Marat Safin

[brazilianbaby]

Thank you so much lakomka!

 

[Love$2shop]

He looks great with shorter hair (and I prefer him with very little facial hair as well).

 

[AnaBGD]

^ yeah! he looks perfect at the Australian Open, and judging by the first round, he might be bringing his great game back! Hope he makes it far, so we can see alot of him!!!

 

[lakomka]

atptour

 

[tortoisie]

Marcos Baghdatis defeats Marat Safin

^ Just gotta love him.

Marcos Baghdatis defeats Marat Safin
By Mark Hodgkinson in Melbourne
Last Updated: 12:45am GMT 18/01/2008

Some of his supporters mocked the police by wearing gas masks to the Australian Open last night, but Marcos Baghdatis gave Melbourne's Greeks something more wholesome to chant about than pepper spray. A couple of days after the police controversially used the spray on Hellenic fans, the Greek Cypriot beat Marat Safin over five sets to make the third round.

This was one big fat Greek win for Baghdatis, with the 2006 runner-up holding on to win the first decent men's match of the tournament 6-4, 6-4, 2-6, 3-6, 6-2. Safin had come back from two sets down to level the contest and take it into a decider. But Safin could not sustain his level of tennis, and so the biggest threat to those sitting on the Rod Laver Arena was not possible squirts of pepper spray, but the chance of being struck by the Russian's flying racket, as the 2005 champion knows how to get angry.

Earlier in the match, Safin had bashed a racket against the side of his head, broke one frame, and screamed and muttered into the night sky. But it wasn't just pyrotechnics and histrionics that he contributed to the occasion. There was also his excellent tennis in long patches.

Safin, the last man to beat Roger Federer at the Australian Open after his win against the Swiss in the semi-finals three years ago, has not done much since at the slams. But, with his hulking physique and the way he clumps the ball, he remains a dangerous opponent. In the end, however, the night belonged to Baghdatis, with his success taking him through to play Australian Lleyton Hewitt.

Such were Safin's frustrations with a knee injury last year that he took a mid-season break to climb the world's sixth highest mountain, Cho-Oyu, on the Nepal-Tibet border. Although he was forced to turn back before the summit, that trip to the Himalayas helped rejuvenate his spirit. And his knee has improved to the extent that he was able to go snowboarding during the off season, and has declared himself to be pain-free. In the third and fourth sets last night, he was striking the ball with ever-increasing poise. The pity was that he could not keep that going into the fifth.

Sometimes, the scoreline barely tells half the story. Federer yesterday achieved a 6-1, 6-2, 6-0 thrashing of Frenchman Fabrice Santoro which meant that the defending champion reached the third round having dropped just six games. But this was far from being a cold, dispassionate performance by Federer. It was a warm, laughter-filled occasion played between friends. So Santoro even enjoyed the experience on the Rod Laver Arena. "It's so beautiful, what Roger is doing," Santoro said, also describing Federer's tennis as "perfect".
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Almost every other player in the locker-room, and Safin especially, would have cursed and thrown their racket on the way to winning just three games in the second round of a grand slam. But Santoro has a love for the sport probably unmatched in the men's game, and that goes some way to explaining why the 35-year-old has kept going for as long as he has, allowing him to this week break the Open era record for the number of grand slam tournaments contested, his 62 taking him past Andre Agassi.

The Rod Laver Arena thrilled to the weird and wonderful ways of Santoro. He was scooping, slicing, always trying something a bit different. But Santoro was unable to bamboozle and befuddle Federer, with the Swiss hitting almost everything off his sweet spot as he continued his attempt to win his third consecutive Australian Open title, and his fourth overall. Federer, having recovered from a nasty stomach virus, will now play Serbia's Janko Tipsarevic.

This has not been a great Australian Open for the Murrays. Following Andy's defeat in the singles, his brother Jamie, in a new partnership with Max Mirnyi, from Belarus, went out of the doubles in the opening round, beaten 7-6, 1-6, 6-3 by France's Edouard Roger-Vasselin and Gilles Simon.

[telegraph.co.uk]

 

[tortoisie]

I never knew someone can look so cute even in neon bright T-Shirt!

Caption: ...but Safin, who had never won a Grand Slam match after going two sets down, dug deep to level the match by taking the next two sets 6-2, 6-3
[telegraph.co.uk]

 

[fashionspot2000]

^

 

[lakomka]

Yes!!!! Tortoisie, you know how happy am i to see you here????

Marat rocks!!!!!

 

[brazilianbaby]

uol

 

[brazilianbaby]

OMG I can't believe he won Hope he keeps winning

getty

 

[AnaBGD]

^ me too!!! I'm SO happy he won! And he looks very hot, I love this type of hair style on him!

 

[lakomka]

atptour.ru

Good luck Marat

 

[lakomka]

Look at this cute picture Marat and Dinara

atptour.ru

 

[GasolineRainbow]

Aaawww. Thank you for reviving this thread, Lakomka. I'm thrilled that Marat beat Djokovic, and I hope he continues to do well. But win or lose, I will always root for him, no matter what.

 

[lakomka]

Aaawww. Thank you for reviving this thread, Lakomka. I'm thrilled that Marat beat Djokovic, and I hope he continues to do well. But win or lose, I will always root for him, no matter what.

Amen to this

 

[Virginielle]

I'm so angry I haven't been able to watch any of the Wimbledon happenings---Marat v. Djokovic was definitely one I had wanted to catch. Can't believe he won! Well done, Marat!

 

[Rising_star]

He's HOT!!!

 

[IncurableLunatic]

Look at this cute picture Marat and Dinara

atptour.ru

aww so cute

i'm so happy that he won again!

 

[SimplyDivine]

he won seppi??? i fell asleep by 5am and could only watch until a bit of the third match

alrite just checked on wimbledon.org im so happy for him!

 

[Miss Dalloway]

He beat Lopez today, such a nice game he is serious hotness, but i think he will be out after next game.