In an interview with Sport360, Marat Safin talked Roger Federer and enjoying life outside of tennis. The interview with Sport360 took place during the International Premier Tennis League in the Dubai leg of the event. Safin was drafted by the new team, the Legandari Japan Warriors, as their legends player. He was one of two legends on the Warriors along with Thomas Enqvist.
Safin Talks Federer’s Tennis Abilities
The Russian and Roger Federer were rivals back in the early to mid-2000s. Like most rivalries with the Swiss maestro, it was extremely one-sided towards Federer. The 17-time major champion won the head-to-head series 10-2. Safin won only two matches, one in Moscow in 2002, but his second victory was the most memorable, defeating Federer in five sets in the 2005 Australian Open semifinal. Here’s what Safin had to say about Federer’s game. “Federer brought new things into tennis. The way he plays, his skills, he has an all-around game, just a beautiful tennis. He upgraded the level of tennis so the new generation grew up on this level. The rising stars have better shots, are more physical, more skills. Kyrgios plays so powerful and Nishikori is very good.”
Nervy Safin Also Talks About Enjoying Life
Safin was known for being quite nervous on the court, which is something that ran in his family since younger sister Dinara Safina often played poorly in big matches. However, Safin was emotional as well and used those emotions to make the nerves go away.
After retirement, the former world number one is still involved in tennis, playing in the Champions Tour and IPTL. He also is an official for the Russian Olympic Committee and Russian Tennis Federation. He’s also gone into politics getting elected into the Russian Parliament as part of Vladimir Putin’s United Russia Party. Safin talked about life after tennis and said, “Enjoy the life, because in tennis every day it’s about competing, competing, competing and once you get injured of course it’s not easy to accept that the tennis life is finished. You just have to start all over again, you have to put it in your head, start from scratch, it’s a new beginning and for the tennis players there are not so many options.”