federermagic -- The Safin Show!

a federermagic original.

marat safin will go down in tennis lore as one of the great "what if" stories. at 6-foot-4 and 200 pounds, the man could move like a cat, punish the ball off both sides with impunity, and serve his opponents right off the court at the blink of an eye. he was one of the rare players who could dominate off both wings and go shot-for-shot with any player in the world. his serve, when on, could carve up the return games of even the sport's great returners -- witness his 33 ace, 0 double fault masterpiece against andre agassi in the 2004 oz open semis.

safin's stopping TMF in a classic five-setter at the oz open the following year is considered one of the finest matches of recent vintage, considering TMF entered the 2005 season as the heavy favorite to take the first slam of the year. coming into the season's first major TMF had run roughshod over the competition the previous year (18-0 against top 10 opponents in 2004), including sweeping the 2004 masters cup without so much as dropping a single set, and was about to embark on one of the sport's historic seasons when safin faced him (TMF would finish the season with an 81-4 record, second in history only to john mcenroe's mythic 82-3 1984 campaign).

the victory by safin in 2005 was yet another indication that an in-form safin could not only compete, but defeat, a historically elite player at the peak of his powers.

that safin is considered one of the game's great underachievers despite having won two grand slam titles and made the finals of two others speaks to how highly his skills on the court were viewed within the tennis community.

this video captures highlights of the match preceding the classic oz encounter, in which patrick mcenroe opined that safin was a possible threat to federer down the line, an opinion that proved prophetic a few short months later.

Category:

Sports

Tags:

• federermagic
• roger
• federer
• marat
• safin
• show
• tennis

[sgtthriller]

unlike rafa, safins not BORING

[shaknbabysyndrom]

i dream of a day when you can actually see the tennis ball in tennis videos on youtube...

[AceGuitarR7]

Safin, Agassi, Nalbandian, Hewiit, Roddick, Federer era was much more interesting to watch than rafa, djokovic, murray era...

[marietabulgaria]

The court is too small for these two

[depuage]

1.47 :))



[ohverrmynd]

Djokovic who? This guy has a BACKHAND WOW!

[foul01]

@shaknbabysyndrom

you blind?

[davd1986]

@Threepwoot Hence the video is called "The Safin Show." Federermagic did several videos to pay a tribute to Safin, right after he retired at the end of 2009. If you want Federer's points, look to the right hand side, where you will find Federer's highlights (or mostly his).

[sarasmilepiano]

@davd1986 Yes, it is a bit bizzare to say a guy who had accomplished all that- "underachieved". Many will make it to Tennis Hall of Fame will lesser credentials, but

that's a testament to his talent- or at least what people thought of it. Personally, I think he was at a disadvantage as he had to beat two people in every match: namely himself and the other guy.

[sarasmilepiano]

@thelufactor Though-provoking and blithely amusing but this anecdotal remark is paradoxical as talent is really a derivative of hard work, thus implying that Safin put in the miles (or work) to get himself near the top, but didn't actually act like it. His behavior betrays this fact and mentally, as everyone knows, something was missing. Keep in mind his sister Safina was No.1 and had plenty of "talent"- just calling it like it is.