Adieu Safin

One of the sport's finest players bowed out of professional tennis on Wednesday and he will surely be missed. In the last match of his career at the ATP Paris masters second round, Marat Safin lost 6-4, 5-7, 6-4 to current US Open champion Juan Martin del Portro. It was a beautiful and brave game of tennis amid warm cheers from the Parisian crowd who have always loved the gifted but erratic Russian.

Like Del Potro, Safin won his first grand slam title at the US open, at the same age of 20.

The volatile Russian was a very interesting and entertaining player to watch whether he was winning or losing a match. He dazzled fans with his artistry and antics, which included smashing over 700 hundred rackets, confrontations with chair umpires and once or twice dropping his shorts on court after making a spectacular winner. He was very talented and equally temperamental.

Lavish lifestyle

The former world number one will be remembered also for his lavish lifestyle, his love for parties, women and fast cars. I particularly remember the 2002 Australian open where he racked up the players box with a bevy of "blondies".

He was one of the most gifted players in his generation and a really big server who many people believe wasted his talent and could have won more than the two grand slam titles he won. He had all it takes to be a great athlete, power, agility, speed, unfortunately his care free attitude and mental lapses did him more harm than good.

I vividly remember him winning his first grand slam at the 2000 US open final beating Pete Sampras in straight sets. Going by that match, a star had been born and we all believed he would win many more slams, sadly, he won only one more at the 2005 Australian open. He won 15 singles titles. He helped Russia win two Davies cup trophies in 2002 and 2006. He also made it to the 2002 and 2004 Australian open finals.

I doubt that I will ever forget his 2005 Australian open semi-final match where he defeated defending champion, Roger Federer in an epic five setter saving a match point in the fourth set tie break. That match has been regarded as "one of Melbourne Park's greatest battles". It was only fair that he ended up winning the title by defeating home favourite, Lleyton Hewitt.

Sense of humour

He has such a great sense of humour that he sometimes reminded me of Goran Ivanisevic. You always wanted their interviews to go on for longer. His comment very recently on Andre Agassi's recent confession on his past drug use in his autobiography shows that he is a very vocal and outspoken person. "He feels guilty? So let him just give back his titles, money and his grand slams," Safin said.

Marat was one of the most charismatic and most talented players of the past 10 years," said French man Fabrice Santoro who also retired this week.

It's disappointing though to know that Safin only got to 6 grand slam semi-finals post 2000 US open. A wrist injury in 2003 and a serious knee injury in 2006 which prevented him from defending his Australian open title, accounted for a part of the drought causing him to drop out of the top hundred. He never seemed to fully recover even though there were moments of brilliance from him, especially at last years Wimbledon where he made it to the semi-final on his least favourite surface, grass. He often said "grass will be better used as a cattle feed".

2An underachiever

Like the Netherlands in football, Marat Safin in my opinion was an underachiever. I wish he gave us more especially as Andre Agassi's resurgence was at the same age Safin retired, 29 years. Then again, this is what he has to say for himself. "I have lived my life the way I wanted to; mountain climbing, partying way into the night... As for my tennis career, I probably could have won a few more titles, but if it were up to me, I wouldn't change a thing."

It was sort of emotional for me watching the small ceremony held to present him with a special trophy. "Today, I will put all my memories, all my wins and losses in a small box, today, a door is closed and maybe hopefully another one will open".

When asked about his future, he said "I am certainly not writing a book, no confessions whatsoever, all my secrets remain inside me" obviously referring to Agassi's confession.

Personally, I will miss the big Russian and I hope for his and his younger sister's sake, that one day Dinara Safina will emulate her brother by winning a grand slam.