Listen, we all understand and acknowledge that Safin was a great player but don't you think you just might be going overboard with all the woulda, coulda, shouldas. You can't keep excusing all Safin's losses as being down to poor health and bad fitness and predicting all the Slams and matches he would have won if only he had been the picture of absolute health throughout his career. It's the same type of well-worn argument that the Nadal, Federer and Serena fans all trot out when their idol loses. They were injured. They could never lose when healthy etc. If you want to believe that Safin would win every single one of his encounters with Murray while healthy then go ahead if it makes you happy. However I shouldn't have to remind you that Murray has beaten all the top players at the Slams at some point or other and I don't at all see it as beyond the realms of possibility that he could outplay a healthy Safin at any of the Slams bar the FO (probably).
Uh, I never ever said Safin would win every encounter with Murray. Did I? However, to begrudge Safin another slam or two at the least without injuries is pretty harsh as he has proved he could beat the best on a consistent basis.
Has Murray beaten the best in the slams? Well, essentially yes. Just like Robredo has beaten the best slam player ever, but like Murray, he never beat the likes of Federer or Nadal at their peaks on their best surfaces. Safin has beaten the best, at their best, on surfaces they are very capable on. Yes, Murray has beaten Djokovic at Wimbledon fair and square, in fact this was his most impressive slam result. The fact that Safin's win over Djokovic meant hardly anything to his career (as a whole, it was not one of his defining moments) pretty much shows you how many more big scalps Safin had in his career.
Uh, I make no excuses for Safin by the way, however not being able to step on court is a valid reason for not doing well. How the hell can Safin win games in 2003 when he can't even make it on court, or 2004 when he was playing in severe pain, I'm not even going to talk about 2005 when it looked like he was mentally focused for the first time then ruins his leg. These are not merely excuses I am submitting here...Just facts.
It's somewhat ironic that you point to Murray's 'injury-free career' when he is currently in the midst of struggling to get back to form after surgery for a chronic bad back. But I don't suppose you would ever entertain the notion that Murray may not always have been in the best of health during some of those losses you like to trot out with such glee or is the injury excuse only allowed for guys like Safin, guys you happen to idolise?
Yes, I am aware of Murray's injury, at 26 years old. He's had nearly 10 years of healthy tennis. By 24/25, Safin was pretty much dead and buried.....For good, and that's not even counting the wrist in 2003 or the blisters he sustained in 2004. Think of that.
There is a little difference between not being able to step onto court (getting back to 2003), and not being in perfect health. Murray was still able to perform to a high level, whilst anyone who watched tennis from mid 2005 onwards would be able to understand that Safin's injury in 2005 completely ruined him - the rankings spoke for themselves. When healthy and focused he was taking down Federer and Hewitt in their best years at AO then suddenly in 2006 the guy finds himself amongst journeymen and in 2007 attempted to climb a mountain because he couldn't be bothered to practice anymore. Wonder why that was?
As for Safin's injuries, yes,he suffered from a lot of them as did many other players eg. Hewitt. But Safin led a pretty wild lifestyle full of parties and excessive behaviour (booze, women, maybe drugs too but I won't speculate too much on that). He got into fights and once turned up at a match with a huge shiner apparently as a result of a fistfight in downtown Moscow (or so he claimed). I'm guessing from all this that he probably didn't devote too much of his time to training and keeping fit and that consequently many of his injuries were probably down to his own behaviour and failure to take proper care of himself. So maybe, just maybe, we shouldn't be shedding too many tears on his various physical misfortunes?
Yes but Hewitt was never ever going to beat Federer, and certainly wasn't going to compete with Nadal, Djokovic (and perhaps Murray if they played). Safin would have been fine with playing those guys (yes, he would lose matches to them but he would have his fair share of wins too). Safin just had more game than Hewitt.
Ok, so in your words, Safin partied, was injury prone, didn't care about tennis yet won 2 slams? Maybe you should berate the guy who claimed Murray had a better peak than Safin instead of me. Shouldn't Murray who trains hard in pretty much an injury free, party free career have more slams than Safin if he is just a better player?
BTW, that last part wasn't true. Safin worked his *** off in the off-seasons, especially in 2004/2005, I think it was only after his knee injury in 2005 he lost motivation due to knowing he was not (and never going to be) the player who won the AO that year.
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