The Resurrection of Marat Safin
Marat Safin dropped so low in the rankings that he had to go through qualifying to get into the Hamburg Masters event. Somehow, though, he managed to resurrect himself long enough to take out Novak Djokovic at Wimbledon.
Omigod, Marat Safin beat Novak Djokovic in the second round at Wimbledon today! What is going on? Is Marat a bit chuffed that his baby sister Dinara Safina just played the grand slam of her life at the French Open? Was he afraid that his sister might overtake his slam total of two? Does he want to send a reminder to the top three that he was once Roger Federer’s main competitor?
Maybe he read that Nole signed up with CAA (Creative Arts Agency) - the Los Angeles based uber-talent agency that currently represents David Beckham, George Clooney, and Marilyn Manson, among many others - and it pissed him off because he never signed with CAA and he has the same manager as Nole.
Maybe, but the wind, a bit of idolatry, the pressure, and some mental fatigue also helped.
The wind made it hard to find a rhythm and Nole never did find his rhythm. He was broken at love to go down 3-4 in the first set and by this time Nole had already hit four double faults and traded breaks with Marat. It wasn’t just Nole screwing up, though; he went for big second serves because Marat was eating up his second serve. On the other hand, Nole hit ten double faults in the match so clearly he wasn’t feeling so good. Marat held on to the break to win the first set 6-4.
Jeez, Marat has the prettiest two-hander in the game and I have missed that shot so much since he’s devolved into the 75th ranked player on tour. It’s the most efficient stroke in tennis. He simply takes the racket back and follows through with a short, sweet stroke. That shot kept him even in the second set as neither player was broken
In the tiebreaker, Nole looked out of sorts. He sent a forehand long and followed that up with an easy backhand into the net to go down 1-4 but, again, he had help. Safin put a very good wide serve back into play. By now Nole should have been expecting that but he wasn’t and he got some bad luck too. He hit a shot that landed on the baseline but was called out and, on the replay, Marat his a pretty drop volley.
Marat Safin was now up two sets to none over Novak Djokovic and we were starting to look for explanations. Nole had a mix of contradictory emotions going through his head. He had the pressure of keeping up with Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal. He’d played, and lost, to Nadal in his last three tournaments and they were critical matches because he could have passed Nadal in the rankings had he won.
The pressure led to mental fatigue, which he admitted after the match, and he was also playing a man he’d idolized:
I looked at him as one of the greatest players, one of the idols. I admired the way he plays. …I have a lot of respect for him. Maybe that played a roll today in the match.
He not only idolized Marat but he has yet to win a set off him. Nole won only three games in their only previous match at the 2005 Australian Open. He was 17 at the time and it was his first slam so that match shouldn’t count, but I’m looking for anything to explain Nole’s lack of fight. He won two games in the third set and ended the match with a double fault as Marat won the match, 6-4, 7-6(3), 6-2.
There’s the opposite side of pressure too. Nole knew that Marat had seldom put consecutive wins together this year and he was thrown off when a different Marat turned up on court. And it was a Marat who had no pressure at all because no one expected anything of him. He hadn’t even looked at his draw beyond Nole. Why should he? He acted like he took a tranquilizer before the match. Except for a few swings at the ball after an error, there was no mental instability to be found. After the match, same thing. Not even an impish grin. All you saw was a tennis player under control.
If that wasn’t shocking enough, there were also his motor skills. He hasn’t played well since returning to the tour from a knee injury in 2006. Before the injury he was ranked in the top five but he hasn’t gone above number 22 since. He just doesn’t have the explosiveness he used to have and he’s never played well on grass.
We can explain away the grass by remembering that grass ain’t what it used to be. It’s much slower now and Marat gave thanks for that after the match. But how do we explain his court coverage and dead on return of serve?
Throw in a bad day for Nole and a resurrection for Marat and that will have to do.
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on Wednesday, June 25th, 2008 at 9:40 pm and is filed under Novak Djokovic, Marat Safin, Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer, Wimbledon, ATP Players, ATP Tournaments.
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8 Responses to “The Resurrection of Marat Safin”
June 25th, 2008 at 10:32 pm
Well described, Nina, I listened tonight to a clip from Novak’s presser, and I thought he analyzed his situation rather well, he just didn’t get into his rhythm, and Marat and the conditions certainly went into that.
Does this explain the lack of real fight, as you suggest he showed? Is it that he saw, being out of rhythm and Marat being in his, did he just mentally fold up his tent and go away? Should he have? We have come up against this situation before with Djokovic. He is quite strong mentally, up until he discovers he has a problem, and then he does not resist it. I don’t know how a player gets over this. Certainly the guy knows he is going to have matches, a la Ana today as a prime example, where his opponent plays pretty darn good and he’s having an off day. How do you play thru and win when you are having an off day? Novak needs to learn how to apply himself thru these moments. This is where Nadal has spoiled us, like Federer has too in his way. We expect to see Nadal fight for every point like his life and that of his mother depended upon it. We feel Novak is not reaching for that standard.
Otherwise, great for Marat! Quite agree about the two hander, if I have to look at one of those wretched strokes then let me look at Safin, his is the most beautiful. Because it looks so powerful and yet I am astonished at how easily he achieves it, how smoothly his body weight just turns into the shot. The ball just flies.
I hope he goes far. But probably not! :0)
God, Gonzo had to endure another highly frustrating loss, I’d be banging every racquet I owned after losing those two tiebreaks.
June 25th, 2008 at 10:36 pm
A footnote to that Safin two hander, it is a prime example of what they taught us in my Phys Ed classes, about how that Medial Hip Rotation goes into so many movements in so many sports, including tennis. That’s what it is called.
June 26th, 2008 at 10:28 am
Nole has fought through a number of tough five setters and four setters in big tournaments so I think it’s a blip with one exception: he hasn’t learned to pace himself as well as Federer has even though he has the same pressures and neither Nole, or anyone else in the word for that matter, has Nadal’s mental and physical endurance so he should adjust to that by simplifying his schedule.
Everything on Marat rotates but he does is so efficiently. Nole looks like he’s all arms and legs at time, Nadal scrunches up his face and use max exertion, and Federer uses the one-hander which is necessarily longer though he doesn’t have to use the silly jump backhand. Can’t players just lift their racket instead of jumping in the air? To me that’s strange. Maybe Federer should use a jump one-hander on clay against Nadal. I’d like to see that.
June 26th, 2008 at 1:00 pm
I agree that Nole should adjust his schedule if he needs to pace himself; but as of this year, what could’ve / should’ve he dropped besides those he already cut? He played AO, Dubai, Marsielles (think this one could go maybe? though he lost in 1st round anyhow), IW & Miami, all the clay Masters (MC, Rome & Hamburg) dropping Estoril. So really, he could only drop one tournament - maybe also Dubai, but it’s hard court and he got to the semis.
I think he needs to try and keep a low profile, fly under the radar a bit, to ease the pressure. Just buckle down, work on your game, and the results will come. He could do less media! BUT if he just signed on with CAA, is that gonna happen? Nole puts himself out there, and people like that; he’s soaking it up. But it could hurt him too. This is where he could adjust the sheduling, imo.
Thanks for the post Nina - it was a clear and logical summary of how things unfolder.
And in relation to your post on Murray? I am liking the way he looks better each day - I mean his game…
June 26th, 2008 at 3:28 pm
Ah, happy are the Safinettes! Well, he beat my Joko, so he’d just better put on those tennis playing shoes and beat the rest of the field! lol Let’s not flake out and go to Mars or somewhere again for at least another week.
June 26th, 2008 at 4:52 pm
Debra - I am with you; I hope Safin can follow it up. We know Djoko probably could’ve gone deep had he got through that match, but Safin, these days, is much less consistent. We’ll see. Maybe it’ll be Tipsy vs. Murray in the final!
June 26th, 2008 at 4:53 pm
Oh - I guess that wouldn’t work - both on same half. Well Safin vs. Murray? Stranger things have happened.
June 26th, 2008 at 8:00 pm
How about a Safin-Safina final? :0) She is still alive in the draw too, and she keeps saying she doesn’t like grass but she keeps winning.
Mythical telegram: Roger to Marat: “Not that I needed the help, but thanks.”
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