SAFIN SUMMER SEASON UNDERWAY

Is Marat in position to defend his U.S. Open crown?

By Sandra Harwitt
tennisreporters.net

Susan Mullane Camerawork USA, Inc.

The biggest challenge facing Marat Safin these days is trying to duplicate his results from the 2000 summer season, but the 21-year-old Russian isn’t expecting any miracles.

Last summer, Safin was a powerful presence on the American hard court tour, winning his first Tennis Masters Series title at Toronto and reaching the final of Indianapolis. Then he followed those admirable showings by making the U.S. Open a personal playground, winning his first Grand Slam trophy with a devastating three-set upset over Pete Sampras in the final.

Of his glorious U.S. Open, Safin said, “I think that moment is the best moment of my life. I’m thinking right after the match point, I think it’s the best memory that I have. It’s like you feel so good and the moment is just perfect.”

This summer season, however, Safin arrives a little uncertain as to what to expect and barely back in mint condition after a back injury plagued him most of the year. It was during the Dubai final in February, playing against Juan Carlos Ferrero, that Safin had to pack it in with the injury and it wasn’t until he reached the quarterfinal of Wimbledon, where he lost to eventual champion Goran Ivanisevic, that he started to look like his old self on-court.
But even the credible showing at Wimbledon is not providing Safin with a great deal of self-belief.

“I’m much better than before,” Safin said on a cell phone from Spain last week. “I got injured, unfortunately, at the beginning of the year, just right before Indian Wells and Miami. I had a difficult time. You never know when you can come back and when you can start to play well. And also when you’re coming from an injury, you don’t have much confidence, and it’s very tough to play again.”

TAKES DOWN RODDICK
If Safin is feeling confused about where he stands as he gets closer to the task of trying to defend his U.S. Open title, he had a positive start to the season in Los Angeles on Tuesday. Drawing one of the most difficult first rounds against newest tennis sensation Andy Roddick, Safin emerged a slick 6-3, 6-4 winner. Even if Safin doesn’t continue on in LA, there is no doubt that the victory over Roddick should help boost Safin’s confidence level.

While the Russian is hoping to have a good run at the U.S. Open, claiming he’d be pleased with a semifinal result, he knows that having lost the first half of the year to injury fails to leave him in a strong position to take a second consecutive crown at Flushing Meadows.

“The expectation is people will recognize me,” Safin said of the upcoming Open. “It will be great – a new experience. I think it’s something new and nice, but also it’s very important you have control.”

A power machine with a supersonic serve, Safin is astutely aware that when his game is on, he’s a tough player to crack. As he says, “it’s difficult to play against me if I’m playing well and I’m perfect” and one player who would confirm that is Sampras, who the Russian toyed with in the Open final last September. Nevertheless, at this point and time, Safin seems to be hoping for the best, but not expecting any particular results to come his way.

“It’s very difficult to start again after an injury,” Safin said, honestly. “I was out for two months or more, and it’s difficult to start again because everybody is playing well, everybody is full of confidence. I think I’m a little too far from my tennis. I think it’s a little too late for this year, so I hope everything will be okay for next year.”