tennis circuit. This huge win should be more than enough (listen up, Marat!) to give him the momentum to move deeper into the draw for a possible crack at Federer.

Djokovic mentally tired? He just could not solve the Safin puzzle to the end. At some moments during the 2nd set tiebreak and 3rd set, Djokovic had this glassy, confused look in his eyes, like a boxer who went down for the nth time not knowing what hit him.

Marat mentally unstable (not the way Djoko meant)? It is referring to Safin's other talent of blowing hot then blowing cold. And he was waiting, and waiting, for Safin to commence making the string of errors. Unfortunately that scene never came.

Good post, Steve.

That was a hell of a match, I watched in disbelief has Safin demolished Djocker. It's good to have you back Marat.

I am happy to see Djokovic eat crow following his comments last week.

When he said that Marat was mentally unstable, I think what we was really saying was that he was counting on that instability. When the trouble began, he realized he didn't have a plan B.

As instable as Marat can be, he is so refreshing self-aware. This is not a trait I attribute to Djokovic. Congrats, Marat!

Let Djoko eat humble pie this time. He always makes fun of other players but today I wonder how he feels now that the joke is on him. Go Marat!

It finally dawned on me: Marat is the male Mary Pierce. Not just the roller-coaster mental toughness, but the high-risk flat game.

When Marat is on target, painting the lines, I think Fed would need his best to beat Marat (even today).

And Safin's just so damn pretty! Doesn't that count for something?

I couldn't be more pleased :) He is the only one that really gets under my skin... Congrats go to Safin, Joker may have a poor attitude but man can he play

Brandon
http://www.thefreshcan.com
Daily Tennis Deal with a Splash of Personality

Tina: I know you're joking, but Ivanovic, when asked by a reporter if she knows that she's the prettiest in the tour, aptly says "that doesn't help much."

Steve, you are a wonderful writer when you enjoy the subject you write about. Something similar with Safin? Seemed to me like he enjoyed himself out there today. A chance to prove to the new guard that the old guard is still around?

Steve,

I really wish you could have been man enough to admit that your pick of Djokovic to make the Semis was completely off. But you and your fellow sportswriters are all cut from the same cloth - you never want to admit your mistakes even when you are dead wrong.

Re: Posted by Nic 06/25/2008 @ 5:06 PM
But Djokovic gave a fabulous interview after this match. Maybe his "attitude" is changing for the better at lightning speed?

Happy for Marat. I'm inspired by his great day at the office.

I wonder if Cap'n gets tired or bored when playing lesser players? It must be hard to focus on playing someone ranked 97 when you know you can win easy but get tired of seeing and toying with that guy across the net who doesn't understand he should accept his fate. It must be hard to work your way into a tournament knowing your game deserves Center Court and not in a conceited way.

Go Marat!

Maybe the guy has one more big year left in him. With Marat, It's never been about ability or talent. Hopefully he can just go out and play without all his neuroses and the weight of the world confounding his attitude and approach. I hope he can go out in style, not unlike Sampras. That would really be great.

i think marat will be federer in the semi but olny to lose to gasquet. i really think gasquet has chance, i hope he beats nadal

M-Life,
Would it be amazing if Marat would win Wimby after disliking it for years?

i know gasquet has failed to leave up to his expectation, but dont forget last year against roddick. i think he can be beat rafa

Welcome back MARAT.....you have always been my favorite male player..I've followed your career as a fan through all the UPS & DOWWNS.....I'm glad to see you beat the cocky youngster.....LOVED the hug at the end of the Match...Saw Djokovic in new fresh light..Keep up the great run...Dinara too........

We're getting so ahead of ourselves thinking Safin will win the whole thing. He had a patch of brilliance against Djokovic but remember that the most consistent part of Safin's game is how inconsistent it is. He is as likely to destroy Djokovic as he is to loose to Ruben Ramirez-Hidalgo.

Novak played very badly in yesterday's loss to Safin. Even Safin 3-4 years ago was no better than Novak normally is now. Novak had more than 5000 total ranking points going into this tourney (more than Marat ever had) and had already been to 5 straight Grand Slam semifinals (something Marat never did), 2 straight finals and one win, consistency that Marat never did in his career, and Novak is only 21 now.

Also, in the AO semifinal in 2005 versus Marat, already #1 Roger back then for a full year, played a bad match with an uncharacterististically high 65 or so UNforced errors and even higher 10 double faults and an unusually low 1st serve percentage, and he still only lost 9-7 or so in the decisive 5th and final set versus Marat, who played his best.
Remember that Roger played badly that day and match and still won more total games than Marat, he won more total points than Marat and he still lost a marathon 5th and final set.

For the 2nd straight match versus an unseeded player this Wimbledon, Rafael struggled to win unimpressively. In just 2 matches versus 2 unseeded players, Rafa already lost a set, won both of his 2 tiebreak sets and lost 32 total games.
If he doesn't play better starting next match versus a dangerous #27 Kiefer, he could lose, and if he does play well, on grass, he could still struggle every match before the potential semi with Roddick and final with Federer.

earl.. you obviously dont understand tennis..

Posted by linking 06/26/2008 @ 12:46 PM

earl.. you obviously dont understand tennis..

Wow, what analysis.

linking,
What don't I understand?
You tell me what I said that indicates I don't understand tennis.

In reality, you, linking, are the one who factually doesn't understand tennis by saying with 0 evidence on your part, that I don't understand tennis. You said that probably because everything I said you don't want to hear. You don't want to hear or read anything I said (even though it's all FACTUAL) because you're probably a biased Rafa and Marat fan who doesn't accept anything true or negative about them. That's your problem, not mine.

safin is very fresh person right now. Lets hope he stays this way. I wanna see more safin on TV. Its been 4 years since i remember seeing him in news. My young friends dont even know who safin is But they know who Navak is. Isnt this a shame??? Yesterday when novak lost, people at my work who follow tennis asked me who did Novak lost from? I said "SAFIN"..they were like WHO??? i said the most gifted tennis player for last 10 years. They say "never heard of him"

safin plz come back. You are too hot to be ignored by these young people. I am sick and tired of seeing Novak, nadal fedex. Not there is anything wrong with them. I just miss my Marat!!

safin is by far, my favorite player. i feel when he is ON, he can beat anyone and i do mean RF also. i'm very happy to see him playing so well. so happy he beat Djoker so soundly. not very happy with ESPN coverage of wimbledon. too much talking heads and not enough tennis.

Hello Mr Earl,
It seemed like you are the only one who thinks Federer played a bad match that day. If you ever had a chance to ask Federer himself I do not think you would get the answer you want to hear. Fed did not play his best obviously but by no means it was a bad match. His errors were high but could it be because he was being pressured by a determined Safin? Or because the match lasted .
I am sure lot of players who lost in their matches made more unforced errors than the opponent then could they also say because they lost because they had a bad day? Pretty often the losers seem to have a bad day. Mostly they made errors because they were dominated mentally by the guy across the net.
You wanna see Fed lost when he had a bad day? Look at FO final this year. Compare to that performance I would say his loss in AO 05 was way better.