federermagic -- Marat Safin's Big Beast Tennis (BONUS!)

[minhinmonterey]

if safin had a giant disfiguring mole in the middle of his face, i'm certain he wouldve won many many grand slams. how can the man compete on court after having to satisfy hordes of women night after night???

[ASPERGER0584]

Missile Launch: 3, 2, 1, FIRE! Ace - GAME SAFIN. =D

[takistakis1714]

"safin got KILL SHOTS!!!"

[mmeyer1]

6:16-6:26 some of the hardest backhands ever struck

[SoooBlue]

@mmeyer1 Baseline hitting does not get any cleaner, flatter or more powerful than that. Would have been great to have seen that live.

[davd1986]

The AO surface was almost tailor made for baseliners like Agassi and Safin. Agassi did all he could to win there after not showing up at all in the first part of his career, Safin just didn't play there enough because of injury and an early retirement. I firmly believe that he could have dominated the hardcourts of Australia and to some extent the US open as Federer has done with W and Nadal with FO.

[MaratSafinVideos]

@davd1986 I don't know about dominated, but not far off, I'm pretty much 100% certain Safin would have reached the final in 2003 and I wouldn't have been surprised to have seen him win. 2003 was the year where he could have found his best tennis, too bad for the wrist.

[davd1986]

@MaratSafinVideos For sure. He was to play Schuettler (the finalist that year!), but withdrew before the 3rd round. By my reckoning he could have had 3-4 grand slams before he won in 2005. It's hard to speculate and I can say this about other players from different eras as well, but considering how talented and capable Marat was, I don't think it would be a stretch to have seen him with 7-8 slams when he retired last year. End of 2003-2005, he was really focused and in shape! F'ing knee!

[davd1986]

Safin's big beast tennis could have won him a lot more grand slam titles and tennis matches in General. People say it's unfortunate that Roddick, Hewitt, Nalbandian, Djerkovic, etc play/ed in the same era as Federer because he beat them to the punch in so many GS matches.  No so with Safin, imo. He had the game, the speed, the solid volleys, the monster serve, huge groundstrokes, to threaten Federer every tournament, unfortunately injury struck him several blows and finally enough was enough..

[Anaconda43VR]

Yep. If Safin wasn't injured 24/7, was committed and work hard then Federer and Nadal wouldn't be raping the tour; Safin would be with them now.

Thnx 4 the mmrs Marat!

[DomingosSC]

I would trade 10 more years for safin for everything that fucking cheating junkie ever won. Fucking junkie. You sure fooled us all well.

[ActionRadar886]

What a fucking shit head you are. The man took a recreational drug that had a negative effect on his tennis. How does that make him a cheater?

[DomingosSC]

first of all, he must be the shithead if he knew the drug would have a negative effect on his tennis. Second, YOU fucking shithead, he cheated because when he tested positive he lied to the ATP by writing in a letter some excuse about how he took it without knowing or something. So yes, that is commonly known as cheating.

[Anaconda43VR]

Actually crystal methanol actually makes you more alert. So it can enhance your performance.

[MaratSafinVideos]

@Anaconda43VR There are many, many more cons than pros. And for one, you're not exactly going to be most alert on the court after staying up all night cleaning your bathroom floor with a toothbrush. And it obviously didn't help him, he won practically nothing during that spell and it was the worst part of his career.

Anyway, this is real baseline tennis right here, two guys hammering the ball flat and hard with little margin for error. One of my favourite matches of all time.

[Anaconda43VR]

Really? fair enough, i don't look on Agassi differently anyway. He won his slams fairly (albeit with a few nice draws). Regardless of whether he shouldn't been allowed to play - he still won them. So the ITF could take Agassi's slams away which he shouldn't have contested and i would still see him as a legend. So it's all cool.

Mhm, this was a great match and probably the best 2 backhands ever IMO. Safin showed great composure in the final set after losing the 3rd and 4th. Thanks 4 the vid.

[MaratSafinVideos]

@Anaconda43VR Don't you think Roddick's slam was a hugely difficult field (and didn't have any fortune at all along the way) and that Roddick has one of the best backhands of all time and that Roddick is still one of the most aggressive players out there, Roddick never pushes!

[Anaconda43VR]

@MaratSafinVideos

Um.....Henman first round, Nalbandian who was playing like crazy in the semi's, he beat Ferrrero - who was No.1, so it was a tough draw, granted, Agassi beat some great players - but those players was fortunately great matchups for him. You can go ahead and say that Roddick was lucky or whatever - he dominated those 6 weeks and he was meant to win. I don't really care what you think. That's all.

[MaratSafinVideos]

@Anaconda43VR Henman was playing terribly and slipped way down the rankings and hadn't done anything in MS leading up to the USO. Nalbandian got cheated and Ferrero was hardly a USO beast, was he? Agassi >>>>> your crappy Roddick who should have been put out in the semi's .

[Anaconda43VR]

@MaratSafinVideos

Ferrero hardly a beast. Hmm, beat Agassi didn't he? Or was that another tournament?

Oh boy, another idiot who thinks Nalbandian got cheated out of the US Open. Nalbandian choked get over it. No one can actually justify Nalbandian winning the match regardless if he stopped play - Roddick came up with a huge serve down match point.

PS* Henman was actually the only guy to beat Roddick from Indianapolis until the US Open and is actually a tough matchup for Roddick.

[MaratSafinVideos]

I can't stand Nalbandian, he's amongst the most overrated players from retards on the internet who only sit on their backside and watch tennis and have no other involvement in the sport, but he did get cheated out of that match.

Ferrero might have beaten Agassi but he still was no US Open legend. One win doesn't make a player a 'beast'.

Henman was playing bad all year and struggling with injury, one tournament doesn't bring form into the USO when you're losing left and right elsewhere.

[Anaconda43VR]

@MaratSafinVideos

I hate Nalbandian also, and no he didn't get cheated out of the match; he stopped play, his fault. I can go ahead and say Roddick was cheated out of the US Open 2001 with that stupid line call etc. It's obvious you can't accept Roddick won a slam.

Ferrero was still #1 and playing good tennis, whether you like it or not.

Henman was a tough matchup, and ironically that year he won his biggest tournament in Paris.

[MaratSafinVideos]

@Anaconda43VR I don't hate Nalbandian. Nalbandian got cheated more than once in that match.

Roddick may have got hard done by in that match, but Hewitt would still have had a chance to win as much as Roddick at the match was level. Hewitt's just a class above Roddick, anyways.

Ferrero was good, but not a US Open legend as I've said and Henmans form was horrible throughout the year and was still patchy up until his Paris win.

You can say what you want about Agassi but he's >>>>>>>>> Roddick.

[Anaconda43VR]

@MaratSafinVideos

'Hewitt a class above Roddick'. Hmm, better yes, a class above? No. I suggest You take a look at Hewitt's Wimbledon draw and his luck at the US Open to knock Roddick.

Did i actually say Roddick > Agassi. Please pull that quote out of my posts. But just like many people on YT - they completely misinterpret posts. I mean, i wasn't even arguing that Roddick was better than Agassi.....nevermind..........­.......

[MaratSafinVideos]

@Anaconda43VR I'd say Hewitt was a class above Roddick, it's to each' own interpretation I suppose. You were the one who brought up draws, so I thought I would too then. I know you didn't argue that Agassi was better than Roddick, but I thought I'd say so anyway, because from what I've seen elsewhere on the internet, you're the type of person to get angry over something so little. You can only beat who's in front of you so each player deserves their title including Roddick.

[Anaconda43VR]

@MaratSafinVideos Don't get me wrong, i like Hewitt. Probably the most misunderstood player in the game: Gets labeled pusher/overachiever/guy with no weapons. However anyone who watches Hewitt knows he is good in all areas, instead of having 2 huge weapons and glaring weaknesses.

PS* Sorry if i sounded angry...i was just confused at the Agassi/Roddick point. I wasn't really knocking Agassi at all. Agree with the last bit.

[MaratSafinVideos]

@Anaconda43VR You say Hewitt is misunderstood etc. but who are the people who label him this? Internet forum members? AKA. People who have no knowledge about tennis, people who've no other real involvement in the sport so I wouldn't say Hewitt is regarded as those things. Anybody who I speak to or listen to all regard Hewitt as a great player, a player who has achieved phenomenal things in tennis.

[Anaconda43VR]

@MaratSafinVideos Mhm. Trolls on Tennis Warehouse piss me off when they come out with 'Hewitt is a pusher'. You tell them that he actually played aggressive as he could have (because Hewitt didn't shy away on big points). The morons then go on to say he played defensive a lot (which again, is not completely true) whih somehow equates to pushing........well, i wish i could push to 2 grand slam titles. 

[MaratSafinVideos]

@Anaconda43VR Internet tennis forums are nothing but "my favourite player is better than your favourite player!" battlegrounds which are filled with morons behaving in a way that their own favourite player would be embarrassed about.

Internet forums are a waste of time, I truly believe that 95% of the people on those forums know nothing about the technical aspect of the game and have very numbered brains only knowing about who won X match on the ATP tour.

[Anaconda43VR]

@MaratSafinVideos

Actually, the TW forums are ok - they do have quite knowledgable posters. They just have quite a few dumb posters who actually post 30 times a day. I'm thinking, how can anyone play tennis when they are on a forum posting 30 times a day? It's insane.

It's actually hard to call it a discussion board. Just a clownhouse.

Rarely post their anyways now.

[MaratSafinVideos]

@Anaconda43VR I've been through that forum and I didn't see one person who seemed unlike a sheep. Yes, it's definitely not a discussion board, it's a who's the goat board, who is better board blah blah blah. I'm involved in tennis out with being a fan of the professional game and I'd enjoy being able to discuss and analyse technical sort of things but we both know these things never get discussed.

[Anaconda43VR]

@MaratSafinVideos LOL. Basically, you nailed it on the head. Occassionaly, you do get a good thread, and the former pro player section is nice etc.

[ActionRadar886]

No moron, that is lying, not cheating. The two terms are not synonymous. If he had been taking steroids, then he'd be cheating.

[DomingosSC]

Yes that is lying, but it's also a form of cheating because he did something no player is allowed to do, that was, remain on the tour and not be banned (that being due to his lying). So, he cheated when compared to other players who got tested positive but didn't lie on some letter or appeal. The two terms are not synonymous but he cheated, in a certain way.

[ActionRadar886]

Oh please, the man would've been banned for a short period of time anyway. Furthermore, he did nothing in 97', so it's not like he won anything during that time that he shouldn't have.

[asdfuogh]

@ActionRadar886 I think it's more of a "he shouldn't even been allowed to play during that time" argument. Maybe people are ticked because if Agassi was able to get away with this when he shit out of luck and popularity.... what were some things he got away with when he wasn't...?

[almuhlhl]

we will miss him , GoodBye Marat

[fmvgomes]

THe backhand down the line was just a nightmare!

[jonas1881]

safin, i'm gonna miss you in tennis :) live rest of your life vell and in peace ! :P

[draconis228]

safinnnnnnnnnnnnnnn

[fuzzybear465]

nice