Marat Safin Going Out With a Whimper
by Ben Rothenberg on Oct 1, 2009 10:14 PM EDT
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Following a listless first round loss to Jurgen Melzer at the US Open, his final grand slam, Marat Safin continued to disappoint in Bangkok, losing to qualifier Marco Chiudinelli 6-3, 7-6(4) in the second round of the PTT Thailand Open.
Safin's loss is more surprising since he looked so sharp in his first round, a 6-2, 3-6, 6-1 win over #5 seed Philipp Petzschner. To follow up a big win like that with a straight sets loss to a nobody like Chiudinelli is utterly inexplicable, though hardly shocking given how inconsistent Safin has been.
Maybe Safin still has a rabbit or two left in his hat. He has been given a wild card into Beijing, and is set to play Shanghai, St. Petersburg and Moscow, so there is ample opportunity for him to have an exit befitting someone of his talent.
But whether or not Safin chooses to take advantage of the opportunity is a whole different issue.
Even though they're in totally different strata in terms of their rankings, Marat's struggles have been much less talked about than his sister Dinara's. But both have been struggling against far less talented opponents, seeming tortured on the court and struggling more with themselves more than anyone across the net.
My question is: who has been more disappointing of late?
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Has to be Safina
At the beginning of the year I would’ve guessed Marat would be limping ino retirement. But it’s Dinara who continues to amaze…errr baffle the tennis world.
Rick Limpert
Yeah
Marats been talking about retiring for a while and really hasn’t been doing that well for the past few years anyway. Dinara Iunno I thought she should of won the French Open and don’t know whats up with her serve. I like her but shes obviously has a lot more expected of her than her bro at this point.
Marat is just taking appearance money till the end
He really doesn’t want to play tennis right now, maybe in a couple of years might come back. He has everything doesn’t need money, maybe he should coach his sister because she is coming unglued.
Paul D. Kelley
It's not about doing your job, But can you do it with a TENNIS BALL in your throat!
by so.cal.native1952 on Oct 2, 2009 4:09 PM EDT reply actions
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