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Marat Mikhailovich Safin (Russian
language|Russian:
Марат
Михайло&
#1074;ич
Сафин; Tatar
language|Tatar: Marat Mixail ulı Safin pron.
Mah-RAT SAH-fin; b. January 27, 1980) is a
Russia|Russian (ethnic Tatars|Tatar) former World
No. 1 tennis player who started his professional
career in 1997. He is one of the top tennis
players in the world and is known for his big
physical presence, controvsersial antics,
mercurial talent and aggressive power play.

==Tennis Career==
Born in Moscow, Russia, Safin is the son of top
ten tennis player Rausa Islanova and Misha Safin,
and is the brother of tennis player Dinara Safina.
Misha managed the local Spartak Tennis Club where
Safin trained in his youth aside several up and
coming tennis players, including Anna Kournikova,
Elena Dementieva, and Anastasia Myskina. At age
fourteen he moved to Valencia, Spain, to access
advanced tennis training programs which were not
available in Russia. Safin gained the attention of
the tennis establishment in 1998 with his
consecutive victories over Andre Agassi and the
defending champion Gustavo Kuerten at the French
Open.

Safin held the No. 1 Association of Tennis
Professionals|ATP ranking for a brief period of 9
weeks during 2000. In that year, he won his first
Grand Slam in tennis|Grand Slam tournament at the
US Open (tennis)|US Open by defeating Pete Sampras
in straight sets and was immediately hailed as the
new star to dominate tennis in the future years.
However he failed to live up to the hype and
succumbed to inconsistent performances, generally
commented to be a result of his notoriously
volatile temper. In addition he suffered a
succession of injuries which affected his game
and, in 2003, resulted in his absence for the
majority of the season.

Safin has reached three more Grand Slam finals,
all in the Australian Open in the years 2002, 2004
and 2005. He has cited nervousness as the reason
for the loss in the first of them, and physical
exhaustion for the second. He defeated
home-country favorite Lleyton Hewitt in the third
to secure his second Grand Slam in five years. En
route to the final he defeated top-ranked Roger
Federer in an epic five-set-long semifinal match,
showing unusual calmness and superior shot
selection to match Federer stroke for stroke. He
later described the encounter "a brain fight".
Safin's phenomenal win snapped Federer's 26-match
winning streak and put a dent in his supposed
invincibility. Safin is widely recognized as the
player who can test Federer the most with his
talent and his arsenal of powerful shots. 

Safin has won five ATP Tennis Masters Series
titles during his career. His first was in 2000
when he won the title in Toronto, Canada. He holds
a record-tying three (2000, 2002, and 2004) wins
in Paris, France, and one in 2004 in Madrid,
Spain. In 2004, Safin reached the Semifinal of the
Tennis Master's Cup in Houston, but was defeated
by Roger Federer, 6-3, 7-6(18). The second-set
tiebreak was the third tiebreak of the score 20-18
the Open Era. 

After winning the Australian Open early in 2005,
Safin attributed his recent revival and his more
consistent performance to the calming presence of
his new coach Peter Lundgren, saying that "I never
believed in myself before at all, until I started
to work with him." Lundgren was formerly a coach
of Roger Federer, but they parted ways at the end
of 2003. Safin hired Lundgren in the following
year. All the talk about Safin finding his
consistency was a false dawn, however, as he
crashed out in the early rounds of all seven
tournaments he played between the Australian Open
and French Open. In June, shortly after an
unsucessful French open campaign, Safin made a
surprise final appearance at the Wimbledon tune-up
tournament in Halle, North Rhine-Westphalia|Halle
on grass, his least favorite surface by his own
admission. He lost the final narrowly to the
defending champion Roger Federer.

Safin is a popular figure among both fans and
commentators. His tendency to become overly
emotional during matches, credited for several of
his losses, has resulted in spontaneous court
behavior. He is noted for having smashed numerous
rackets and, at French Open|Roland Garros in 2004,
pulled his shorts down to his thighs after winning
a point in a third round match against Felix
Mantilla. This behavior, and the support he
receives from legions of female fans, has resulted
in Safin receiving distinction as a player capable
of generating celebrity for a sport which
experiences slumps in popularity.

Marat Safin also helped Russia to its first Davis
Cup victory in 2002, with a 3-2 rubber win against
France in the final at the Palais Omnisports Paris
Bercy. The team included Yevgeny Kafelnikov,
Mikhail Youzhny, Andrei Stoliarov and captain
Shamil Tarpischev. The team made Davis Cup history
as the second team to win the cup after losing the
doubles rubber, and the first team to win a live
five set match in the final from two sets down.

==Titles (15)==
{| cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" border="1"
style="border: #cccccc solid 1px; border-collapse:
collapse;"
|- bgcolor="#eeeeee" 
|Legend (Singles)
|- bgcolor="#e5d1cb" 
| Grand Slam (2)
|- bgcolor="#dfe2e9" 
| ATP Masters Series (5)
|- bgcolor="ffffcc"
| Tennis Masters Cup (0)
|- bgcolor="#ffffff" 
| ATP Tour (8)
|}

===Singles (15)===
{| bgcolor="#f7f8ff" cellpadding="3"
cellspacing="0" border="1" style="font-size: 95%;
border: #cccccc solid 1px; border-collapse:
collapse;"
|- bgcolor="#eeeeee"
|No.
|Date
|Tournament
|Surface
|Opponent in the final
|Score
|-
| 1.
| Aug 23, 1999
| Boston, USA
| Hard
| Greg Rusedski (United Kingdom|UK)
| 6-4 7-6
|-
| 2.
| Apr 24, 2000
| Barcelona, Spain
| Clay
| Juan Carlos Ferrero (Spain)
| 6-3 6-3 6-4
|-
| 3.
| May 1, 2000
| Majorca, Spain
| Clay
| Mikael Tillström (Sweden)
| 6-4 6-3
|-
| bgcolor="#dfe2e9"|4.
| bgcolor="#dfe2e9"|Jul 31, 2000                  
          
| bgcolor="#dfe2e9"|Toronto, Canada
| bgcolor="#dfe2e9"|Hard
| bgcolor="#dfe2e9"|Harel Levy (Israel)
| bgcolor="#dfe2e9"|6-2 6-3
|-
| bgcolor="#e5d1cb"|5.
| bgcolor="#e5d1cb"|Aug 28, 2000
| bgcolor="#e5d1cb"|U.S. Open (tennis)|U.S. Open,
New York City|New York, USA
| bgcolor="#e5d1cb"|Hard
| bgcolor="#e5d1cb"|Pete Sampras (United
States|USA)
| bgcolor="#e5d1cb"|6-4 6-3 6-3
|-
| 6.
| Sep 11, 2000
| Tashkent, Uzbekistan
| Hard
| Davide Sanguinetti (Italy)
| 6-3 6-4
|-
| 7.
| Nov 6, 2000
| Saint Petersburg|St. Petersburg, Russia
| Hard
| Dominik Hrbatý (Slovakia)
| 2-6 6-4 6-4
|-
| bgcolor="#dfe2e9"|8.
| bgcolor="#dfe2e9"|Nov 13, 2000
| bgcolor="#dfe2e9"|Paris, France
| bgcolor="#dfe2e9"|Carpet
| bgcolor="#dfe2e9"|Mark Philippoussis (Australia)
  
| bgcolor="#dfe2e9"|3-6 7-6 6-4 3-6 7-6           

|-
| 9.
| Sep 10, 2001
| Tashkent, Uzbekistan
| Hard
| Yevgeny Kafelnikov (Russia)
| 6-2 6-2
|-
| 10.
| Oct 22, 2001
| St. Petersburg, Russia
| Hard
| Rainer Schüttler (Germany)                     
 
| 3-6 6-3 6-3
|-
| bgcolor="#dfe2e9"|11.
| bgcolor="#dfe2e9"|Oct 28, 2002
| bgcolor="#dfe2e9"|Paris, France
| bgcolor="#dfe2e9"|Carpet 
| bgcolor="#dfe2e9"|Lleyton Hewitt (Australia)
| bgcolor="#dfe2e9"|7-6 6-0 6-4
|-
| 12.
| Sep 13, 2004
| Beijing, China
| Hard
| Mikhail Youzhny (Russia)
| 7-6 7-5
|-
| bgcolor="#dfe2e9"|13.
| bgcolor="#dfe2e9"|Oct 18, 2004
| bgcolor="#dfe2e9"|Madrid, Spain
| bgcolor="#dfe2e9"|Hard
| bgcolor="#dfe2e9"|David Nalbandian (Argentina)
| bgcolor="#dfe2e9"|6-2 6-4 6-3
|-
| bgcolor="#dfe2e9"|14.
| bgcolor="#dfe2e9"|Nov 1, 2004
| bgcolor="#dfe2e9"|Paris, France
| bgcolor="#dfe2e9"|Carpet
| bgcolor="#dfe2e9"|Radek Stepanek (Czech
Republic)
| bgcolor="#dfe2e9"|6-3 7-6 6-3
|-
| bgcolor="#e5d1cb"|15.
| bgcolor="#e5d1cb"|Jan 17, 2005
| bgcolor="#e5d1cb"|Australian Open, Melbourne,
Australia
| bgcolor="#e5d1cb"|Hard
| bgcolor="#e5d1cb"|Lleyton Hewitt (Australia)
| bgcolor="#e5d1cb"|1-6 6-3 6-4 6-4
|}

===Singles Finalist (10)===
*1999: Paris AMS (lost to Andre Agassi)
*2000: Hamburg (lost to Gustavo Kuerten)
*2000: Indianapolis (lost to Gustavo Kuerten)
*2001: Dubai (lost to Juan Carlos Ferrero)
*2002: Australian Open (lost to Thomas Johansson)
*2002: Hamburg AMS (lost to Roger Federer)
*2003: Barcelona (lost to Carlos Moya)
*2004: Australian Open (lost to Roger Federer)
*2004: Estoril (lost to Juan Ignacio Chela)
*2005: Halle (lost to Roger Federer)

===Performance Timeline===
{| bgcolor="#f7f8ff" cellpadding="3"
cellspacing="0" border="1" style="font-size: 95%;
border: gray solid 1px; border-collapse:
collapse;"
|- bgcolor="#efefef"
! Tournament !! 2005 !! 2004 !! 2003 !! 2002 !!
2001 !! 2000 !! 1999 !! 1998 !! 1997
|-
|Australian Open
|align="center"|W
|align="center"|F
|align="center"|3r
|align="center"|F
|align="center"|4r
|align="center"|1r
|align="center"|3r
|align="center"|-
|align="center"|-

|-
|French Open
|align="center"|4r
|align="center"|4r
|align="center"|-
|align="center"|SF
|align="center"|3r
|align="center"|QF
|align="center"|4r
|align="center"|4r
|align="center"|-

|-
|Wimbledon Championships|Wimbledon
|align="center"|3r
|align="center"|1r
|align="center"|-
|align="center"|2r
|align="center"|QF
|align="center"|2r
|align="center"|-
|align="center"|1r
|align="center"|-

|-
|US Open
|align="center"|
|align="center"|1r
|align="center"|-
|align="center"|2r
|align="center"|SF
|align="center"|W
|align="center"|2r
|align="center"|4r
|align="center"|-

|-
|Tennis Masters Cup
|align="center"|
|align="center"|SF
|align="center"|-
|align="center"|rr
|align="center"|-
|align="center"|SF
|align="center"|-
|align="center"|-
|align="center"|-

|- bgcolor="#efefef"
|Finals reached 
|align="center"|1
|align="center"|5
|align="center"|1
|align="center"|3
|align="center"|3
|align="center"|9
|align="center"|2
|align="center"|0
|align="center"|0

|- bgcolor="#efefef"
|Tournaments Won 
|align="center"|1
|align="center"|3
|align="center"|0
|align="center"|1
|align="center"|2
|align="center"|7
|align="center"|1
|align="center"|0
|align="center"|0

|- bgcolor="#efefef"
|Win-Loss
|align="center"|24-10
|align="center"|52-23
|align="center"|12-11
|align="center"|56-26
|align="center"|45-27
|align="center"|73-27
|align="center"|39-32
|align="center"|17-18
|align="center"|0-1

|- bgcolor="#efefef"
|ATP Race points
|align="center"|321
|align="center"|612
|align="center"|93
|align="center"|569
|align="center"|384
|align="center"|824
|align="center"|N/A
|align="center"|N/A
|align="center"|N/A

|- bgcolor="#efefef"
|Year End Ranking 
|align="center"|
|align="center"|4
|align="center"|66
|align="center"|3
|align="center"|11
|align="center"|2
|align="center"|26
|align="center"|49
|align="center"|213
|}

==External links==
*
http://www.atptennis.com/en/players/playerprofiles
/default2.asp?playersearch=Safin%2C+Marat Profile
on Association of Tennis Professionals|ATP website
* http://www.maratsafin.com/ Marat Safin.com
Official website
* http://www.theguyfromrussia.com/ The Guy From
Russia Fansite
* http://www.safinator.com/ Safinator Fansite

Tennis World Number Ones (men)