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U.S. OPENAugust 29, 2007Marat SafinNEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK THE MODERATOR: Questions. Q. Enough going on in that match for you to lose your cool, but you didn't. Are you pleased with the way you kept your poise today? MARAT SAFIN: Yeah, pretty much. I was a little bit nervous coming into the match 'cause the guy was playing pretty well the last two months. He did a great result. Here in the States he made the final in Indianapolis, beating Roddick in semifinal, and quarterfinals in Montréal. So he was pretty solid and confident coming here. I never play against him. He's serving well, returning well, playing great from the baseline, full of confidence. Especially it's a first round, so he has nothing to lose. Anything can happen. It was pretty good. Q. Did you ever have anything like that happen to you on match point, the sound system going off? MARAT SAFIN: No. Hopefully it will never happen again (smiling). Q. A lot of times in the last couple years at Grand Slams you've had tough first- and second-round matches, paid the price later in the tournament. Was it important to get it over and done with in three sets today? MARAT SAFIN: Well, yeah. I mean, I was counting it was going to be a tough match, four sets. Didn't know want to go five sets, but it was definitely pretty close to get there. But, like I said, it's tough opponent and I'm pleased that I am going through the first match in three sets. Hopefully the next match, pretty tough also, two pretty good players. Hopefully I can continue this way and keep it short. Q. How important is it to know you can keep your cool? Maybe proved something to yourself mentally. MARAT SAFIN: Well, my station is not really the most pleasant right now because I'm trying to defend a lot of points. I didn't really do anything special here in the States. Some bad results, bad losses. Kind of I am trying the new coach. The only thing I have in mind is to fight and hope for the best days. Since I'm practicing already for one week and a half since I finished Cincinnati, been improving a lot. So just try to keep focus, try not to get upset and just work your way, because otherwise, it's tough for me to play and play well, especially when the confidence is not there. So you need to help yourself a little bit more. So that's why I try to be a little bit more calm. But unfortunately sometimes the balls doesn't go my way. Serving at 6-4 in the tiebreak. In the third set, he was a break up on both sets. So it's kind of tough, but you have to deal with it. Q. Your debut was 10 years ago. You won it a couple years later. You solved the Open. Why do you think you haven't been able to solve it since then? MARAT SAFIN: Well, good question. I did the semifinal the year after. I lost to Sampras; another bad loss. But, then, I don't know, I was injured a couple of times. I didn't play. And then last year was a good year for me, but I lost 7-6 in the fifth. But of course, losing match (indiscernible) final. For some reason I was not ready for it or I was not playing really well, I was just struggling or something. Something was happening to me. Q. Do you still look back on the 2000 final as the best match of your career? MARAT SAFIN: Yeah, but who cares? It's so far in the past. It's already history. It's a long time ago. It's time to move on (smiling). I hate the people when they still live in the past and saying how great they were in, I don't know, in the past century. Who cares? I'm not this type of person. I try to move on. I try to improve and forget it. Whatever happened, happened. It was good memories, great. But you don't focus on that because there's so much going on, so many things coming to you. Q. Do you ever think back about that tray of vodka that was rolled into the press conference after you won? Do you remember that? MARAT SAFIN: No. I was underage (smiling). Q. Your colleagues rolled in a tray. MARAT SAFIN: They were drinking. I was just looking. Q. You weren't drinking? MARAT SAFIN: No. Under 21. I couldn't (smiling). Q. If you don't want to look back on it, do you look forward, see yourself doing that again? Do you see yourself winning this tournament? MARAT SAFIN: We prepare for the worst and hope for the best. It's kind of this way I'm looking forward. Q. What is "preparing for the worst"? MARAT SAFIN: Because the worst is I will never win. Hoping for the best that there is a chance to win. So I guess whenever I have the opportunity I will take it, but unfortunately they're not coming. I'm not getting any further than the third round. For me to make quarterfinal, it's a huge, huge deal lately. So kind of not expecting anything from this tournament and nothing from this year. But, if I -- well, at least I started to play better. I think Hernan is doing a great job. He explain to me what happened. Everything what happened I think is due to my knee injury I had to deal with for two years. But basically I hope that I will have a chance to win another Grand Slam. It's tougher and tougher, but why not? There is a chance. If Federer will lose to somebody, somebody will withdraw, Nadal will have something happen to him, the door is open (smiling). Q. You mentioned people who sort of live in the past. Do you think that happens a lot in tennis? MARAT SAFIN: Well, why you asking me this question? Because I said something before? Q. Yes. MARAT SAFIN: No, no, I didn't really find. Thank God I didn't meet these kind of people, and I hope there is none of them in tennis because otherwise it would be pretty disappointing to explain the people of our age how beautiful was tennis like 30 years ago, for example. Every part of life, it's a new era. We are living in 2007. Who cares about -- with all due respect, we respect the explayers that have been great for tennis. But that's it. They're good. Great history. They won. Good for them. But to explain that it was better, was more interesting, it's nonsense. I guess people are moving on. They really appreciate that and respect that, I hope. I never met such a person, and I hope I will never meet. Q. Will it matter to you 30 years from now when somebody says, Marat Safin won the US Open and somebody says, I don't care? MARAT SAFIN: Who cares? I will not care. I had been doing something else in my life and hopefully I will be happy. Also Henman is retiring. He has been great for tennis. Even though the English press was not very nice to him, I think he did very well for the English people and English tennis, because there is none of the players. Investing so many millions and they have only Henman and Murray. That's it. So I think he did pretty decent career. But, still, who will care about him in three years? Q. His children. MARAT SAFIN: Exactly. That's the only people that care: Family. Q. What is your motivation level right now to be the best player you can be? MARAT SAFIN: At maximum, because otherwise I won't be here. It's not like I'm struggling with the money. It's not like I need it. I'm here just because I want to play and I'm enjoying playing. I'm enjoying fighting. I'm enjoying what I'm doing. Q. Are you motivated to play? MARAT SAFIN: Because I like to travel, you think (smiling)? Even though I'm travelling first class and business. But, still, to be on the court, to run around, to have this feeling well after you win a match, is think is the most beautiful feeling in the world you're going to get. Afterwards, when someone is retiring, I think you are going to miss this feeling. So I think it kind of attracts you. It's what is moving you. And you still want to win matches and matches, so I think the motivation is there. Q. Short of an injury to Nadal or Federer, how do you break into that rivalry? How does another player crack in? MARAT SAFIN: Djokovic is there. Well, you have to be consistent. You have to have the opportunities. You have to be ready. You have to be motivated. You have to be hungry. You have to be really well-guided with the coach and the people around, and then take your opportunities. It's pretty simple, but at the same time it's pretty tough because it's tough to be consistent during the year. It's only two people that can manage to do that: Nadal and Federer. To be in the same train with them you have to be really focused and you have to sacrifice a lot of things and you have to be doing semifinals and finals every week. And, of course, you have to choose the right calendar to play. That's the work of the coach. I think the coach, he plays a big part in it to guide the player, especially when he's young. It's a tough job. Q. Many people have always felt that you could possibly have achieved more. Is that sacrifice too much for some people? MARAT SAFIN: Well, Agassi could have won 20 Grand Slams, for example. Sampras should have won a little bit more. There's always going to be -- Rios, for example. He should have won 10 Grand Slams, but it didn't happen. If I will tell you the situation I was in when I was 17 and I had no money, I wouldn't be here sitting. So I think I did pretty well from where I'm coming from. I'm not disappointed with my career. Of course, would be greater if I would win the two finals that I lost in the Australian Open. And, of course, it would be great to win at Roland Garros. But the circumstances that was a desperate of time, I think I did pretty well. So I don't have any regrets. Q. What advice did you give Gumy when he decided to be your coach? MARAT SAFIN: Well, he called me, because I had nobody to travel with, to come here, because Alexander, he couldn't come. I was pretty disappointed because my tennis wasn't at my peak. So give it a shot. Why not? I think he understands. He understood actually, and he explained to me what happened because I was kind of lost and I couldn't really understand why it was happening to me. I felt like tennis has improved so much that the players are much faster, but it's not. It's just because some things I would have to change on the court, small things, just the movement because of my knee injury that I was suffering and was getting worse and worse and worse because I was trying to protect my leg. Anyway, it's details. But he understood and he explained. So I think it's on the right direction and hopefully we'll continue this way. Q. What has been the biggest enemy in your career: Your mind or your body? MARAT SAFIN: Well, I think my body. The two injuries, because I was playing great tennis coming into Australian Open 2003 when I had problems with my wrist and 2005 when I went in Australian Open and got injured. Was getting worse, worse and worse, and I didn't know why it was happening to me till I couldn't play anymore. At that time I was playing great tennis . It kind of broke the rhythm of my career. I could have achieved more, but I didn't. Q. What was your reaction to the investigation of Davydenko? Have you spoken with him? MARAT SAFIN: I don't care about what the people. It's their business. I don't want to be involved with that. I want to be outside of that. I don't want to hear the stories. I don't want to know anything. I'm not really interested. If Davydenko, he has to answer some questions into his life, the life of ATP, I'm going to stay out of it. Q. This is the only major with a breaker in the fifth set. Do you think that should change? MARAT SAFIN: Of course, it should change. Of course. They should've changed last year. If I win a couple of them I would be not 25, I would be 15. This was a huge change. But unfortunately I lost all of them. Hopefully it will not happen again. Half of it is a lottery. Of course, when you don't have a confidence it's tough to win then because it's just a matter of one, two points, and the nerves of course are jumping a little bit more than a usual set. Q. You won a challenge today. Do you still disbelieve the camera thing? MARAT SAFIN: Hawk-Eye? Q. Yes. MARAT SAFIN: What happened with it? Q. You have never really agreed it was accurate before. MARAT SAFIN: No, well, it's much better than not to have it for sure because the serves are going pretty fast. It's pretty difficult for the chair umpire to make a good decision. You're taking such responsibility. Imagine it happens 6-All in a tiebreak in the fifth set, you want to kill the guy. If he makes a mistake and you know he is making mistake, but at least you have a chance to see it and a chance to prove it, be more relieved. Q. So when you see it now, you're believing it more than you used to? MARAT SAFIN: Yeah, much more. Of course, I think they've been improving. It's getting better and better, more accurate. End of FastScripts |
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