Cause he enjoyed life lol

 

^^So do other players, from time to time.

 

Distractions and injuries. When Safin was on and confident in his body he was one of the mentally strongest players around. See AO 2004-5 and USO 2000. How many guys with his physique and play style win more than 2 or 3 slams?

 

His physique? What's wrong with it?
A number of players, I think even John McEnroe, said that he had one of the best physiques for tennis.

 

Marat achieved what he deserved, he couldn't push himself any higher than that.

 

He didn’t.

Given his drunkenness, bar brawls, womanizing, lack of effort, lack of caring, and playing at 20% of his tennis ability, he overachieved.

He is probably the greatest talent in tennis history. But tennis wasn’t his passion, it was a job. A means to an end.

 

You're probably right. He was so talented but never seemed to be passionate about the sport. He even said that his parents chose tennis as his future.

 

Safin is the tennis player I can relate to most myself, unfortunately I have no such talent such as he possessed.

 

1/ he lacked motivation and workrate
2/ he picked up quite a few injuries
3/ i never really rated him as highly as others did. sure he was a very good player and he had a lot of talent.....but i never really saw what many other people saw in him

 

1/ he lacked motivation and workrate

...

Not so much in his early years, because in the four seasons 1999-2002 19-22 y.o Safin averaged 81 matches, and amassed 100 matches in 2000 as y.e. no.2.

As comparison 20-22 y.o. Kyrgios in the last three seasons averaged 48 matches.

So, if Kyrgios improves his motivation and workrate he could reach declined 23-26 y.o. Safin' 60-70 matches per season when he was not injured for the better part therein.

 

Denying Hewitt an AO title was great I thought so always liked him for that.

 

If anything, he over achieved given how lazy he was.

 

I love when people claim players are lazy, how do you even know without being behind the scenes?

 

To each its own, I take Safin's life over Nadal's, Djokovic's or Federer's anytime time. Dude had fun while all other did was practice.

 

Lack of ambitions. He had never wanted to be super famous and the best of the best.

 

i believe he achieved plenty. His young Oz follower can't make the qualies at home...ain't easy being a party playboy and playing professional tennis, so 3 Slams is actually fantastic. I wouldn't be surprised one day in some memoirs to read that most matches he's been half drunk, or hungover, so Marat rulZ indeed.

 

He only cared about his bimbo box.

 

Yep basically. Booze and broads were the only thing on Safin's "to do" list. Sad to see considering all the talent he had.

 

Mainly injuries, but also his style of play, which was high-risk. He often went for the lines & hit the ball fairly flat. When it really clicked he could beat anybody, but when it didn't he could lose to anybody, & did. His game was too risky for him to get to the later stages of slam consistently.

His appealing personality causes this forum to overrate him. He was a tremendous talent & a legitimate Hall-of-Famer, but the romantic idea that he was some kind of effortless genius who could turn in all-time great performances with a hangover just by being in a good mood is preposterous. He wasn't as dedicated & single-minded as the GOAT contenders, but you don't win big titles in professional sport without doing any work.

A more plausible case of the lost genius is Rios. He laid an egg in his only slam final after being up all night at the casino.

 

1-Main factor were injuries. He had his career virtually over (at least as a top player) soon after he turned 25. That's very young. Federer reached his peak the year he turned 23 and Djokovic the year he turned 24, that's when they really started winning, just to name a couple of players. He could have won much more if not for the knee injury in the spring of 2005. Also, he lost pretty much the whole 2003 and had some minor injuries in 2001 as well.

2-Mentality wasn't the best as well, he could be very mentally strong when he was confident, but also he could be mentally weak. In 2002 he was playing great after a poor 2001 but was losing all the big matches because of the pressure of winning. Dire performances against T. Johansson in the AO final and Ferrero in the RG semi. 2 slams he could have won for sure.

3-Inconsistency. He was more consistent than given credit for when he was healthy, he won 7 titles and made 2 finals in 2000, and he sucked before April. So it was virtually a title a month. Also in that run from September 2004-January 2005, he was consistently playing his best almost every match. But compared to the likes of the Big 3 he wasn't the most consistent. He was prone to losing to vastly inferior players.


His dedication wasn't bad, at least according to what people like Lundgren say. Sure he wasn't Ferrer or the BIG 4 in that regard, but he would have been a Gulbis or Fognini type if he didn't care at all.

 

Too many off-court obligations

 

 

Safin spent 3 seasons healthy.

2001 was injury ridden with smaller injuries. 2003 was a write off due to the wrist. 2005 he suffered the terminal knee injury which ruined his career.

2000, 2002, 2004 and the first part of 2005 before the clay season were his only full, healthy seasons. Of course, he could have done more in 2002 and 2004, but Safin was Safin.

 

Don't think that Marat was lazy nor the biggest talent ever. When those Tatars decided to have children their future was pretty much decided for them. They had two kids, both made it to #1 ranking in one of the most competitive sports. Hard and well planned work was put in those kids from the moment they were born. Nobody can produce two #1 level talents out of luck.

Injuries played a major part in his career, some off court activities but not to the extent as to label him an underachiever. Nalbandian underachieved for example given his talent. Safin peaked, won the best, reached #1 and won one the best matches in the history of the sport vs peak Fed.

 

Eternally grateful that Safin hammered Hewitt and forever denied this arrogant Aussie reverse baseball cap clown the AO title. Wonderfull stuff.

Career wise maybe Safin was too much of an undisciplined "Disco Boy" like other talented underachievers with Vitas Gerulaitis as the "Saturday Night Never" founding father in modern open era tennis.

 

Injuries, and a lack of a strong mentality and motivation. I think the latter part is because he didn't really love tennis (he was probably pushed into the sport by his mother who was a tennis coach).

It's interesting to compare him to his sister Dinara. She was not naturally talented like Marat, but unlike him, she seemed to love tennis. She worked really hard to get to #1 and make slam finals. But she ultimately underachieved like Marat due to being mentally frail and injuries.

 

Yeah, she had the right attitude but not the talent.