grif
Rookie
From L'Equipe Magazine:
Marat Safin facing his demons
Translation by Damita!
At the age of 25, we thought he had calmed down. But since his victory at
the Australian Open, in January, the Russian went through a lot of defeats
without glory. Being prey to doubts again, will he find the key to his
internal torments before Roland Garros?
There he goes again! Gloomy thoughts which appears and are eating into him.
Dejection crises which make his craving shut up. Doubts which eat into his
tennis. All those weird moods he has been going through since we know him
and which start to sound like a clich?in spite of himself, in spite of us.
Wonderful champion at the Australian Open 3 months ago, in January, he has
fallen to the bottom of water since then. He didn?t win any tournament due
to matches beneath his talent. And now Roland Garros which is coming with
this question: which Marat Safin will show? The one from Melbourne, calmed
down (a little bit), with his high level of confidence and his brilliant
game? Or the one from Monaco, Barcelona and Rome, whose mind is assailed
with questions and whose racket is at half-mast?
And we thought he had changed since his Australian victory. He was in
control, he seemed to have mastered his frustrations. A godsend for the
tennis world: a new Safin was born, soon to be the regular challenger of
Roger Federer. His brand new coach, Peter Lundgren, the guy who had
restrained Marcelo Rios? aggressive ardour, the guy who had then restrained
Roger Federer?s fiery impatience, had once again done some great work. Armed
with his Nordic coolness and his well-rounded stature, Lundgren had not let
Safin?s uncertainties get the better of him. He has succeeded where his
predecessors ? 8 coaches since the beginning of Safin?s career ? had failed.
Marat?s work. Lundgren?s share. That was a gross mistake.
Because will Marat ever change? Gerard Tsobanian, the Russian?s French
manager, disappointed, almost angry after his favourite?s failures, says:
?Why is it not working for Marat? But because he has fallen back into the
twists and turns oh his complicated psyche!?. And then he admits, puzzled:
?The fact Marat might have lost his tennis in the Melbourne-Moscow flight is
a mystery to me??
But it seemed not to be a mystery for Russian player Nikolay Davydenko who
says: ?Marat took a long break after Melbourne. He preferred to go fishing
near Moscow?. Lundgren, who in private is as surprised as Tsobanian,
categorically denies: "In Moscow Marat trained very well. But after the
Australia he was probably mentally tired. Since we are together he has
worked a lot. He?s also given a lot during autumn. He won the tournaments of
Beijing, Madrid and Bercy, he played the semi-final in Houston?s Masters.
Marat was the man to beat during the last winter, and he is burnt now?. Then
he adds: ?At the beginning of the year, Marat was focussed. He didn?t show
his emotions. He was in control. He was playing well. We need to have that
state of mind back. But it?s difficult, he?s not someone who has a huge
confidence??
We would like to avoid the overused image. But with Marat you always go back
to the same point, deep into the character who lives in his mind, back to
his mental manipulations, his mental masochism. His mother, Rauza, doesn?t
worry much about it and quietly explains: ?Marat trains seriously, but he
doesn?t know how to play his tennis anymore. He?s lost his concentration.
Perhaps after Melbourne he wanted to succeed too much??. Swiss Marc Rosset,
a friend of the Russian ? maybe because he acts like him, and like their 3rd
buddy, the enigmatic Goran Ivanisevic ? says: ?What do you want, it?s Marat.
Someone whose results depend on his craving, on his feeling, whereas some
others can ignore their emotions. If something goes wrong in his mind,
everything goes wrong. And he questions himself a lot, he sets very high
standards for himself. Therefore, he may have won in Melbourne, it won?t
change a lot: he may play 20 perfect forehands, if the 21st is bad, he?ll
hate himself for it and it?s going to be a catastrophe?. Rosset talked to
safin on the phone just after the Russian lost to Argentine Acasuso in the
second round of Barcelona: ?Marat told me: ?there will be better days?. He?s
also quite fatalist for that matter?.
Here are some examples of this resignation that he expressed in a
disconcerting month of April:
?Marat you went through tough times after Melbourne, is there an explanation
for it?
- I just lost confidence. Anyway, over the past three years, I didn?t have
any good results in these tournaments I played after Melbourne? It?s the
kind of months I can?t play.
Why?
- I don?t know why. No matter how hard you train, how much you give of
yourself, no matter if you try not to think about it or if you think about
it a lot, no matter if you train a lot or not at all. At the end it doesn?t
work anyway.
When you lost confidence, you just had won the Australian Open, you were
feeling good?
- I took a break before Duba?I took 3 weeks off. Then I needed time to get
used to the courts and I lost the confidence.
While you were on a break?
- Yes. During the break. It happens sometimes?.
Then he is asked if he has ever thought of working with a mental trainer. He
prefers to avoid the question: ?You have to be satisfied with what you are.
You can?t change. You can?t pretend you can change because it?s not
possible. No one changes, and no one can change you, no matter what they do,
or how many time they spend trying. You must accept it. And I managed to
finish in the top 10 for 4 or 5 years so? and I?ve been #1, so it?s not that
bad?. Actually, Marat Safin worked last year with an Israeli psychologist
found by Amit Naor, a former player who is now one of his managers, and
whose name hasn?t been revealed to us by Marat?s staff as the Russian
doesn?t like the idea anyway.
On another side, since Duba?e?s been working with a new physiologist. He has
fired the old talkative man Walt Landers, and he?s now working with Donald
Nielsen, a former Thai boxing champion, who is also a chiropractor and an
adept of mental coaching. Will Safin be able to peacefully associate
physical and mental training at his contact?
?We must do everything to put him back on the right way? says Lundgren.
Everything to get him out of this spiral, because they don?t want Melbourne
to make him sink like his first GS title (the US Open, in 2000) did. More
than 4 years have passes during his mythical victory over Pete Sampras in
New York and his second GS title won in the last winter. Four years ? the
longest moment spent in wilderness by any player in the whole tennis history
? to get rid of the image of a 20 year old exceptional kid whom his American
victory had then crushed him more than it had transcended him.
<continued in next post>
Marat Safin facing his demons
Translation by Damita!
At the age of 25, we thought he had calmed down. But since his victory at
the Australian Open, in January, the Russian went through a lot of defeats
without glory. Being prey to doubts again, will he find the key to his
internal torments before Roland Garros?
There he goes again! Gloomy thoughts which appears and are eating into him.
Dejection crises which make his craving shut up. Doubts which eat into his
tennis. All those weird moods he has been going through since we know him
and which start to sound like a clich?in spite of himself, in spite of us.
Wonderful champion at the Australian Open 3 months ago, in January, he has
fallen to the bottom of water since then. He didn?t win any tournament due
to matches beneath his talent. And now Roland Garros which is coming with
this question: which Marat Safin will show? The one from Melbourne, calmed
down (a little bit), with his high level of confidence and his brilliant
game? Or the one from Monaco, Barcelona and Rome, whose mind is assailed
with questions and whose racket is at half-mast?
And we thought he had changed since his Australian victory. He was in
control, he seemed to have mastered his frustrations. A godsend for the
tennis world: a new Safin was born, soon to be the regular challenger of
Roger Federer. His brand new coach, Peter Lundgren, the guy who had
restrained Marcelo Rios? aggressive ardour, the guy who had then restrained
Roger Federer?s fiery impatience, had once again done some great work. Armed
with his Nordic coolness and his well-rounded stature, Lundgren had not let
Safin?s uncertainties get the better of him. He has succeeded where his
predecessors ? 8 coaches since the beginning of Safin?s career ? had failed.
Marat?s work. Lundgren?s share. That was a gross mistake.
Because will Marat ever change? Gerard Tsobanian, the Russian?s French
manager, disappointed, almost angry after his favourite?s failures, says:
?Why is it not working for Marat? But because he has fallen back into the
twists and turns oh his complicated psyche!?. And then he admits, puzzled:
?The fact Marat might have lost his tennis in the Melbourne-Moscow flight is
a mystery to me??
But it seemed not to be a mystery for Russian player Nikolay Davydenko who
says: ?Marat took a long break after Melbourne. He preferred to go fishing
near Moscow?. Lundgren, who in private is as surprised as Tsobanian,
categorically denies: "In Moscow Marat trained very well. But after the
Australia he was probably mentally tired. Since we are together he has
worked a lot. He?s also given a lot during autumn. He won the tournaments of
Beijing, Madrid and Bercy, he played the semi-final in Houston?s Masters.
Marat was the man to beat during the last winter, and he is burnt now?. Then
he adds: ?At the beginning of the year, Marat was focussed. He didn?t show
his emotions. He was in control. He was playing well. We need to have that
state of mind back. But it?s difficult, he?s not someone who has a huge
confidence??
We would like to avoid the overused image. But with Marat you always go back
to the same point, deep into the character who lives in his mind, back to
his mental manipulations, his mental masochism. His mother, Rauza, doesn?t
worry much about it and quietly explains: ?Marat trains seriously, but he
doesn?t know how to play his tennis anymore. He?s lost his concentration.
Perhaps after Melbourne he wanted to succeed too much??. Swiss Marc Rosset,
a friend of the Russian ? maybe because he acts like him, and like their 3rd
buddy, the enigmatic Goran Ivanisevic ? says: ?What do you want, it?s Marat.
Someone whose results depend on his craving, on his feeling, whereas some
others can ignore their emotions. If something goes wrong in his mind,
everything goes wrong. And he questions himself a lot, he sets very high
standards for himself. Therefore, he may have won in Melbourne, it won?t
change a lot: he may play 20 perfect forehands, if the 21st is bad, he?ll
hate himself for it and it?s going to be a catastrophe?. Rosset talked to
safin on the phone just after the Russian lost to Argentine Acasuso in the
second round of Barcelona: ?Marat told me: ?there will be better days?. He?s
also quite fatalist for that matter?.
Here are some examples of this resignation that he expressed in a
disconcerting month of April:
?Marat you went through tough times after Melbourne, is there an explanation
for it?
- I just lost confidence. Anyway, over the past three years, I didn?t have
any good results in these tournaments I played after Melbourne? It?s the
kind of months I can?t play.
Why?
- I don?t know why. No matter how hard you train, how much you give of
yourself, no matter if you try not to think about it or if you think about
it a lot, no matter if you train a lot or not at all. At the end it doesn?t
work anyway.
When you lost confidence, you just had won the Australian Open, you were
feeling good?
- I took a break before Duba?I took 3 weeks off. Then I needed time to get
used to the courts and I lost the confidence.
While you were on a break?
- Yes. During the break. It happens sometimes?.
Then he is asked if he has ever thought of working with a mental trainer. He
prefers to avoid the question: ?You have to be satisfied with what you are.
You can?t change. You can?t pretend you can change because it?s not
possible. No one changes, and no one can change you, no matter what they do,
or how many time they spend trying. You must accept it. And I managed to
finish in the top 10 for 4 or 5 years so? and I?ve been #1, so it?s not that
bad?. Actually, Marat Safin worked last year with an Israeli psychologist
found by Amit Naor, a former player who is now one of his managers, and
whose name hasn?t been revealed to us by Marat?s staff as the Russian
doesn?t like the idea anyway.
On another side, since Duba?e?s been working with a new physiologist. He has
fired the old talkative man Walt Landers, and he?s now working with Donald
Nielsen, a former Thai boxing champion, who is also a chiropractor and an
adept of mental coaching. Will Safin be able to peacefully associate
physical and mental training at his contact?
?We must do everything to put him back on the right way? says Lundgren.
Everything to get him out of this spiral, because they don?t want Melbourne
to make him sink like his first GS title (the US Open, in 2000) did. More
than 4 years have passes during his mythical victory over Pete Sampras in
New York and his second GS title won in the last winter. Four years ? the
longest moment spent in wilderness by any player in the whole tennis history
? to get rid of the image of a 20 year old exceptional kid whom his American
victory had then crushed him more than it had transcended him.
<continued in next post>
