The Hindu : Sport : Safin ends Slam drought

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Jan 31, 2005

Sport

Sport

Safin ends Slam drought

By Nirmal Shekar

MELBOURNE, JAN. 30. In the end, there was nothing. The most expressive face in the game was a mask. He could have been a KGB agent in the old Cold War days coming in from the other side of the Berlin Wall after a mission accomplished, quietly disappearing into the dark. Marat Safin's face was almost expressionless.

It is strange how in life, and in sport, you have to be what you are not to become what you want to be. It is strange how necessary it becomes to sublimate your nature to achieve major goals.

The giant Russian had just ripped apart millions of dreams to turn what was widely expected to be the greatest day in Australian tennis since Rod Laver completed a second Grand Slam sweep in 1969 into a day of national mourning on a scale not witnessed since Eric Hollies bowled Don Bradman for a duck in the batting genius's last Test innings at The Oval on August 16, 1948.

But, even as Lleyton Hewitt's return flew away from the court to bring up a 1-6, 6-3, 6-4, 6-4 victory for Safin in two hours and 45 minutes in the men's singles final of the Centenary Australian Open on Sunday, it appeared that the Russian himself was ready to join in the mourning.

That, of course, is far from the truth. It was just that Safin, at long last, had got a hold of himself and his career, a career that for the most part appeared as predictable as fortunes in a game of Russian roulette.

And tonight's stunning comeback, from a set down and then from 0-3 down in the third set, underpinned the revolutionary transformation that has taken place in Safin's neural circuitry, one that so often developed a glitch on the big occasion in the past.

In the event, to Safin, a character straight out of the pages of Fyodor Dostoevsky, tonight represented a sort of nirvana; and the tranquillity that framed his handsome face like a sort of halo upon winning suggested that, for once, on the big stage, the enigmatic Russian had successfully fought off the embarrassing near-paralysis often triggered by his own irreducibly complex personality in Grand Slam finals.

Long wait

This was Safin's second Grand Slam singles title and it has come after an agonisingly long four-and-a-half year wait. When he outplayed a tired Pete Sampras in the 2000 U.S. Open final, the greatest modern champion said, "Marat would be a Grand Slam contender for the next 10 or 12 years."

Well, Safin has been a contender. But more like Marlon Brando in the all-time Hollywood classic On The Waterfront, almost muttering to himself, under his breath, "I could have been a contender. I could have had some class."

It could very well have been the saddest might-have-been story in modern tennis if Safin had not solved a seemingly unsolvable conundrum — his own emotionally volatile self-destructing nature — in a week of self-illuminating behaviour and blazingly brilliant tennis.

"Right now I cannot believe it," said Safin. "I was a little nervous in the first set. Then I found my game in the second and it was easier. But Lleyton is a great fighter and there was huge pressure. It was only when I started getting my first serves in that I got enough confidence to play from the baseline."

The way Hewitt outplayed Safin in the first set it did appear that the Russian would have to be content with a runner-up finish for the third time here in four years. Off the blocks like a seasoned sprinter, the great Aussie hope raced through the first set in only 23 minutes. In the stands, the Fanatics — his vociferous cheer squad — raised the decibel level several notches.

The turnaround came in the fourth game of the second set. Creating chances with superb returns, Safin broke to 3-1 and went on to take the set in quick time. But when the fourth-seeded Russian lost serve in the second game of the third set and promptly banged his racket in frustration, he seemed to revert to type.

No answer

The creator had become destroyer all over again. But just when you thought that blindingly brilliant light had given way to utter darkness and would soon draw Safin into the abyss, the gifted man from Moscow turned on an extravagant display of breathtaking tennis to which Hewitt had no answer.

From 4-1 down in the third set, Safin won seven games on the trot, breaking the third-seeded Australian three times in a row. And once he got to 2-0 in the fourth set after breaking Hewitt's serve in the first game with a blistering backhand crosscourt pass, Safin was simply unstoppable.

"I didn't feel like I played that badly out there. He was just too good," said Hewitt, who was hoping to become the first Australian to win here since Mark Edmondson in 1976. "Some of his hitting from the back of the court was incredible. He has got amazing strength. He is an awesome player."

The Australian said that the seventh game of the fourth set, the one in which he was annoyed by a foot fault call and was slapped a code violation warning for pointing his finger at the linesman who made the call, was crucial.

"The foot fault call did not make a difference. But that game was crucial. He stepped it up from there," said Hewitt. "Marat's had a great two weeks and he deserves it."

Draper-Stosur triumph

Australia's Scott Draper, now sharing time between professional golf and tennis, and his partner Samantha Stosur beat Kevin Ullyett of Zimbabwe and Liezel Huber of South Africa 6-2, 2-6, 7-6(6) in an entertaining mixed doubles final.

Draper is unlikely to be celebrating well into the night. He has a 7.50 a.m. tee off in the qualifying event of the Heineken Open golf tournament on Monday.

"I haven't got the experience in golf that I have in tennis. I am trying to fast track myself as best as possible," said Draper. "I don't know what the future holds for me. And golf is a sport that has a lot more longevity than tennis."

The Results

Prefix denotes seeding

Men's singles (final): 4-Marat Safin (Rus) bt 3-Lleyton Hewitt (Aus) 1-6, 6-3, 6-4, 6-4.

Mixed doubles (final): Scott Draper & Samantha Stosur (Aus) bt 4-Kevin Ullyett (Zim) & Liezel Huber (RSA) 6-2, 2-6, 7-6(6).

Junior boys singles (final): 2-Donald Young (U.S.) bt 1-Kim Sun-yong (Kor) 6-2, 6-4.

Junior girls singles (final): 1-Victoria Azarenka (Blr) bt 12-Agnes Szavay (Hun) 6-2, 6-2.

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