Marat Safin says he has finally recovered from a long-term knee-injury and is looking forward to this year's US Open.
Former champ looking to re-kindle title-winning form
Former world number one Marat Safin says he has finally recovered from a serious long-term knee-injury and is looking forward to this year's US Open.
Safin won the US Open title in 2000, taking apart the great Pete Sampras, and it seemed the world order of tennis was about to change.
However, despite an emphatic victory at the Australian Open in 2005, Safin has become one of the biggest enigmas in world sport - brilliant on his day but susceptible to mental let-downs and struck by injuries each time he has tried to re-establish himself.
Eight years on, the 28-year-old reached the semi-finals at Wimbledon this year and believes he is finally clear of the knee injury that hampered him after that 2005 win in Melbourne.
"The last time I played the US Open normal was back in 2001, when I got to the semi-finals, probably, it was so long ago," the former world number one told
Reuters.
"Every time I started to play well I was getting injured, even when I was number one, I got injured with the rib, I couldn't play for two months and my ranking dropped and I lost confidence."
"But I am getting back again, the results will come eventually. The ranking doesn't really matter, if you get the results it will come back."
Coach impact
Currently ranked 44, Safin will be unseeded in New York next week although none of the top players will want to face him early on, especially Novak Djokovic, who lost to the Russian in the 2nd round at Wimbledon.
Having been ranked as low as 90th in March, Safin is on the up again and according the 6"4 big-server, much of the credit should go to his coach Hernan Gumy.
"It's been just over one year for us now, and I am pretty satisfied," Safin said.
"I am a little old to do certain things. Over the years it gets tougher and tougher to play well, especially when you compare yourself with the years before.
"He understands, he has a lot of patience and is the ideal person to travel with, which is very important. I am not under any pressure."
Playing pain-free
The tall right-hander added that Gumy had played a role in his rehabilitation, after been previously wary about his movement on his backhand side.
"The knee was difficult and I was risking a little too much," he said. "That's why my ranking dropped because without confidence you cannot make any more winners from the back of the court.
"All of a sudden the pain was gone and I could start at least to work on the movement, I started to cover the court better, doing more work in the gym."
However, Safin is still unable to completely shake off his injury woes - after early defeats in the Masters Series events in Toronto and Cincinnati last month, he reached the quarter-finals in Los Angeles but then pulled out of Washington with a stiff neck last week.
"It should be okay. I just need three or four days' rest," he said.
The US Open is exlcusively live on
Sky Sports. Coverage begins on Monday at 4pm on
Sky Sports Xtra and
Sky Sports HD3
