So Long, Safin: The Russian Rasputin Retires

The famed, torn, and successful career of former world No. 1 Marat Safin ended this week with a final showing at the BNP Paribas Masters.

With a tsunami of career highlights both memorable and forgettable to recount, please allow me a more informal look at one of the most charismatic players tennis has ever seen.

My first run-in with Safin took place during the Masters event in the summer of 2000 in Toronto. A slightly more volatile Safin (if that is even possible) began what would become his destined run toward his first Grand Slam title in New York.

As I walked toward Court 11 on the campus of York University (both the school I attended and grounds of the event), I was curious to view the much talked about Russian in all his explosive flesh.

Prior to seeing Safin live for the first time, I had paid attention to a few of the Moscow native's wins, which had included defeating Jim Courier during a 1998 Davis Cup tie and ousting both Andre Agassi and defending champ Gustavo Kuerten from the French Open later that spring.

Playing former world No. 4 Jonas Bjorkman in a first round encounter in Canada, the ability to view the talented youngster first time could not have been more perfect.

With minimal spectators present, I was treated to the full entourage of Safin's game. Everything from his sonic serves and dynamo backhand, to his cursing in Russian, English, and Spanish.

Don't worry, folks; I was also treated to a racket brake, the loss of the second set, and, yes, a near-miss disqualification.

During the beginning stages of the third set (Safin had lost the middle set 6-1 to Bjorkman), the Russian, like only he can, screamed to the heavens after missing a break point opportunity. The pent-up frustration (no surprise, really) caused Safin to throw his racket at what seemed to be 100 mph right into the backstop.

Showing a little anger is never a bad thing in tennis (for Safin, it was the only means of getting himself going), but when the racket or throw in question misses the head of an innocent bystander known as the ballgirl, anger is a very bad thing.

Safin, who didn't receive a racket abuse warning for his actions, reacted to the situations with poise, giving the ballgirl a shameful but apologetic smile, only to subsequently break Bjorkman and win the match.

If anything, Safin's tirade at the beginning of the third set had aided him to victory—the luck of not hitting the ballgirl played a substantial role in his progression that summer.

To me, that win against Bjorkman was not only the turnaround moment in Safin's career; it also magnified the essence which made the Russian's game pure—uninhibited aggression, centered on uncontainable and deserved ability.

That side court win for Safin simply became the platform for the youngsters title run in New York, which he obliterated Pete Sampras in three convincing sets.

With stardom on the the horizon, and Sampras claiming that "you will be seeing this Safin guy around for many years," the oblivious and green Grand Slam champ reacted with an opposite approach to Sampras' assessment: He underperformed for the remainder of his career.

Sure, the Russian Rasputin reached the finals of the 2002 and 2004 Australian Opens before capturing his second and last career title in Australia in 2005.

Safin dabbled in blonds, brunettes, and bar fights, and as recently as this year in Monte Carlo Masters, took his racket-breaking escapades to a whole new level by slicing his frame in a clean-cut break while losing to Nicolas Lapentti. Impressive!

Now that the towering Russian has left the men's circuit, questions will inevitably arise concerning whether or not Safin's contribution to the sport will be worth remembering?

Will his antics and his self-loathing game live in the heart of tennis' fabric for years to come? Certainly, tennis was far better off with the big man present.

Creating controversy at every corner, Safin's natural and fluent demeanor in the interview room will certainly be his most missed attribute.

Constantly giving us exactly "what we need," during his post match pressers, the unrobotic Safin never shied away from speaking his uninhibited mind.

In a day and age when so many tennis players answer questions in the same generic tone, Safin was not only eager to share his personality with the media, the cornerstone of his legacy will be remembered by his insightful words.

Here are a few career quotes to the media from the man himself:

"It's like love. When you look too hard, you don't find it. When you let it happen naturally, it comes."

—To CNNSI.com, talking about how he rediscovered his form at the Australian Open 2002.

"Do you expect me to smile like an idiot on court? Nobody likes to lose, and I can't be relaxed when I see on the scoreboard that I'm loosing and making stupid mistakes. That's just the way I am."

—According to chinaopen.cn, following a first-round loss to Max Mirnyi in 2001.

"I pay the bills, I pay for everything."

—Safin on how he intends to keep new coach Mats Wilander happy.

"I was in the right place at the right moment. God came to me, patted me on the head and said: 'You will win the glory.'"

—To The Independent, on winning the 2000 US Open.

"Oh, don't go there, because otherwise you're gonna see a lot of balls flying around and rackets, and a lot of swearing. I don't think you want that extreme."

—Marat Safin on how it would work if players were allowed to express their emotions without censorship, June 23, 2009.

"Not a lot of tennis players have managed to have a great life afterwards with tennis. With all the respect, I want to try to be the guy who ends up doing something else and be good at it."

—According to tennis.com, June of 2009.

Call him what you want, but please don't call him boring. Safin may not have been coachable, reliable, or able to live up to his potential, but he certainly had passion for the sport like no other.

Although the Russian provided many uninspiring results through his farewell tour—losing to Jesse Levine at Wimbledon and Jurgen Melzer at the US Open—Safin did exhibit heart in his final career win against Frenchman Thierry Ascione.

Saving three match points on the strength of his serving and forehand potency, Safin simply highlighted the immense (and underused) potential he has always possessed.

Now, on the eve of a Safin-less Tour, could we, or should we, expect a return from the Muscovite?

The pending answer to all you "I heart Safin" fans out there is: the studly Russian will do what he wants, and if he desires to come back he just might. But I wouldn't be holding my breath in anticipation.

Leaving tennis with a splendid array of answers in his final post-match presser after a loss to Juan Martin del Potro, Safin was candid in saying goodbye to a sport he has played from the age of six, relinquishing any doubt the he did in fact give his career all he had.

"I don't have a lot of them (titles), only 15, so not too many majors," Safin said, according to GlobalPost.com. "But they were really special and very welcome. A lot of people [think] that I'm not really [a] hard worker, but you can ask all my coaches how I dedicated myself to tennis. I worked for it, and I worked very hard."

Whether or not you want to disagree with the work ethic of Safin throughout his career, the interest and the fanfare he brought to the sport will seldom ever be duplicated.

There is, and always will be, one Safin; like him or not, tennis will not be the same without him.

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