TMS MONTE CARLO
Date: 2005-04-14

TMS MONTE CARLO

April 14, 2005

Marat Safin
MONTE-CARLO, MONACO
The Moderator Questions, please.

Question You showed some frustration on the court. What was wrong today?
Marat Safin Well, I had my chances and, you know, I didn't take my chances that I had to take. Many breakpoints didn't play right way, the way I really should be playing. I was a little bit rushing. I was a little bit annoyed for the fact that I had so many chances and I couldn't take them.

Question You told us yesterday that you lost your confidence after Melbourne. You had a long break, and you lost your confidence. Is it the real explanation?
Marat Safin No, I don't think so, because I was just -- I'm trying to, you know, get -- adapt myself to the clay. Basically, I had two matches, you know, basically against the players that are not professional -- not clay court specialists, and today I had a real match against the clay courter. Even though that I was hitting the ball really well, but just I was a little bit rushing too much. My confidence is still there, but just I had to play little bit in different way, because tennis is there.

Question Marat, Ferrero says he's trying to get his confidence back after his injury, chicken pox. How can you judge the way he's playing? Do you think he's close to the level he was before?
Marat Safin Just it's difficult, you know, like to compare the Ferrero from before and the Ferrero now, because it's already, you know, like he is not anymore a young player, you know, 21 years old that he's playing the way he was playing. He matured. He matured a lot. He is already 25 years old. He was injured. To come back, it's really tough. I mean, he is trying to get, of course, the confidence, but you cannot compare because he proved he's playing little bit different type. He's trying to improve. He's trying to improve himself, and he's trying to -- try to come back. But it's going to be tough, really tough for him.

Question Would you say that you lost more the match than he won it tonight in a way because of the way you were playing and he is playing right now?
Marat Safin No. The way I was playing today, I was little bit -- had too many unforced errors. As I said, I was rushing a little bit too much. My chances were there. First set, I had many chances to break him. Second set, I was a break up and just a few stupid mistakes that cost me the match.

Question Before he was very, very dangerous with the forehand and not so dangerous with the backhand. Do you think he has maybe slightly improved the backhand, and the forehand is not anymore as it was?
Marat Safin He improve the backhand, definitely. He can play from the backhand to backhand, and he feels comfortable. It's really difficult to put pressure on his backhand. Of course eventually if I will be a little bit stable in the court, then I will be playing, continuing hitting to his backhand, I would overpower him. That's why I was a little bit rushing too much to go down the line. I should have waited a little bit more for better opportunities. No, it just was tactically a bit wrong, but nothing -- it's not that he is playing with the backhand that doesn't allow me to do anything with it. I hit there. I choose this way of winning, and it didn't work.

Question After Melbourne, everybody was expecting you to be able to challenge Roger Federer for the No. 1 spot. How frustrating is it for you not being there?
Marat Safin I'm not frustrated at all - at all. I can be upset with myself for many other reasons than to challenge Federer. I don't really -- I don't really -- it's not my goal to challenge anybody. I'm trying to be as happy as I can, try to play as better as I can, try to be as consistent as I can. Whatever, if it will help me, and in a way I'm going to be able to compete with him for No. 1, that is great. But if I am not able to do that, I'm also happy with that. Like I said, it's not my first year, it's not my second year on the tour. I've been playing for seven years. I already achieved quite a lot. So to be upset because I'm not challenging Federer, it's just... it's stupid.

Question The other day you said that you would rather play Federer on clay than on any other surface. Then Federer came, I told him what you just said. He said remind Marat that I beat him three times on clay: In Rome, in Davis Cup, and somewhere else.
Marat Safin No, but still Rome, it was -- I had my match -- my match was mine, I was set and a break. He was lucky to win it. He played well in Hamburg. He played well in Davis Cup. Why not? Of course he is full of confidence. He can -- he is allowed to say whatever he wants (smiling).

Question Paris has been a special place for you, Paris Masters. How important would it be for you if you could win Roland Garros this year?
Marat Safin That's my goal, actually. That's my goal for the whole career. I'm trying, and I will try, try to win it. I always played well there, but for some reason I couldn't -- I was missing something extra, you know, to win it. I was in the semifinals playing quite well, then I had a terrible match against Ferrero, semifinals. One time in quarterfinals, but I ran out of gas. Last year I had blisters. So it was always a little bit something is missing. That's why I'm going to try to prepare myself as much as I can for the tournament. It's completely different. You cannot compare -- you don't compare to Monte-Carlo and Hamburg; they're all special in different way. But the French Open is five sets matches, and it's a little bit different game.

Question What's so special about Roland Garros itself, the tournament, to you?
Marat Safin The whole thing, the whole scene. I mean, like the Paris atmosphere; the city; people; courts; the way that people, they run the tournament; the way the people, they love this tournament; the city. All these kind of things make it so special.

Question Is it a perfect tournament?
Marat Safin Yeah. For me, yes.

Question When you think that you don't have sometimes patience enough, would you think that it's easier to have patience for a best-of-five match, or it's more complicated?
Marat Safin No, but just it's a little bit wrong, what you're saying. Just it's very difficult to have a patience straightaway after you coming from the hard courts. You still need to adapt yourself, still think that you can win the points in two or three shots. There's no chance. So that's why, you know, like automatically, it's coming out. Whenever you have a chance, you go down the line, you go down the line, and you miss, of course. Of course you gonna make a lot of mistakes. So that's why you need to be more patient, you know, like make sure that you are there, hit as many balls as you can. If you are uncomfortable, just you gonna go down the line. Because a lot of bad bounces; like today, had many opportunities and the ball, just bad bounce. So you need to keep on hitting the backhand crosscourt or forehand crosscourt, good, comfortable with the ball. You go down the line, you go to the net, is different story. I still feel that I am missing a little bit. Because I am hitting the ball quite well. Serving well, you know. I wouldn't say that I'm playing bad, just a little bit wrong.

Question We are all trained to understand why you can't be so consistent. Have you ever been thinking of working with a mental coach, or is that something that doesn't interest you at all, or it's maybe not a purpose for you?
Marat Safin You have to be happy with who you are. You cannot change. You can pretend that you can change, but you can't. Nobody's changing and nobody can change you no matter how much you try, no matter how much time you, you know -- like how much time you put in this. Just you have to live with that. And bad times will come. And I'm still, you know, not being so consistent, I manage to finish in the Top 10 for four years or five years, so it's... And I've been No. 1 in the world, so it's not bad. Still working (smiling).

….