Congrats again to Helen. Another excellent post in­ keeping with the ususal high quality. Perhaps the most­ important point now is whether he (Marat) feels he can­ do it and if he's prepared to bide (like Agassi­ waiting till 1999 for his RG victory) his time and not­ put the weight of the world on his shoulders.­ Yusuf's comment is short and very relevant. Marat­ has come some way in this respect since the real clay­ court season. However, he still needs to keep his­ temper in check IMO. At 4-4 in the 3rd set (still very­ much alive if you consider what Fed did in the final­ -comebacks are common in sport) of the Wimbledon semi,­ he lost the head, broke his racket, received a warning­ and had to serve to save the match with a new racket­ (they're practically identical I know) and all that­ baggage hanging over him. He played a poor service game­ and that was that. In a way he reminds me of John­ McEnroe in this respect. The perfectionism, the desire­ for absolute excellence, the burning thirst for victory­ eats into him and ultimately consumes him, resulting in­ poorer performances. McEnroe took a career break in­ 1985, probably because he couldn't cope with the­ intensity of it all and was never the same player­ again. Hopefully, Marat is in time to find the­ solution. Wimbledon was a pretty good start. Lets hope­ it's not a swansong. Finally, congrats to Starace­ (great name if you pronounce it in English). He won a­ tough match today and, from what I've seen, can­ perform well at the highest level on that surface.­ CHEERS

the big servn fella sure s back, but need to retoach­ his emotions, untill he stops breakn rackets,

Actually, I think I have to correct my own enlightened­ "no way but down" proclamation. Just because­ a player stumbles, and shows his/her human side, and­ doesn't win every time she/he goes on court, it­ doesn't mean he/she is no longer able to provide us­ with some great tennis. Agassi is your best example in­ this sense. He reached his zenith, and inevitably,­ after a certain time, and age, stopped being­ unbeatable. And even on his way to retirement from­ professional tennis he played some of his best tennis!­ The mantra of a great player is that you don't go­ down without a fight. A spike in the graph means­ you're not flatlining ;-)
To change the subject,­ does anybody know if Hewitt's playing­ anywhere?
Take care.

Damn. Didn't get to see any of it. Have to take­ account of the fact that this was on clay and­ Marat's was playing on grass up to Friday last.­ Might have been better off to skip this and concentrate­ on preparing the hardcourt tournaments. Now that­ he's out (blessing in disguise?) he can do that.­ Agree that it's difficult to expect Marat to attain­ the level and ranking of that time (2001 -2005). He may­ well never win another grand slam (winning slams is­ extremely difficult) but he can still achieve quite a­ lot (the semis of Wimbledon is not within the reach of­ the vast majority of pros.) and improve his ranking. He­ hinted at his own reasons for continuing in the­ "greatest rivalry ever" article posted on­ this site after his defeat at Wimbledon. He didn't­ mention money. Agree completely with Helen wrt­ disrespectful comments, though I'm getting used to­ seeing them on these sites. It seems that many tennis­ fans (presuming that those who post here are tennis­ fans) have a strong dislike for the professionals who­ play it and enjoy expressing their antipathy in the­ most aggressive manner. Unfortunate - maybe its just a­ way of letting off steam or dealing with a chip on the­ shoulder - A kind of psychotherapy for the person­ posting the aggressive comment. Who knows. In any case,­ it's always interesting to have Marat in the draw,­ as on a given day he has the game to trouble the best­ (we saw what happened at Wimbledon) even if one­ couldn't predict with any degree of certainty how­ his play and ranking will develop in the future. The­ upcoming hardcourt season will perhaps give us the best­ clue in that respect. CHEERS

Well, that was short-lived. Can't say I'm­ surprised, though. he's the same old Safin. what­ made the match with starace disappointing for us, fans,­ were those unbelievably beautiful shots Safin did­ manage to send over the net. Breathtaking! I started­ applauding alone in the house, for crying out loud!­ but, like one of our commentators said, he wins all­ the beautiful shots and loses the match.
Whatever it­ was that fuelled him around the time he won that US­ Open, I think it's gone by now. He can't summon­ it for the whole tournament anymore. One or two matches­ and then it's nerves... More or less how he played­ today: a brilliant longline or a flicking volley,­ followed by a blunder!
You could see him straining to­ get his focus back, but it was only a spike in the­ graph.
And, people, why do you need to diss so much?­ Not only in Safin's case, but also on other­ comments about Rafa or Roger. The cruel reality in any­ sports is that after a certain point there's no way­ but down. It's happening, it pains me to admit it,­ in Marat's case (still keeping my fingers crossed a­ miracle will take place), it will happen to Federer,­ Rafa, Hewitt, etc. It's easy to sit in an armchair­ and carp. Not so easy to run more than 10 km around­ while racking your brains for ways to outsmart the­ player over the net.
Take care!

Hey Mac81cm, you dunno what ya talking about ! Being a­ Safin fan doesn't mean being anti-tennis !!! Grow­ up !
Safin is a great player, end of story. He has his­ issues and demons and if he can overcome them he can­ still be a great player. Only Fed-express could knock­ him out of wimbledon (no Nadal-complex present­ there...) . He would have caused trouble to the great­ pretender Rafa too.

thunder is unlikely to be stroke a second time! marat­ can't match the standard he was around in­ 2000-02,i remember he was the only genuin contester for­ the Gustavo Kuerten...
now he's rank 40,and­ anti-tenis fans still thinking he can perfrom some sort­ of magic to establish himself!!! marat, you were a­ winner,ur time is out.play for ur money and forget abt­ gram slams/trophies for these are out of phase for u!!!

Gonna watch at least some of the second round match.­ Starace has played one or two good matches on clay this­ year, including a 6-4 7-6 loss to Rafa in Hamburg.­ Interesting test for Marat. Can't help thinking­ that the calendar is a bit crazy though, with the­ palyers going back to clay after the grass season for­ only one week and then switching to hard. CHEERS

The big fella is back!! Would love to see him win a few­ slams more!!

You did a great tennis during Wimbledon, but there is­ always one winner. But "YOU ARE ALWAYS A WINNER­ WHEN YOU DO YOUR VERY BEST". And we are happy to­ see back in the court strong and confident, more­ power.

from tennis lover egypt

i expected u to beat roger in wimbledon but­ ...........!!!!

Yes, I was sure that there is still power and belief­ in Safin to get back :)
I am very happy about­ him!!!!
Go Safin!

yeah, he's back. hope he stays longer this time.

Well done and good luck Marat!

Marat's back! ;)