OMG!
I just spent a half an hour half asleep writing a great post about when I became a Marat Safin fan. And I hit submit, and it said I had too many smilies or images in it. And that I had to go back and eliminate some of them. I did but the entire post was gone! I can't believe it!
Allie, I became a Marat Safin fan in April of 1998. Marat was playing Davis Cup for Russia for the first time. Russia was visiting Atlanta to play the United States team. And Marat got wiped out by Andre Agassi in strainght sets in his first singles match. And as I remember, Agassi wasn't complimentary about Safin at all. And that bugged me a little bit. And I remember reading in the New York Times that Marat's mother Rauza was there in Atlanta suffering watching her son play Davis Cuip for the first time. And Marat's mother was a good junior player for the Soviet Union. So you know she had high hopes for her talented son.
I had never seen Marat play before. But even in the loss to Agassi, Marat displayed some of the most devastating groundstrokes I had ever seen!
Then in his second singles match, Marat blew the match to Jim Courier. Thus Russia lost the tie. But I became a Safin fan then, because of his talent, emotions, potential and his big puppy qualities! And by that time, I had started to view the once mighty Russian athletes as the underdog.
And just the other day, I came across a tape of Marat winning his first ATP title in Boston in 1999. Marat was still like a big puppy then! He lost his adorable big puppy qualities in 2000.
Unfortunately, Marat never got to defend his first ever title because the tournament got eliminated from the ATP calendar.
To me, Marat also seems like the kind of guy who would be nice to his fans if he had a minute. Don't you think so, too?
And I know Marat is a good person, too! When the Russian Kursk submarine tragedy happened nearly 2 years ago and sunk to the bottom of the Barents Sea, Marat Safin started a financial fund for the families of the deceast Russian Sailors. I was touched to read about that. That showed me that Marat has a good heart! :angel:
I hope Marat isn't satisfied with having a good life and a very good career. Being Russian makes him different. Russia is struggling as a country. And the quality of life is not good. And I hope Marat is not so satisfied with having a good life, that it takes away his hunger for being an all time great tennis player. Because he has that type of ability.
I will always root for Marat. At times he is frustrating as a player. But Marat deserves the support he receives!
Well, there you have it Allie. I hope my post is a worthwhile read.
P.S. - And I hope my post goes through this time! I hardly used any smilies this time.
