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ROGERS MASTERS

August 7, 2007

Marat Safin

MONTREAL, QUEBEC

THE MODERATOR: Questions for Marat.

Q. Have you had many walkovers in your career? Can you think of any?
MARAT SAFIN: I wish it would happen a little more often.

Q. Have you had any?
MARAT SAFIN: No, this is probably the second one. I think it was somewhere else something happened, but I don't remember.

Q. Is it better or worse that you had the walkover before you have to play Rafael?
MARAT SAFIN: No, much better. Soderling, he's a tough player, plays well. Better than to run around the court two, three hours try to beat him, then come up tomorrow with a good game.
So I prefer this way.

Q. You've been playing quite a lot this summer, haven't you?
MARAT SAFIN: Also. So an extra day off, I think it's a good thing.

Q. How about playing Rafa? Never played him before.
MARAT SAFIN: No, never. I'm looking forward. We'll see how it's going to happen, what's going to happen. I don't have many expectations. I'm just play my match. He's the favorite. He's playing well. Let's just keep it this way.

Q. A guy like that, that you've seen play all these years, you never played him, do you have a natural curiosity, some ideas how you would play against him?
MARAT SAFIN: Not really. I don't really care about this. Whenever the opportunity comes comes. So finally it came. But I was not really looking for it and try to out of curiosity play against him, not really.
He's a very good player. I don't think you are really looking for that experience.

Q. You're not looking for that experience?
MARAT SAFIN: No (smiling).

Q. Like when guys play against you?
MARAT SAFIN: When the guys played against me before, yes, was different story. Not now (smiling).

Q. Can you go in as an underdog with nothing to lose?
MARAT SAFIN: What I have to lose? He's the one second seeded. He's the one who is fighting for No. 1 this year. I'm not the one. He's favorite in this tournament. So for me it's another opportunity, another chance.
Anything can happen, of course. I'm not going there and tank the match. I'm going to try to win it, of course. But I'm definitely not expecting anything great out of it. I don't want to have extra pressure on myself that I should make at least a good match. So I don't really care. If it's 6-2, 6-2 or 7-6, 7-6, doesn't make any difference for me.

Q. If you win, that would boost your confidence.
MARAT SAFIN: "If, if." If many things would be different way, many changes would be in this world. So let's keep it this way.

Q. How do you feel about your game right now?
MARAT SAFIN: Well, been a long summer. I had my matches, had my bad matches, everything happened. Actually, everything happened but nothing happened. Two quarterfinals. I didn't really play my best game. Didn't really play for -- I didn't impress myself with my game.
So was just fighting around and trying to win in tough matches, finishing 1:00 in the morning in Washington, playing next day against Monfils, playing bad again. So nothing really extraordinary.

Q. What to you make of the gambling investigation going on?
MARAT SAFIN: Not for me, man. Not for me.

Q. Not for you?
MARAT SAFIN: I don't care. They can do whatever they want. I don't want to be involved in any of it. I don't want to make any comments. I don't care.

Q. Do you feel like the ATP is doing what it needs to do?
MARAT SAFIN: I don't care, man. ATP can do whatever they want. I'm out of it.

Q. You don't care that it possibly could be viewed as hurting the integrity of the sport?
MARAT SAFIN: I don't care. It's not my problem, that's for sure. I'm here more for myself than for the ATP. The ATP is full of people who gets paid a lot of money, big bucks, and they're the ones who have to think, not me.
I'm here to play my tennis, win some matches, and whatever happens happens. I'm not going to make any comments. They have enough smart people to investigate and look for it, to the right thing. I'm not the one to ask.

Q. Does it surprise you to hear that kind of thing might happen in tennis?
MARAT SAFIN: Again, I don't care.

Q. A few years ago you were giving your sister a hard time.
MARAT SAFIN: I don't remember that.

Q. In Australia.
MARAT SAFIN: Okay, so (smiling)?

Q. Now is she giving you a hard time?
MARAT SAFIN: She can't.

Q. Why not?
MARAT SAFIN: Because a lot of things depends on me when you're out of tennis life, so she better be good for me.

Q. You said this has been an unremarkable season for you. How do you feel about that? Do you feel frustrated? Is it just kind of a depressing thing?
MARAT SAFIN: Well, first of all, why I have to be frustrated? In the worst scenario, the worst scenario, which would be the normal scenario of my life, I would be a coach in some club in Russia, in Moscow, that nobody would even think about me. I would have probably a few kids and wife, drive every morning at 9:00 in the morning to give lessons.
And look at me now. Not bad for 10 years of career. Instead of that, I'm alone. I'm playing my best tennis. I'm doing the things that I love to do. I have no family. I'm enjoying it.
So you know, I was lucky to catch the train. I was lucky to take the opportunity the people they gave me. Why I have to be frustrated? I have everything what I need. I have a good life. I'm flying business, first class. I have my friends coming to watch me. When I go to Moscow, I'm staying at a nice place, nice area, good neighborhood, nice cars. So everything is great. So why I have to be frustrated?

Q. You've expressed frustration in the past when you haven't played as well as you want to.
MARAT SAFIN: Is different thing. Of course, you want to do a little better than you are doing. Of course, instead of being 25, you want to be maybe top 10, for example. But after all, if you thinking the big picture, it doesn't really matter. If you enjoy what you're doing, the good times this will come. If you do the proper job, of course with the years it's a little bit more difficult to push yourself to do that.
If you want to play tennis, and I want to play tennis, I really want to try, I think everything can come back and everything can be improved. Especially that I didn't make any great results, I'm still 20 in the world. Is not really bad. It's one small step by winning a couple of difficult matches, make a quarterfinal here, a semifinal in a big tournament, you are already not 20, you are already almost top 10. Then the people, they say, Oh, he's back. But what made the difference? Just one, two points in a tough match, that's it. It's two matches, that's it.
But frustrating? Never.

Q. You're kind of lucky to have caught the train without the wife and kids on it.
MARAT SAFIN: That's for sure not for me yet. I prefer to play tennis and be alone than to be working in a tennis club from 9:00 to 9:00 and having two kids to feed and a wife that is never happy. Sounds familiar or not?

Q. You're assuming a lot.
MARAT SAFIN: Sounds familiar for some of us, huh?

End of FastScripts

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