Tennisers of the World, Unite! The topspin blog

Safin has said he's going at the end of this year. I was thinking about him today, as I read of his last match at Roland Garros. Apparently, it was a spectacular fight between the French wildcard and Safin, with the Russian ending on the losing side 7-6 7-6 4-6 3-6 10-8. 10-8 in the fifth!

Two of the most incredibly played matches I've ever seen were from Marat:
First, the US Open finals against Sampras. Sampras had just won Wimbledon and Marat's crushing of him really was a sudden generational turning point. Sampras didn't win another tournament for 2 years, in his retirement miracle at the USO. That championship for Marat was not only historic, I don't know that I've ever seen a player so in command of his game as Safin on that day.

Then, the Australian Open semis against Fed, one of the most beautiful matches I've ever seen.
I remember one of them started coming to the net and playing drop shots, and then the other did, and they went on for about 2 or 3 games, almost a match-within-a-match, competing on touch.

Its nothing new to say Marat had the goods, but man, we are talking about beating 2 GOAT candidates who each seemed to be at the top of their game. When Fed lost to Marat in Australia, he had won 3 of the last 4 slams. After he lost to Safin, Fed won 6 of the next 8 slams. So, you could say that Fed was feeling it. This was two great athletes, giving everything they had, playing for much more than the championship. Playing for a championship, players can choke, or get tentative. But playing to see who really will come out on top playing without fear, that's one where, to play safe would mean losing, no matter the score.

Here's some clips from that:

Here are some from the Sampras USO final:

The game will definitely miss him, but to be honest, we've missed THAT Marat for a long time.