FLUSHING MEADOWS, N.Y. — The world of Grand Slam tennis lost its Tolstoy on Tuesday. It’s Dostoyevsky. It’s Gogol. With a 1-6, 6-4, 6-3, 6-4 win, Austrian Jurgen Melzer put an end to free spirit/contrarian Marat Safin’s career at the majors, a 12-year run that has seen the Russian at times embody tennis perfection, and at other times look disengaged and uninspired. And just like that, one of the game’s last great characters is gone.
Following his lackluster performance against Melzer, in which the two-time Slam champ managed to convert only two of six break-point opportunities, the always quotable Safin told reporters that he’ll play five more post-U.S. Open events, then put his racket down for good.
“It’s the end,” said the 29-year-old who many thought would have racked up more than a pair of Slam titles. “It’s the last one. Could have been a better ending, but still okay. I’m looking forward to afterwards my career, so I have no regrets. And I don’t care about losses anymore…I have been doing for a long time, and I’ve been kind of struggling for some time. So for me, it’s just new stage in my life.”
In Marat’s own words, it’s “bye-bye, bye-bye and bye-bye again.”
Safin also weighed in on:
REGRETS…
“Nothing. Absolutely nothing.”
THE BEST SPAGHETTI ON THE TOUR…
“Definitely not here [he once famously dissed the pasta in the U.S. Open Players’ Lounge]…All the respect to Italians, I’d go with Italy. They have done very good thing.”
WHETHER OR NOT HE BECAME BORED WITH THE GAME…
“Boring is not the right word. I think it’s just enough. I achieved what I want to achieve and I want to continue with doing something else. Has nothing to do with it being boring or not…I decided I want to do something else, which is, I think, fair enough…It’s been a long ride, so I need some time off, you know. It’s enough. It was a great 12 years of my career. I’ve been around for a long time.”
NOVAK DJOKOVIC’S REVELATION THAT SAFIN PLANS TO CLIMB A MOUNTAIN IN SOUTH AMERICA…
“Djokovic has the breaking news, huh? I think he should stick to his tennis and keep his mind into tennis instead of giving up my private life.”
ALL THE ATTENTION THAT’S SURROUNDED HIS RETIREMENT…
“It’s too many questions about what I’m going to do, why I’m retiring, and this and that. So I answer the same question, I don’t know, a thousand times. Just go on Google and you have the same answer.”
WHAT HE’LL MISS MOST…
“I need to get away from tennis for some time to realize what I will miss…Right now, just difficult to decide…It’s pretty great life…In a different way, you have to practice. You have to go to the courts…For example, here [in New York] the first few days it’s like a zoo. It’s like a million people running around, brothers, sisters, mothers, fathers, grandmothers — so many people. That’s pretty much annoying. But at the same time you know you’re going to New York and it’s a beautiful town. You’re staying in good hotels. The people, they treat you well. You get the car service, which I think is great. You go to the great restaurants. You don’t have to think how much I can spend on my dinner. So it gives you a good life. You have to pay for it being here on the court and stress out, 4-all in, I don’t know, the third set, the tiebreak, but you have to work your way through.”
WHY IT’S ALL BEEN WORTH IT…
“It gives you freedom. I mean, I worked my way. There wasn’t a rich father or rich family that paid for everything that I have right now, so I worked my way. I’m really proud of myself that I really made it, and I made it myself and I’m supporting my family. I help my sister [Dinara], and everything I achieve is thanks basically to the occasion, to the sport.”
ADVICE FOR HIS SISTER DINARA…
“I really love my sister, but I think she can manage without me…I cannot give her any advice at all. I think she just needs to enjoy it while it lasts. Just enjoy it. I think it’s difficult to be No. 1. There’s too much attention, too much expectation from other people. You want it or not, you’re going to listen one way or another. If you read newspapers, if you watch TV, everybody is talking about you basically. People can be harsh on you. You need to really stay cold and do your thing and try not to pay attention to that and enjoy it. So it’s pretty difficult, especially for women…Everybody is hard on her why she’s No. 1. You have this contest issue, is she a real No. 1 or not? You open the page, she made eight double faults, 43 unforced errors. She struggled, almost lost to 18 years old. Who cares? I mean, she’s No. 1 in the world. I have to protect my sister. The poor girl, she’s trying her best. She’s doing really well. She gets the attention, but not the kind of attention that a person deserves, especially when you’re No. 1 in the world. Everybody is giving her hard time about, Are you really No. 1 in the world? Yes, yes, she’s really No. 1 in the world. Go check on the ranking. She didn’t do the ranking. Apparently there is some guy who made the ranking. On this ranking, she’s No. 1 in the world. Serena, she didn’t say — even though she won two Grand Slams this year, she’s No. 2. Sorry, but that’s the way. Deal with that. I’m just — personally, I’m really like, I have to protect her. I feel like she deserve a little bit more than what she’s getting right now. I think she’s playing – you can’t imagine how crazy she is about sport. I don’t think there is one person in the world who is more professional than her. Everybody is like hitting on her and giving her a hard time about this, how many, what happened to this serve, what happened this, what happened with that? Leave her alone.”
WHERE HIS WIN OVER PETE SAMPRAS AT THE ’00 U.S. OPEN STANDS WITH HIS CAREER ACHIEVEMENTS…
“This match was just a miracle for me. I didn’t expect anything from this year, because I started 25; I dropped to 45; and then like in three months I was No. 1 in the world. I beat here Sampras, and I really didn’t believe I could get anywhere closer to the final of a Grand Slam. And then after beating Sampras, I never really understood what happened, some time to have a chance to think how big this thing really was. It was difficult, because I was also 20 years old. I wasn’t ready for this, so it’s really difficult to understand it. I don’t know if you understand me, but it’s really — you’re not ready for this. I wasn’t prepared.”
WHY HIS VICTORY AT THE ’05 AUSSIE OPEN WAS MORE SATISFYING THAN HIS U.S. OPEN WIN…
“It was very important for me to win the second one. I was two times in the finals and couldn’t make it. I was very close to semifinals in French Open that I should have won. Well, just second one was really, really important for me. Thanks God I achieved it and everything went smooth.”
HOW A YOUNG MARAT SAFIN WOULD LOOK UPON THE MARAT SAFIN OF TODAY…
“No way. No way this is going to happen to me, and for sure not. I would never think in a thousand years that I will be anywhere closer to even to top 100. It was a mission impossible basically. Just give it a shot, try your best, and just to find your way in life. Whatever happens, happens. I was about to go to the college in the States. [But] it happened, so miracles really happens. I won the lottery. Basically I picked the lottery I would say because of the way things, they fit together. It’s amazing. It’s really amazing. I really can’t describe it. It has no logic, it has no – it’s just everything fit perfectly together, and here I am.”
THE FUTURE…
“I think this is the perfect timing, because I’m still young. I don’t have a family. I’m ready to make a change. Why not? I think it’s the right time, perfect time, perfect timing. Thirty years old, still young. 35, 33, it’s already you need to think about some things, something different. A little bit late. Probably it’s a little bit late to do something extra. So basically put everything on cruise control and you just cruise. I’m ambitious. I want to achieve some things. I’m a different than another person who want to lay back and do nothing for rest of the life and talk nonsense on ESPN, talk about my match against Sampras. I will not do that. I want to achieve something else.”
