Playing Style
Marat has been described as one the most talented players of the 1990s and 2000s. Raw natural ability and a charismatic personality came through in his career as well as some brilliant power tennis. He possesses a powerful and effective serve and phenomenal groundstrokes, his backhand being his major weapon. Boris Becker, in '99, said that he had not seen anybody hit the ball as hard from both wings for "a long, long time" He is also capable of playing at the net, with his volleys also being effective. However, lack of consistency has been described as Safin's ultimate weakness, since 2005. Safin considers grass to be his least favourite playing surface, even though other opponents with similar playing styles generally dominate on it. Safin had his best performance at Wimbledon in 2008, where he reached the semi-finals. Safin dismissed his performance in the 2001 tournament, in which he reached the quarter-finals, as a result of luck. Safin says that "It's difficult to . It's difficult to play off the baseline because a lot of bad bounces.". With Safin's semi-final performance at Wimbledon in 2008, he became the fourth of five active players to reach the semi-finals in all four Grand Slams joining Roger Federer, David Nalbandian and Novak Djokovic. Other active players have since then joined the list.
Read more about this topic: Marat Safin
Famous quotes containing the words playing and/or style:
“Ive given parties that have made Indian rajahs green with envy. Ive had prima donnas break $10,000 engagements to come to my smallest dinners. When you were still playing button back in Ohio, I entertained on a cruising trip that was so much fun that I had to sink my yacht to make my guests go home.”
—F. Scott Fitzgerald (18961940)
“On the first days, like a piece of music that one will later be mad about, but that one does not yet distinguish, that which I was to love so much in [Bergottes] style was not yet clear to me. I could not put down the novel that I was reading, but I thought that I was only interested in the subject, as in the first moments of love when one goes every day to see a woman at some gathering, or some pastime, by the amusements to which one believes to be attracted.”
—Marcel Proust (18711922)