ROGERS MASTERS
Date: 2007-08-07

ROGERS MASTERS

August 7, 2007

Marat Safin
MONTREAL, QUEBEC
The Moderator Questions for Marat.

Question Have you had many walkovers in your career? Can you think of any?
Marat Safin I wish it would happen a little more often.

Question Have you had any?
Marat Safin No, this is probably the second one. I think it was somewhere else something happened, but I don't remember.

Question Is it better or worse that you had the walkover before you have to play Rafael?
Marat Safin No, much better. Soderling, he's a tough player, plays well. Better than to run around the court two, three hours try to beat him, then come up tomorrow with a good game.
So I prefer this way.

Question You've been playing quite a lot this summer, haven't you?
Marat Safin Also. So an extra day off, I think it's a good thing.

Question How about playing Rafa? Never played him before.
Marat Safin No, never. I'm looking forward. We'll see how it's going to happen, what's going to happen. I don't have many expectations. I'm just play my match. He's the favorite. He's playing well. Let's just keep it this way.

Question A guy like that, that you've seen play all these years, you never played him, do you have a natural curiosity, some ideas how you would play against him?
Marat Safin Not really. I don't really care about this. Whenever the opportunity comes comes. So finally it came. But I was not really looking for it and try to out of curiosity play against him, not really.
He's a very good player. I don't think you are really looking for that experience.

Question You're not looking for that experience?
Marat Safin No (smiling).

Question Like when guys play against you?
Marat Safin When the guys played against me before, yes, was different story. Not now (smiling).

Question Can you go in as an underdog with nothing to lose?
Marat Safin What I have to lose? He's the one second seeded. He's the one who is fighting for No. 1 this year. I'm not the one. He's favorite in this tournament. So for me it's another opportunity, another chance.
Anything can happen, of course. I'm not going there and tank the match. I'm going to try to win it, of course. But I'm definitely not expecting anything great out of it. I don't want to have extra pressure on myself that I should make at least a good match. So I don't really care. If it's 6-2, 6-2 or 7-6, 7-6, doesn't make any difference for me.

Question If you win, that would boost your confidence.
Marat Safin "If, if." If many things would be different way, many changes would be in this world. So let's keep it this way.

Question How do you feel about your game right now?
Marat Safin Well, been a long summer. I had my matches, had my bad matches, everything happened. Actually, everything happened but nothing happened. Two quarterfinals. I didn't really play my best game. Didn't really play for -- I didn't impress myself with my game.
So was just fighting around and trying to win in tough matches, finishing 1:00 in the morning in Washington, playing next day against Monfils, playing bad again. So nothing really extraordinary.

Question What to you make of the gambling investigation going on?
Marat Safin Not for me, man. Not for me.

Question Not for you?
Marat Safin I don't care. They can do whatever they want. I don't want to be involved in any of it. I don't want to make any comments. I don't care.

Question Do you feel like the ATP is doing what it needs to do?
Marat Safin I don't care, man. ATP can do whatever they want. I'm out of it.

Question You don't care that it possibly could be viewed as hurting the integrity of the sport?
Marat Safin I don't care. It's not my problem, that's for sure. I'm here more for myself than for the ATP. The ATP is full of people who gets paid a lot of money, big bucks, and they're the ones who have to think, not me.
I'm here to play my tennis, win some matches, and whatever happens happens. I'm not going to make any comments. They have enough smart people to investigate and look for it, to the right thing. I'm not the one to ask.

Question Does it surprise you to hear that kind of thing might happen in tennis?
Marat Safin Again, I don't care.

Question A few years ago you were giving your sister a hard time.
Marat Safin I don't remember that.

Question In Australia.
Marat Safin Okay, so (smiling)?

Question Now is she giving you a hard time?
Marat Safin She can't.

Question Why not?
Marat Safin Because a lot of things depends on me when you're out of tennis life, so she better be good for me.

Question You said this has been an unremarkable season for you. How do you feel about that? Do you feel frustrated? Is it just kind of a depressing thing?
Marat Safin Well, first of all, why I have to be frustrated? In the worst scenario, the worst scenario, which would be the normal scenario of my life, I would be a coach in some club in Russia, in Moscow, that nobody would even think about me. I would have probably a few kids and wife, drive every morning at 9:00 in the morning to give lessons.
And look at me now. Not bad for 10 years of career. Instead of that, I'm alone. I'm playing my best tennis. I'm doing the things that I love to do. I have no family. I'm enjoying it.
So you know, I was lucky to catch the train. I was lucky to take the opportunity the people they gave me. Why I have to be frustrated? I have everything what I need. I have a good life. I'm flying business, first class. I have my friends coming to watch me. When I go to Moscow, I'm staying at a nice place, nice area, good neighborhood, nice cars. So everything is great. So why I have to be frustrated?

Question You've expressed frustration in the past when you haven't played as well as you want to.
Marat Safin Is different thing. Of course, you want to do a little better than you are doing. Of course, instead of being 25, you want to be maybe top 10, for example. But after all, if you thinking the big picture, it doesn't really matter. If you enjoy what you're doing, the good times this will come. If you do the proper job, of course with the years it's a little bit more difficult to push yourself to do that.
If you want to play tennis, and I want to play tennis, I really want to try, I think everything can come back and everything can be improved. Especially that I didn't make any great results, I'm still 20 in the world. Is not really bad. It's one small step by winning a couple of difficult matches, make a quarterfinal here, a semifinal in a big tournament, you are already not 20, you are already almost top 10. Then the people, they say, Oh, he's back. But what made the difference? Just one, two points in a tough match, that's it. It's two matches, that's it.
But frustrating? Never.

Question You're kind of lucky to have caught the train without the wife and kids on it.
Marat Safin That's for sure not for me yet. I prefer to play tennis and be alone than to be working in a tennis club from 9:00 to 9:00 and having two kids to feed and a wife that is never happy. Sounds familiar or not?

Question You're assuming a lot.
Marat Safin Sounds familiar for some of us, huh?