Marat Safin sibling Dinara Safina
Marat Mubinovich Safin (Russian: Мара́т Муби́нович Са́фин, IPA: [mɐˈrat ˈsafʲɪn] (listen); Tatar: Марат Мөбин улы Сафин; born 27 January 1980) is a Russian retired world No. 1 tennis player and former politician. He achieved the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) world No. 1 singles ranking on 20 November 2000. Safin is also the older brother of former WTA world No. 1 player Dinara Safina. They are the only brother-sister tandem in tennis history who have both achieved No. 1 rankings. Safin began his professional tennis career in 1997, and held the No. 1 ranking for a total of 9 weeks between November 2000 and April 2001. He won his first Grand Slam title at the 2000 US Open, defeating Pete Sampras in the final, and won the 2005 Australian Open, defeating Lleyton Hewitt in the final. Safin helped lead Russia to Davis Cup victories in 2002 and 2006. Despite his dislike of grass courts, he became the first Russian man to reach the semifinals of Wimbledon at the 2008 Wimbledon Championships, where he lost to Roger Federer. At the time of his retirement in November 2009, he was ranked world No. 61. In 2011, he became a member of the State Duma representing the United Russia party. In 2016, he became the first Russian tennis player inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame.Early life
Safin was born in Moscow to Tatar parents, Mubin ("Mikhail") Safin and Rauza Islanova. He speaks Russian, English, and Spanish. Safin does not speak Tatar and does not feel like he has to apologize about it. His parents are former tennis players and coaches. His younger sister, Dinara, is a former world No. 1 professional tennis player and silver medalist at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing. Safin's father managed the local Spartak Tennis Club, where Safin trained in his youth.
At the age of 14, Safin moved to Valencia, Spain to gain access to advanced tennis training programs which were not available in Russia. Safin says he grew "very fast ... with no muscles" and that he moved to Spain because clay courts were "better for the knees".In a 2008 interview with USA Today, Safin identified himself as a Muslim, stating, "I'm Russian, but I'm 100% Muslim. All the Muslim people are passionate, stubborn. We have hot blood." However, ten years later in an interview for Alexander Golovin of Sports.Ru he stated that though he believes in something that had created the world but doesn't really believe in personal God. Since the dissolution of the USSR, all the people of Russia have been encouraged to list themselves in accordance with the dominant religion of their ethnic group before the Soviet regime, as a sign of respect to the heritage — with all the Tatars being "ethnic Muslims" and ethnic Slavs being "Orthodoxes" by default, etc.2009
Safin started the 2009 season by playing in the Hopman Cup event in Perth with his sister, Dinara Safina. He arrived at the event sporting a bandaged right thumb, two black eyes, a blood-filled left eye, and a cut near his right eye, all suffered in a fight several weeks earlier in Moscow. In the 2009 Hopman Cup, the pair played off in the final representing Russia, but each was defeated in the singles rubbers. Safin said he had decided to play the 2009 season because of a great offer from his manager Ion Ţiriac, he made this decision despite not having a coach.Safin withdrew from the Kooyong Classic tournament because of a shoulder injury, but recovered to play his first-round Australian Open match, which he won in straight sets over Iván Navarro of Spain. In the second round, Safin defeated another Spanish player, Guillermo García-López. In the third round, he came up against Federer and lost in straight sets. His next tournament was the Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships. He exited in the first round, losing to Richard Gasquet, and exited in the semifinals in doubles with David Ferrer. In March, Safin helped Russia advance to the Davis Cup quarterfinals by beating Victor Crivoi of Romania in the first rubber in straight sets.Starting the year at No. 29 in the world, he placed in the top 20 during the year for the first time since the end of January 2006. His doubles ranking also improved from 300 to 195. In the first round at Wimbledon, at which he was seeded 14th, he was upset by 21-year-old American Jesse Levine.
Safin played at the Catella Swedish Open at Båstad, where he lost to Nicolás Almagro of Spain. He began his hard-court season by making it to the quarterfinals of the LA Tennis Open (his first quarterfinal of the season), where he lost to Tommy Haas.He lost in the first round of the U.S. Open, his last Grand Slam, to Austrian Jürgen Melzer. After a second-round loss in the PTT Thailand Open, he found some late form, coming into the China Open tournament held in Beijing; beating José Acasuso in the first round. In the second round, he played Fernando González and produced a win. In the quarterfinals, he lost against top seed Rafael Nadal. As the tour rolled into Moscow for the Kremlin Cup, it marked the beginning of the end for Safin, as he played his last competitive matches in his native Russia. He defeated No. 6 Nikolay Davydenko in the first round, but lost in the second round. He then played at the 2009 St. Petersburg Open, reaching the semifinals.
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