The Enigma that is Safin

At the US open, the world of tennis says goodbye to Marat Safin who has played his last Grandslam match of his career at the US open after being defeated by Austrian Jurgen Melzer. The man himself is a wonderful entertainer both on and off the court (who can forget the black eye he sported on court because of a fight he had in a bar in Moscow?) and his press conference after the match at Flushing Meadows was a fantastic reminder of the dry humor and easy charm of a tennis star who burst onto the scene at a young age and took on a bumpy ride ever since.

Marat Safin is the classic example of a tennis player who never lived up to his great potential. Despite claiming two Grandslams in a career that saw him took the world by storm at a young age, Marat Safin was a enigma. Nobody understood the burly Russian's mind and especially his tendency to self destruct on the tennis court.

Safin has the total package for a tennis player. He has an overwhelming physique. *The Head Prestige he holds in his hands look more like a badminton racquet than one for tennis. That physique alone gives him great power in his serves and groundstrokes. Many have commented that Safin has the complete game when at his prime. A big server, solid on both forehand and backhand and a natural volleyeur.

You know the Russian has talent when in 2000, at a tender age of 20, he outmuscled the best player on the planet then, Pete Sampras at the US open final, in front of Sampras's home crowd. Safin lived in great expectation ever since. He was touted the next big thing. But the Russian never went on to dominate as he was supposed to. Perhaps the attention plus the huge expectations took a toll on the huge shoulders of the Russian hero.

Since then, Safin won the Australian Open in 2005 and cemented his place as a gifted player. But again, as fate will have it, Safin has numerous setbacks with injuries and he had never found his top form again.

These days, Safin is a pale shadow of what he once was. He makes more unforced errors than winners and his mental game is always a major crux on his performance. Despite the fire that makes him a intimidating opponent on the court, he never quite got a hold of his game when things don't go his way. For one, Roger Federer managed to curb that mental aspect early on in his career and as we all know it, Roger has since become the best player in the world. Safin never found a way beyond that part of his game despite having arguably bigger potential than Federer.

Personally, I will miss Marat Safin. Its that unpredictability in his game that makes it so entertaining for tennis fans all over the world. You just never knew which Safin will come onto the court. The genius or the loser. But one thing is for sure in every Safin game, he is bound to surprise you, whether a powerful backhand down the line or an angry decapitation of his racquet on the tennis court.

Although the season is not yet over, Safin has officially said goodbye in his last game at a Major. And while people might never mention his name that often again as perhaps the name of Sampras or Agassi, Marat Safin will forever be remembered as an engima, a tennis genius that never did quite fulfill his potential... ...