* Roger Federer avenged his 2005 Australian Open semifinal defeat to Marat Safin by crushing him in the 3rd round in straight sets 6-3, 6-2, 7-6 and later paid tribute to retiring players: 28-year-old Safin himself and 36-year-old Fabrice Santoro.
Federer, who was embraced by Safin after the match, said of the temperamental Russian: "He brings something different to the tennis world with his character, the way he is on the court and the way he is off the court. He’s larger than life. I respect him for what a competitor he is. I hope it’s not the last one tonight"
Safin embracing Federer after their 3rd round match which Safin lost.
Safin waving to the audience while leaving the court alongside Federer.
Federer said of Santoro, who has never gone past the quarterfinals in singles in 66 Grand Slam events and was earlier defeated by Andy Roddick the same day: "I guess he’s one of those magicians that’s going to leave the game. His game is not very easy to play at this stage. Players are getting stronger and faster and more powerful.I was fortunate enough to learn things from him, because he’s quite a tricky player to play against. He teaches you how to treat a tennis ball … not to go crazy about it.”
Being a huge fan of Safin, I feel so sad knowing knowing that he's going to retire from the sport at the the end of this season, thus making this his last Australian Open. His retirement is quite surprising considering that his ranking has climbed to no. 27 at the end of 2008 (despite niggling injuries and losses here and there), where his most remarkable win was a semifinal appearance at Wimbledon (the feat making him the first ever Russian to reach Wimbledon semis). For someone like him who's a former world no. 1, two-time Grand slam winner (2000 U.S. Open against Pete Sampras and 2005 Australian Open against home favorite Lleyton Hewitt) and holder of 2 Grand slam runner-up trophies (2002 and 2004 Australian Opens) and 15 career titles, Safin, relatively young at age 28, still has loads of talent and energies to unleash. But he is firm on his decision, something that he already announced last year. In a post-match interview after his loss to Federer, when asked if there is anything that could change his decision, he answered: "Nothing. I've been already too many years. I want to change and do something else. I'm ready for that. It's been a nice trip. It's enough."
Truly a man of few words, he did not reveal what his plans after tennis are by saying that he'd rather keep it to himself for the moment and that he's happy and ready.
And truly a gentleman that knows how to give respect where it is due, he could only say of Federer: "Well, it's just we know each other for how many years? Since '94. We didn't play in the juniors, but we saw each other. We had some great matches. I was close a couple times. We grew up together. He started a little bit later than me. I respect him as a tennis player, as a person. He's just very close ‑‑ let's put it this way: Very close colleague of mine. Probably, yeah [being the best player he's ever faced]. He's the most complete tennis player in the history of tennis, that's for sure. With all due respects to Agassi and Sampras and the rest of the gang. But I never felt so uncomfortable against any of the players before.
Safin would surely be missed, especially by his fans in Australia (a place that has endeared him after winning 3 Grand Slam trophies here). I agree with Federer when he said of Safin he's larger than life. He's living a life and having a personality that is colorful on and off the court. Who would forget his first shocking appearance this year at Perth for the Hopman Cop sporting bandaged right thumb, two blackeyes and a cut in his right eye (which he explained later he got from a Moscow fight that he won)? He's one of the reasons that make tennis exciting and interesting to watch. He's a huge talent no doubt. Most importantly, besides all those line judge-and-umpire-scolding spoken in 3 languages (Russian, English and Spanish), self-berating and racket-smashing (he estimates having broken around 300 rackets in 2005) antics, oh how could everyone miss that handsome face!
Well, I don't wanna say goodbye yet. I'll see him soon in remaining Grand Slams and tournaments of the year.
* Violence between Serbian and Bosnian fans erupted after the match of Serb Novak Djokovic and Bosnian-born American Amer Delic (won by Djokovic), causing a female fan to be briefly knocked unconscious after being hit by a thrown chair and for 30 fans to be ejected from the grounds of Melbourne Park
* Marcos Baghdatis upset Mardy Fish; Juan Martin del Potro defeated Gilles Muller; Marin Cilic (seed no. 19) mildly upset David Ferrer (seed no. 11); and so did Tomas Berdych (seed no. 20) against Wawrinka (seed no. 15).
* Spanish Tommy Robredo ended the run of Nalbandian conqueror, Taiwanese Yen-Hsun Lu.
* The biggest news in the women's singles was the crashing out of last year's runner-up and 5th seeded Ana Ivanovic to a lowly ranked player, World No. 61 and 29th-seeded Alisa Kleybanova of Russia.
(Photo by PAUL CROCK/AFP/Getty Images)
* Australian fans had a lot to cheer about as Jelena Dokic continued in her impressive comeback, downing 11th seeded Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark in 3 sets.
* No. 1 seed Jelena Jankovic was a winner over Sugiyama, and so were Cornet against Hantuchova, Safina against Kanepi, Bartoli against Safarova, Petrova against Voskoboeva (who retired after losing the first set), and Zvonareva against Errani.
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Being a huge fan of Safin, I feel so sad knowing knowing that he's going to retire from the sport at the the end of this season, thus making this his last Australian Open. His retirement is quite surprising considering that his ranking has climbed to no. 27 at the end of 2008 (despite niggling injuries and losses here and there), where his most remarkable win was a semifinal appearance at Wimbledon (the feat making him the first ever Russian to reach Wimbledon semis). For someone like him who's a former world no. 1, two-time Grand slam winner (2000 U.S. Open against Pete Sampras and 2005 Australian Open against home favorite Lleyton Hewitt) and holder of 2 Grand slam runner-up trophies (2002 and 2004 Australian Opens) and 15 career titles, Safin, relatively young at age 28, still has loads of talent and energies to unleash. But he is firm on his decision, something that he already announced last year. In a post-match interview after his loss to Federer, when asked if there is anything that could change his decision, he answered: "Nothing. I've been already too many years. I want to change and do something else. I'm ready for that. It's been a nice trip. It's enough."
Truly a man of few words, he did not reveal what his plans after tennis are by saying that he'd rather keep it to himself for the moment and that he's happy and ready.
And truly a gentleman that knows how to give respect where it is due, he could only say of Federer: "Well, it's just we know each other for how many years? Since '94. We didn't play in the juniors, but we saw each other. We had some great matches. I was close a couple times. We grew up together. He started a little bit later than me. I respect him as a tennis player, as a person. He's just very close ‑‑ let's put it this way: Very close colleague of mine. Probably, yeah [being the best player he's ever faced]. He's the most complete tennis player in the history of tennis, that's for sure. With all due respects to Agassi and Sampras and the rest of the gang. But I never felt so uncomfortable against any of the players before.
Safin would surely be missed, especially by his fans in Australia (a place that has endeared him after winning 3 Grand Slam trophies here). I agree with Federer when he said of Safin he's larger than life. He's living a life and having a personality that is colorful on and off the court. Who would forget his first shocking appearance this year at Perth for the Hopman Cop sporting bandaged right thumb, two blackeyes and a cut in his right eye (which he explained later he got from a Moscow fight that he won)? He's one of the reasons that make tennis exciting and interesting to watch. He's a huge talent no doubt. Most importantly, besides all those line judge-and-umpire-scolding spoken in 3 languages (Russian, English and Spanish), self-berating and racket-smashing (he estimates having broken around 300 rackets in 2005) antics, oh how could everyone miss that handsome face!
Well, I don't wanna say goodbye yet. I'll see him soon in remaining Grand Slams and tournaments of the year.
* Violence between Serbian and Bosnian fans erupted after the match of Serb Novak Djokovic and Bosnian-born American Amer Delic (won by Djokovic), causing a female fan to be briefly knocked unconscious after being hit by a thrown chair and for 30 fans to be ejected from the grounds of Melbourne Park
* Marcos Baghdatis upset Mardy Fish; Juan Martin del Potro defeated Gilles Muller; Marin Cilic (seed no. 19) mildly upset David Ferrer (seed no. 11); and so did Tomas Berdych (seed no. 20) against Wawrinka (seed no. 15).
* Spanish Tommy Robredo ended the run of Nalbandian conqueror, Taiwanese Yen-Hsun Lu.
* The biggest news in the women's singles was the crashing out of last year's runner-up and 5th seeded Ana Ivanovic to a lowly ranked player, World No. 61 and 29th-seeded Alisa Kleybanova of Russia.
(Photo by PAUL CROCK/AFP/Getty Images)
* Australian fans had a lot to cheer about as Jelena Dokic continued in her impressive comeback, downing 11th seeded Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark in 3 sets.
* No. 1 seed Jelena Jankovic was a winner over Sugiyama, and so were Cornet against Hantuchova, Safina against Kanepi, Bartoli against Safarova, Petrova against Voskoboeva (who retired after losing the first set), and Zvonareva against Errani.
