Transcription and translation of an online interview with Safin conducted in 2020.

[I get cramps]

Marat is a former tennis player with plenty to share. He certainly wasn't a conventional player — and I'm not just talking about his flirtations. He has an extravagant personality, but he is very likeable and does not mince his words.

1)

Daniel Spatz - Marat, do you understand me well? Shall we speak in Spanish?

Marat - Yes, of course.

DS - You just broke the record for online attendance per second for this interview channel.

Marat - Really? Why is that?

DS - Because there are 122 people online after 32 seconds of the interview.

Marat (smiles) - Okay. Good to know.

DS - I see you smiling. You are not going to grab a racket and hit me over the head like you did with Paul (Forsyth, former IMG coach)?

Marat - I'm calmer now.

DS - We met in Peru, Marat.

Marat - Yes, in '92, right?

DS - What a memory you have! You really remember that, because Paul told me you remembered it!

Marat - Yes, we met at El Deportivo Casuarinas.

DS - I interviewed Paul recently. Do you know what he told me?

Marat - No, tell me what he said.

DS - Paul told me that you arrived with some children (Marat was one of them) at Bollettieri and asked Paul about the bounce of the balls. The other children left, but you stayed with Paul and said, ‘I want to see the courts and how the balls bounce on them.’

Marat - I don't remember that.

DS - Pancho Alvariño is watching us (Pancho A. was Marat's coach for at least five years during his adolescence in Valencia, Spain). He's among the first two hundred who showed up to listen to you.

Marat - Ah! Pancho. Hello, Pancho. How are you? Panchot (affectionate nickname).

DS - Paul adores you. Who was Paul Forsyth to Marat?

Marat - I arrived at Bollettieri in '92, and he was working with group 3. They put me in group 4 with Paul, and I found Paul a little more ‘human’. More, more, yes, more human! Paul talked to us; he liked to communicate with us. He always encouraged us; he was a good person.

DS - And did you talk to him? Before interviewing you, people asked me, How are you going to talk to Marat in English? Why do you speak Spanish so well? I spent 17 years in Spain, well, not in Spain, but travelling (through Spanish-speaking countries). I was trained by Pancho Alvariño in Spain, so that's where I learned the language. I lived in Valencia alone, without my family, and no one spoke English. Only Pancho and the other coaches. I didn't speak English with the guys I trained with, so I had to find a way to interact with them.

Marat - I've watched a lot of Spanish films and TV shows. I went to classes to learn grammar, although I didn't know much (smiles), ‘I can defend myself’ (a widespread Spanish idiom).

DS - But you use ‘I can defend myself’, you speak beautifully.
Today I got up at 4:00 a.m., which is the same time you get up, to watch a summary of your best ATP plays. Impressive! I mean, I followed your career. You were a very complete player. I would highlight that someone of your height was able to defend himself very well against your opponents' attacks. Were you aware of this?

Marat - I didn't know that, but it's good to know. It gives me more confidence in myself.

DS: Where did you learn those defensive moves, being so tall?

Marat - Everyone knows... Over time, the Spanish school became the best in the world. It grew from the 90s with... I should say the 80s: Aguilera, I can't talk about Santana and Gimeno, but Corretja, Berasategui and Bruguera appeared, and their tennis grew a lot during those years. When I arrived in Spain, the leading academy was Bruguera's. I went there one day and liked it. Still, the lady who took me, who was the person who 'managed' me, decided that I would stay in Valencia with Pancho Alvariño and Rafa Mensua.
The Spanish school is the best in the world [these are not my words or opinions]. That's clear. And this school kept getting better, because at first everything was focused on defence. Before, there were very few aggressive players in the school. Spanish style, red clay. But they evolved. Moyà came along and played very well on fast courts. They started to improve their volleys and their serves. Suddenly, Nadal appeared, playing well on all surfaces. He volleys, attacks, defends; he is a very versatile player. The school continues to improve aspects of the game that it began working on some time ago.

In the 1990s, when the boys went to Wimbledon, they knew they would lose in the first round, so they didn't even try. In recent years, you have Nadal, Feliciano López, Verdasco, Ferrer, Ferrero. These players now routinely volley in training, play doubles...

DS - I'll let you talk. People are loving listening to you. I just received a message from Mariano (an Argentine surname, perhaps of Armenian or Lebanese origin, which is unintelligible to me, as it sounds like this in Spanish: Jud), who says hello and wants you to tell a story about when you played a challenger when you were fifteen...

Marat - I met Mariano... He's a person... Now, when I tell you about it, you'll understand why he's a very important person in my life. In 1997, Mariano travelled to play in a satellite tournament in the Netherlands. I was retired because my sponsor wasn't giving me any money, but it turned out that I got some money transferred to me. I was ranked 430th in the world, and I went to the Netherlands with some Swedish guys. After two weeks of living with them, I got bored...

DS - What about the girls?

Marat - At that time, I wasn't thinking about girls. Tennis was more important because I was running out of money to live on.
Well, in the second week of the satellite tournament, the participants were spending all day at the club. Mariano and a guy named Sebastián Weiss realised I spoke Spanish. ‘Why do you speak Spanish?’ We started talking, and I told them about my plans. When my participation in the Dutch satellite ended, I wanted to go to India and Egypt to play satellites because I needed the points. Mariano and Sebastián Weiss said to me, ‘No, don't do that, we'll make you a schedule.’ I told the Argentine guys my story, and they liked me. They arranged my tournament schedule for the entire year, from June to January, including all the challengers.
They were the ones who ‘pushed’ me to play the Challengers. At the end of the satellite, we were playing in the Netherlands again, and a Challenger was also starting in the Netherlands. Then I had two options. Either play the Challengers or go to India and Egypt to get the points I needed. Being ranked 430th in the world, I didn't have the confidence to play all those Challengers. They gave me the names of the players I would meet in the challengers so that I could say I was there on their behalf, and they would let me sleep in their rooms. That's how I met Sebastián Prieto, who took me into his room, the Brazilian guy, Garoto, they called him Garoto, too many names, now maybe their names will come back to me.
That year, I finished ranked 195th in the world, and I knew I would be a professional player.

DS - How old were you?

Marat - Seventeen.

 

[I get cramps]

2)

DS - So that's when your view of tennis changed, and you started seeing it as a profession.

Marat - Yes, because I started to have expectations of improving my game. I examined how I played in challenger matches, how the players perceived me, and how they played against me. I started to notice whether they were afraid of me, and that can help you improve as a player. Do they respect me on the court? If so, you gain even more confidence.

DS - Did you have a coach, Marat?

Marat - Not at that time, because of the costs involved in supporting myself. Then I started travelling with Rafa Mensua, then with Pancho, and then back with Rafa.

DS - People from all over the world are watching you, and they ask me what language we are speaking. You have fans everywhere. From Brazil, and now many from Russia are joining in. What memories do you have of South America? People from Argentina and Brazil ask me that. They want to know if you were there and what you visited.

Marat - I like Argentina. I've travelled to Buenos Aires quite a few times, and I also went to Patagonia with Sergio Roitman. We both retired from professional tennis in the same year and planned a trip to Patagonia. I wanted to get to know the area and its nature. I've been to Rio, but I didn't have time to do a proper trip around Brazil; it's something I want to do and have in mind.

DS - I was told that you like Peru a lot.

Marat - Yes, I go there twice a year. I like Machu Picchu, I can't stop wondering how they built it.

DS - You're interested in culture, aren't you, Marat? You're a cultured person.

Marat - Ah, well, thank you very much.

DS - No, seriously, it's evident that your life wasn't just about hitting a tennis ball. Do you like reading?

Marat - Yes, I like reading. I enjoy travelling, 'expanding my mind', getting out of my comfort zone a bit. Having experiences, really living, because when you die, all you have left are your memories. So I try to do things that scare me, or the things that scare me the most, because otherwise you're not living.

DS - I like what you say, because it fits in with your precocious childhood and adolescence. Your mother, who taught you to play tennis, who put a racket in your hand?

Marat - My mum was a tennis player. So, do you remember Morozova?

DS - Yes, Olga.

Marat - Olga Morozova. She was number one in Russia [Marat uses the proper name 'Russia'], and my mother was number two or three in Russia. My mum competed in the juniors at Roland Garros and Wimbledon. Morozova and she are the same age. My mother was a good player in the USSR, and then, of course, she started working as a coach, and we didn't have a nanny. So we went with her to the club, and when I started walking, I had a racket in my hand. There was no other option for me (smiles).

DS - And she taught you the techniques?

Marat - Yes, of course, it was my mum.

DS - And she taught Dinara, too.

Marat - Yes, of course.

Marat - I trained with my mum until I was 12, and then I went to Bollettieri, and from Bollettieri to Spain.

DS - Was your mum very demanding?

Marat - Yes, quite. She was quite a tough coach, but there was a reason for that. She wanted to teach me everything she knew, and because she was a Soviet citizen, she couldn't travel outside Russia. She tried to pass on that unfulfilled desire to play abroad to us as an incentive. She trained Myskina and Dementieva; she was a good coach, yes.

DS - Are they in good health?

Marat - Yes, my parents are still together and they're fine. I knock on wood. They're 72 [in 2020] and live in Moscow.

DS - Do you see them often?

Marat - Of course! The family has a good relationship.

DS - She only speaks Russian. Does she speak English too? [What an embarrassing question from Spatz.]

Marat - She came to Spain in 1998. She understands Spanish, although she can speak very little. Does she know English? The basics. She's sharp, she's sharp, that lady.

DS - I used to watch you play, Marat, and you were an all-courter, as the Americans say, a well-rounded player. By the way, how many languages do you speak, Marat?

Marat - English, Spanish; I can understand French and Italian if they don't speak too fast. However, if I try to speak in those languages, Spanish comes out right away.

DS - Your backhand DTL was impressive. Everyone talks endlessly about Djokovic hitting in an open stance on the run, but you were doing that 20 years ago, and you were beating Moyà, Ríos, Agassi, everyone. Did that shot come naturally, or was it highly trained?

Marat - Look, the Czechs, Poles and Russians, to name a few, all have the same technique. We have better backhands than forehands. Why? Because when we were kids, we played with very heavy rackets, so it's not a shot that comes naturally to us. But coaching has improved a lot. Look at Medvedev and Rublev. They all have good forehands now because they started playing with rackets that weighed less than a kilogram, while we played with rocks.

DS - And did you learn to play with soft or regular balls?

Marat - Soft? Softballs didn't exist. They appeared when the borders opened.

DS - Marat, what was it like playing against Guga Kuerten? We have a lot of people from Brazil online. Guga finished number one that year, and you could have been number one too. You were number one for nine months...

Marat - No! Not nine months. Twelve weeks.
Guga had a pretty good serve, and his serving technique was ugly. A little bit, I don't know... He swayed when he served; it was like a dance. I knew you had to stop him from getting into a rhythm; if you could do that, you could play with him. He was very good on clay because he had more time, but over time, he improved a lot on fast courts. He was astute on the court, he had good hands, great flexibility, and he was a good fighter. Brazilians practise jiu-jitsu, and with Guga, he would wrap himself around you like a spider. It's not that Guga would kill you with a tremendously powerful blow, but he would take you out of position a little with each hit, and you would end up losing too much position. If you weren't very attentive, Guga could do this to you very quickly.

DS - Ríos.

Marat - He's a genius. After Federer, he has the best technique I've ever seen, incredible hands, how he reads you and anticipates shots...

DS - What was it like playing against him, Marat? How did you feel with him on the court?

Marat - It was very difficult if you let him dictate the game, but he was very fragile upstairs, and his serve was nothing special. I think he wasn't really aware of the inhuman talent he had for playing. Anyway, that's my opinion, obviously.

DS - No, but say what you want. We're among friends, right?

Marat - Yes, of course. But I want people to understand...

DS - I don't like Rafael Nadal's forehand technically. I think it's ugly.
Marat - But it's effective.

DS - I prefer Federer's, but I also like Agassi's. Let's continue, Andre Agassi.

Marat - The first hour you play with him is crucial, you have to withstand his initial onslaught for an hour and a half [I feel like I'm listening to Higueras]. And then he becomes a different player. He always tried to play at a very high pace, and he needed to finish the match quickly. And, yes, of course, he can last four hours on court. But at our level, we feel that drop in his very high pace. He doesn't like it at all when you play behind him; he gets lost. He runs in one direction and doesn't recover ground at the speed he should.

DS - He liked to exchange cross-court backhands, right?

Marat - Yes, if someone has a bad backhand, they're destroyed, but if you have a good one, it doesn't matter. His serve is good, but his second serve is nothing special, and that's where you can put pressure on him.
Now, he returns very well, so you have to vary your serve a lot, including the speeds. You have to vary the points of impact on his return position to shoulder height and above. It's complex, obviously, but we're playing at our level.

DS - Who is the best Argentine player you have seen?

Marat - Nalbandián.

DS - Why?

Marat - David is one of the best players in the history of tennis. He was the daddy of Nadal and Federer. In the locker room, everyone respected how he moved on the court, his intelligence on the court, he is a warrior [these two have played Davis Cup, real Davis Cup].

 

[I get cramps]

3)

DS - Why do you think David didn’t win a Grand Slam?

Marat - I don’t know. David should have won several slams. But he had... I enjoyed playing against him. I lost several matches playing against him. https://www.atptour.com/en/players/atp-head-2-head/marat-safin-vs-david-nalbandian/s741/n301

DS - Why did he beat you?

Marat - David killed me in Russia when we played the Davis Cup final in Russia in 2006. David really killed me in that match. But I was comfortable playing against him because we had a similar style of play, but I’m physically stronger than him. We had more or less the same way of seeing the game.

He has a weak second serve, so I attacked it. He serves with a low percentage on his first serve.

DS - Del Potro?

Marat - We played an official match, and he beat me, but I don’t accept that defeat because it happened in the autumn of 2009 in Bercy, and I was retiring from professional tennis (laughs).

DS - He asked you for the racket you played with in that match, and you gave it to him. Juan Martín keeps it as a memento.

Marat - Delpo was an excellent player. He had one of the best forehands in the history of tennis and improved his serve a lot.

DS - And the Chileans: Massú and Fernando González?

Fernando grew considerably as a player throughout his career. Another great forehand in the history of tennis. His serve improved a lot. Horacio de la Peña, when he took him on as coach, improved his terrible backhand, and that made him a more difficult player to play against. An excellent fighter.

I’ve known Fernando since I was 14. The Russians played in the under-14 tournament at TARP against the Chileans. Fernando beat me in the semi-finals and then played Juan Carlos Ferrero in the final. Ferrero won that tournament.

And Massú is a great guy.

DS - Were you a coach?

Marat - No, no, no, no, no.

DS - You’d be a fun coach with a lot of character.

Marat - No, I’d be fair with the players. Intimidation and strict discipline won’t get you anywhere with players. Give them as much information as possible in the simplest way you can, as well as supporting their confidence. The rest is up to them. And this is very important: avoid technical terms as much as possible and don’t use foreign words if you can avoid it. So if I’m with a Russian or Spanish-speaking child or teenager, I’ll try to avoid Anglicisms as much as possible. A coach who shouts doesn’t have real solid tennis knowledge.

DS - Hey, Marat, tell me about Pete Sampras.

Marat - Yes, Pete, eh? No, Pete is Pete Sampras. Pete is the player... He’s the previous version of Federer. Or the other way around, Federer is the next version of Sampras.

DS - When you played Federer in close matches, did you think someone would come along so quickly to beat Sampras’ records? When Federer equalled Sampras’ 14 Grand Slams, it looked like he would be at the top...

Marat - I thought around 2002 that Federer brought another level of play with him. He did everything better.

DS - I’m asked about Hewitt.

He and the Argentinians looked like they were going to clash. Is he unfriendly as he seems?

Marat - No, he’s not unfriendly. He’s a pretty good guy. He’s just completely obsessed with tennis. For him, a match is a war. When he yells at you looking you in the eye, he’s not doing it because he feels animosity towards you. He motivates himself in this way. I don’t know why he never looked me in the eye during one of his ‘come on.’ But he did it to the Argentine players repeatedly. There are quite a few players who hated him. But he talked to me like a normal person. I don’t know if I was the only one he did that with. I mean, we didn’t hang out together, but in the locker room we treated each other with respect. He’s one of the greatest players in history.

DS - You played against Djokovic.

Marat - Yes, in the first round of the Australian Open that I won. https://www.atptour.com/en/players/atp-head-2-head/marat-safin-vs-novak-djokovic/s741/d643

DS - Did you ever think, on either of the two occasions you played him, that he would become the player he is today?

Marat - Never. It was a big surprise.

DS - So, Federer’s evolution didn’t surprise you, but Djokovic’s did. And Nadal?

Marat - I knew he would be a very tough player because he is Spanish, stubborn, hard-working, strong-willed, and I thought that his technique would complicate things for him, but as he had good physical qualities, he could compensate for those shortcomings.

I didn’t talk to him much because I didn’t know him very well. But he is very strong upstairs, very, very strong. And very humble and a good person. He is a great fighter!

He... doesn’t have the typical Spanish tennis player mentality; he has something extra. Because Spanish tennis players stay at a certain level... they’re so humble, such nice guys that they don’t quite believe in themselves. And Rafa is also humble and a very nice guy, but he has something else. In the past, Spaniards only played on clay and lacked self-confidence on other surfaces.

Rafa changed the landscape.

DS - Marat, was it a surprise for you to become world number 1, or did you work from a young age to get there

Marat - I never thought I would become world number 1, so when I did, it was a surprise. And I didn’t know how to live up to other people’s expectations of what my career would be like, I couldn’t handle the pressure. It changed the way people close to me and those who weren’t close to me treated me. They put pressure on me, and as a result, I started doing it to myself.

DS - But you kept winning. You won in Australia and the Davis Cup as well.

Marat - Hmmm. [Marat is indifferent to those words; you only have to look at his expression.]

Marat - OK. The problem I had was that from 2000 onwards, I could play for a year, and then I’d spend a year with injuries that prevented me from playing, and so it went until I retired in 2009.

DS - What injuries?

Marat - Torn ligaments, bones, muscles. I played with a broken rib as long as I could. My back was ruined, I broke my left kneecap and retired.

DS - But did you practised taekwondo?

Marat - No, no, it all happened while playing tennis.

DS - And you liked football, I read you were a Valencia F.C. fan?

Marat - Yes, I was. I ended up getting bored. Sport bores me. I never watch sporting events unless I have to, and certainly not football.

DS - Do you watch tennis?

Marat - No, it bores me. I watch some matches when I’m invited to Roland Garros, and this year in Melbourne I only saw the final and Rublev’s match there. I think two matches are more than enough.

DS - Did you watch tennis before?

Marat - No, I went eight years without watching a single match. Since retiring, I have watched no tennis at all.

DS - But why were you sad after retiring and found it hard to watch tennis?

Marat - No, no. I just don’t like it.

When I retired from tennis, I couldn’t run anymore; it’s physically impossible for me. And that started happening before I retired. I sank into a deep depression. Just think, after winning in Australia, I felt like I had the desire and ability to fight for the world number one spot with Federer again. In Indian Wells in 2005, I was already injured. After spending 2006 recovering, when I returned to the courts I was no longer the same player. My forehand was out of sync, and with it, my entire game. I had to take more risks with my forehand, and that wasn’t my game. Could I play against Federer and Nadal and feel comfortable in those conditions? Either I could be among the top five players in the world or tennis had no meaning for me.

Being number 10 is completely uninteresting to me.

Ds - Do you think all champions would think like you then?

Marat - I think that’s a very personal matter. I like to win, but I insist that’s how I feel about tennis.

 

[Fedforever]

His Spanish is so good.

Even his pauses sound natural - you dont feel like hes thinking in Russian and searching for the translation.

 

[Judge Holden]

As a 100-or-nothing kind of person who fears incompetence much more than failure, this really resonated with me:

DS - But why were you sad after retiring and found it hard to watch tennis?

Marat - No, no. I just don’t like it.

When I retired from tennis, I couldn’t run anymore; it’s physically impossible for me. And that started happening before I retired. I sank into a deep depression. Just think, after winning in Australia, I felt like I had the desire and ability to fight for the world number one spot with Federer again. In Indian Wells in 2005, I was already injured. After spending 2006 recovering, when I returned to the courts I was no longer the same player. My forehand was out of sync, and with it, my entire game. I had to take more risks with my forehand, and that wasn’t my game. Could I play against Federer and Nadal and feel comfortable in those conditions? Either I could be among the top five players in the world or tennis had no meaning for me.

Being number 10 is completely uninteresting to me.

Ds - Do you think all champions would think like you then?

Marat - I think that’s a very personal matter. I like to win, but I insist that’s how I feel about tennis.

 

[I get cramps]

4)

DS - Did you already have that way of seeing things when you were little?

Safin - I always wanted to win every game I played. And I ended up tiring of that mentality. I don’t want to play soccer, tennis, or anything else; I don’t want to fight; I don’t want to argue; I don’t want to do anything. I want to be calm.

DS - But you’re at peace with your career and your efforts. Did you give it your all?

Marat - Yes, yes, yes. [And Marat repeats] Yes, yes, yes. [Marat answers these questions only out of politeness].

DS - Flávio Saretta sends his regards from Brazil.

Marat - Of course he does, I lost playing against him. SOB! He didn’t beat me; I lost to him!

DS - Ah! You didn’t lose the match? [laughter]

Marat - I lost, period.

DS - I understand, I understand.

I know you don’t watch tennis, but is there anyone like Marat Safin today, someone you see yourself in?

Marat - I don’t see any players who are like me.

DS - On account of that answer, Paul Forsyth [former IMG coach] writes: ‘That’s Marat!’

Marat - [He smiles unintentionally] Paul, hi, what’s up, man!

DS - He made this interview possible.

I like you to correct me. You’ve done that since I started interviewing you. I love it. Wasn’t part of your decision not to become a coach the knowledge that you would occasionally have to carry the bag with all the equipment that tennis players use today? Besides the important change in your role, you become an employee.

DS - Now that I know you a little better, I don’t see you putting up with those circumstances even if you’re well paid.

Marat - Again, that’s another very personal decision that doesn’t depend on whether you’ve been number one in the world. It’s a decision that depends on... I don’t see that job as working for someone else.

A coach is not a ball boy; he shouldn’t be there to take your rackets to be strung, he can never act like a butler. He should make you a better player than when you started training with him. He gets his percentage of the winnings; that’s obvious, to put you in a position to win more titles and money together. Under no circumstances should he act as your servant or assistant. Well, there are a few butlers on the tour [he nods and shakes his head vigorously]. They call themselves coaches because they don’t have a clue about what’s involved in competing, not just technically. But a significant number of tennis players like this type of coach.

DS - You won the Davis Cup twice, you were world number one; you won Grand Slams, what else would you have liked to achieve?

Marat - To be a champion at Roland Garros.

DS - You were a semifinalist there. Who did you lose to?

Marat - I didn’t lose, I tanked the match against Ferrero.

DS - Why?

Marat - I got angry with myself.

DS - On one occasion, although not on others, Mcenroe said that if he had been calmer on court, he would have won 20 Grand Slams.

DS - I enjoy your genuineness. In Argentina we say: ‘He or she speaks without a filter.’

I’m just like you. If you had had such a calm temperament, could you have won 15 Grand Slams?

Marat - Well, I’m going to give you a Russian answer that’s a bit out of line: ‘If grandma had balls, she would have been a grandpa.’ Those questions are the stuff of childhood fantasies. To feel the way I do now, I had to go through all the moments of my life. I am happy with my sports career. I was lucky to become the tennis player I was. It is a gift from God. It was a journey, a spectacular adventure.

DS - I'm reading... I am often asked why human beings need to achieve difficult goals constantly, with the inevitable anxiety that comes with it. I have been asked to ask you this question several times.

That reminds me, I would like to know your opinion of Kyrgios. Have you seen him compete and play? Have you seen his fits of anger on the court?

Marat - He has a high ceiling. From my point of view, his problem stems from his youth and is psychological. Kyrgios behaves that way on the court to hide his fear, his overwhelming fear. It’s not a question of talent or whether the public likes to see his shots and meltdowns.

Kyrgios knows that fears lie inside him. Either he acknowledges them openly and works almost only on them, or he will continue in the same vein. Kyrgios could become world number one without having to make a daunting effort before embarking on the journey.

DS - Did you work with psychologists regularly or never?

Marat - There are good psychologists. That said, there are so many who tell you four pieces of childish nonsense and charge you. Some, very few, are serious, and then they do ‘spiritual’ work; they try to get to know your consciousness, not just your mind. You can’t just treat the brain; it’s useless.

What do I know... Do meditation, yoga, well, yoga not necessarily, meditation yes. Learn to breathe not just with your chest during matches.

DS - That’s excellent advice, and there are a huge number of young people listening to you. Tell us, how do you breathe?

Marat - From the moment you train when you’re a kid, no one teaches you how to breathe. You breathe with your chest; you run out of lungs and you can’t think anymore. And your mind races fast. But if you learn to breathe from your stomach, you solve that problem. Compare the two ways of breathing and tell me the difference you notice.

Chest: your shoulders will hunch and you’ll tense up. The blood circulation in your legs quickly deteriorates; you can no longer play long points, and your ability to withstand psychological pressure disappears. You'll boil over in no time.

DS - Did you know that as a child?

Marat - No way! I learned it after retiring four years ago through a lot of meditation.

DS - You were involved in politics in your country. Would you like to be president of Russia one day?

Marat - Yes, yes, yes.

DS - And will you run for office?

Marat - [laughs, jokes, and raises his arms in the air] Send me energy to make it happen.

DS - Hey, Marat, I’d be your driver.

Marat - [laughs] Okay, it’s a deal.

DS - You got married...

Marat - No, I don’t have a partner. I’m single, and I don’t have any children. My wife and I separated a few years ago. I have time for myself, free time. I suppose that one day I’ll have a family... No, I’ll just let things happen as they happen.

DS - If you had children, would you like them to be tennis players?

Marat - It’s a mathematical certainty that trying to be a professional if you don’t have talent will end badly. So I would see if they had talent.

DS - Would you be their coach or not?

Marat - Assistant coach! The supervising coach.

 

[I get cramps]

His Spanish is so good.

Even his pauses sound natural - you dont feel like hes thinking in Russian and searching for the translation.

Marat thinks in Spanish, just as you wrote. Or rather, when he encounters a Spanish speaker, his verbal process ‘seems’ not to cross over into other languages at all in his inner mind.

Seems...