TMS MONTE CARLO

April 23, 2004

Marat Safin

THE MODERATOR: Questions for Marat, please.

MARAT SAFIN: No, but just a little bit difficult for me to play after the matches that I played against Mirnyi and Arthurs, then to go and completely change the game, to switch and to play also great match against Martin. Because, yeah, you can play one set, but then he start to get used to the fast, fast rallies. So the only thing he could try to do is to make me play an extra ball. So it also is, for me, is difficult to adjust myself. So I little bit had the match in control. I breaked in the second set, first game. But then he start to play better. He started to miss less. I was trying maybe to go for too much. I start to rush a little bit. But then by the time I realize it, it was already the end of the second set. I tried. He played well. And the third set I just had to hold my serve and wait for the opportunity and take it.

MARAT SAFIN: No, just a little bit of recharge. Because for two weeks, a lot of matches. So it's kind of... No problem.

MARAT SAFIN: Yeah, whenever I can.

MARAT SAFIN: Upstairs, in Park St. Roman.

MARAT SAFIN: No, but I stay in the hotel.

MARAT SAFIN: Because the hotel room is bigger than my apartment (laughter).

MARAT SAFIN: Yeah, but it's, for everybody, is a big change. You have to play an extra few balls. You have to prepare more the point. You cannot just play fast shot and go to the net and whatever, and wait for the short ball. Here, we have to play. You make him run, and you have to wait, wait, wait. You cannot just make winners all over the court because it's a little bit slower, the bounce is little bit higher. The serve doesn't work this way like it works on the hard courts. So you have to play, you have to be consistent, you have to be focused a little bit more and wait for an extra ball, because it's always coming back. You have to finish the point, like, properly.

MARAT SAFIN: Just be, you know, be focused during all the match because the match is very long and the other opponent has a lot of opportunities to come back because it's very slow, so he also thinks. And, you know, it takes time. On hard courts maybe it's very fast because it's just fast, fast, and two points and one bad return from him and just one double-fault and I play a good shot, and that's it, the game is over.

MARAT SAFIN: They're pretty similar players. They're playing the same , all the same game. They attack whenever they can, they like to control the point, they don't like to be dominated. And of course they are running fast, they have very good -- well, good legs, good hands. So you have to be -- but it's a kind of similar Spanish style. You have to push them and be in control of all the match from the beginning. Otherwise, it's a little bit difficult. Because once they start to be confident and then it's difficult to turn the other way around.

MARAT SAFIN: Yeah. Semifinals, it's a great motivation for me to get into the finals.

MARAT SAFIN: Yeah, so it's good. So I hope I have a little bit of luck tomorrow, I'll have more opportunities that I can finish in two sets. But just have to be really, really focused for that, have to really play well, have to serve well, be consistent to not make a lot of unforced errors, be there all the match.

MARAT SAFIN: Yeah, well, just...

MARAT SAFIN: You cannot be so sure, you know, the year is gonna be really good for you. Because once you start to feel this , once you start to have this feeling, you have bad luck or you're not playing -- you start to play not really well, you have bad draws. So you never know. For example, me, I had -- for all the months of February, I had Federer first round, Roddick I had, and so it wasn't like really they beat me, it was just a matter of two points - 7-6, 7-6 against Federer. Roddick was a little bit lucky in the first set, so in the second set I felt a little bit frustrated so I didn't play. These kind of matches, they cut your motivation.

MARAT SAFIN: But once it's starting all over again, played well in Estoril, playing well here. Will try to have a rest next week, then Rome, Hamburg and French Open and then slow down a little bit, prepare for the grass, a big tournament in Wimbledon, and we'll see how it's gonna go. Then I will take a few months -- a few weeks off before the big -- before I go to the States.

MARAT SAFIN: You have to prepare. You have to prepare a little bit. It has to be -- of course if you don't enjoy it, it's really difficult for me to play. Just it's really difficult. Otherwise, sometimes it's a little bit boring. So you have to make it very interesting for yourself not to get bored, because it's really difficult job and it's really difficult thing to travel around the world and living in a -- traveling with a suitcase and living in hotel rooms. So you have to make it interesting.

MARAT SAFIN: Of course. If you are winning, it's great. But whenever you have two big losses, then it's like everything goes down and you have to really push yourself a little bit to work on something. It's tough, but...

MARAT SAFIN: Not anymore. Not anymore. Yeah, I'm get frustrated on the court whenever I'm losing; everybody does. But outside the court I am taking very easy right now because my time will come. Whenever I have the opportunities, I will take them. Everybody will lose some day. There's no chance to win all the time. There's no chance that you're gonna play great tennis during all the year. Sometimes you have really bad losses to the people that you shouldn't lose in a thousand years. It's gonna happen. It's gonna happen to everybody for some circumstances. So you have to accept this. It's a part of the job.

MARAT SAFIN: You can... No, because against Federer, Roddick, it's kind of -- is a big player, and you gonna play well, you know that. Because it's just it's a kind of a challenge. It's already motivate you, it's already giving you extra power, and you want to beat him. It's a kind of a challenge. But once you play against the players you think you have to win, you have to find this thing in case something goes wrong. For example, today, for me, it was -- I beat him five times. And for me, it's like I knew that I have to win - I mean, that I have to win. So once you are winning 6-3, 1-0 and you really want to finish it, just make it short, make it two sets, "Thank you very much, Bye-bye," then comes the problems when he start to play better, and you are keep on going faster and faster, you know, to finish, because you really want to finish. You don't want to stay here for three sets, you don't want to suffer in the third set, in case he gonna play well, you gonna miss a few shots, he start to play unbelievable shots. You don't want to get to this point. So you get frustrated with yourself. You see it, and for some reason you cannot get it. You miss by a little bit, you miss little bit there, little bit there. He played well one ball, and it's, like, unacceptable sometimes from my mind but... But that's really difficult, because you have to understand that other people, they know how to play tennis also.

MARAT SAFIN: He played a great match. But just this kind of tennis, it just make you a little bit nervous. Because really, I understand -- I started to understand better the game over the years. And you know what's gonna happen, you see it coming. And when it comes, you get frustrated by that because you see it coming.

MARAT SAFIN: Yeah, but sometimes, you know, like you go, because it's your nature. You don't fight the nature, you know. It's like nature, you don't want to go down the line, but you go. It just like automatically calls for it. You miss it. Then you say to yourself, "I shouldn't have done that." But once you don't miss it, so that's normal. But once you miss it, that's not normal. So these kind of things. I also speak to guys like Henman or Costa, and I say, "Is it true once you are young, you have no fear, you are playing the matches and you don't understand anything basically about tennis. You are playing and you don't care about the score." But now you start with the time, you start to...

MARAT SAFIN: No, but...just, yeah. You lose your virginity. Once you start to know, understand tennis really good, you see, you can predict what's gonna happen. So that's why sometimes you choke, sometimes you start to be scared, that's why when you only play against the young guys you don't play really good tennis, and then you start to play and win ugly. But it's like this.

MARAT SAFIN: Yeah, it's all coming back.

MARAT SAFIN: Yeah, exactly. There is nothing... Don't fight the nature. Don't fight it.

MARAT SAFIN: He improved. He improved really much. I already told him that he's playing really good game. Before, I told him, he was really bad on clay. Yeah, few years ago, he didn't know how to play on clay. Now, he really improved. He can play from the baseline. He can, you know, do rallies, and also to play. That's why he's in the semifinals -- or in the quarterfinals. He has a big chance to win today.

MARAT SAFIN: I need to -- depends. Everybody has own hobbies or own philosophy of life. Maybe it's just -- I mean, sometimes when you are too many weeks on the tour, too many weeks, you just have to just have a few days off, just not to go to the courts, walk around the city - wherever city you are - I mean, there's some cities you cannot go anywhere because there is nothing (laughter). But these cities, you try to practice as hard as you can just to kill the time. But it's really difficult. Sometimes you need a couple of days just to forget about everything, just enjoy it, and not coming to the courts, don't even touch the racquet. Then when you come back, it's little bit easy for you to start all over because it's not anymore physical, it's not anymore about -- it's more mental, more than nothing. Just whenever you have the brain is like free and it feels comfortable, then it's much easier to play.

MARAT SAFIN: That's what I'm saying. Everybody has different mentality. I'm not -- I'm really surprised that he can push himself at the age of 34 - running, playing five sets in Grand Slams, and be there and play great tennis. Probably that's -- he really can't live without it.

MARAT SAFIN: Well, otherwise, you gamble or...(laughter).

MARAT SAFIN: So it's better to make money than to lose money (smiling).