Photo via www.tennis-russia.ru
There are so many talented tennis players in Russia, that the country has its own awards ceremony to honor them. Last night’s Russian Cup awards, hosted by Anastasia Myskina at Moscow’s Radisson Slavyanskaya hotel, honored Nikolay Davydenko as Tennis Player of the Year (for being the top male Russian player for the 5th [...]

I love this video interview of Marat Safin, speaking in Paris after losing the last match of his career to Juan Martin del Potro. He says he realized during that match that he has a terrible forehand and maybe should have worked on it at some point during his career. I’m assuming he’s joking, but [...]

I love this photo:

Thanks to the Safin fan at Mens Tennis Forum for finding/posting this.
So. . .anyone know if the now-retired Safin (wahhh!) and the Bercy-loser Federer (wahhh!) spent the night on the town together? Were you with them, by chance, doing body shots off Marat’s clavicle and cooing over photos of the Federer twins?  [...]

Any day that Marat Safin and Roger Federer are kicked out of a tournament is a bad one. And today Marat’s gone forever! Oh well, at least some people are happy after Wednesday’s Paris Masters. Julien Benneteau got his best win, ever. Rafael Nadal saved 5 match points. Marat Safin doesn’t have to play tennis [...]

Marat Safin played the last match of his professional career today at the Paris Masters in Bercy, losing in three sets to Juan Martin del Potro: 6-4, 5-7, 6-4. It was a “good” loss for him, the dignified exit he was hoping for. He could have won it, but didn’t “lose” it. He smashed just [...]

Marat Safin almost played the last match of his career yesterday, fighting past three match points to beat the 168 ranked Thierry Ascione at the Paris Masters. After that close call, Marat told the ATP that he wants “to retire with dignity.” He also said that it won’t be “too painful” to lose to his [...]

Photo by JACQUES DEMARTHON/AFP/Getty Images via Daylife
Marat Safin saved three match points today in the first round of the Paris Masters, a tournament he’s won three times in his career (a record he shares with Boris Becker). Watching him nearly flame-out against Thierry Ascione, a stocky 28-year-old French qualifier ranked 168 in the world, confirmed [...]

On Sunday, Fabrice “the Magician” Santoro played what he says is the last professional tennis match of his 20-year career, losing to James Blake 6-4, 6-3 in the first round of the Paris Masters. After the match, Blake and Santoro exchanged “jerseys” and Santoro took his own kind of victory lap around the Bercy arena.
“Thank [...]

AP Photo/Laurent Cipriani via Daylife
Andre Agassi wasn’t the only bald tennis-playing daddy making news this weekend. Ivan Ljubicic told his own inspirational story (minus the meth and hair piece), after beating Michael Llodra, 7-5, 6-3 in the finals of the Grand Prix de Tennis de Lyon. It was the 30-year-old’s ninth ATP title and his [...]

Marat Safin may be limping off the tour in a couple weeks (WAH!), but he still has the best BS meter in the game. Here are Safin’s thoughts on Andre Agassi’s recent admission (via his autobiography) that he lied his way out of a drug suspension (CBS Sports):
“One should know how to be silent, but [...]

Marat Safin and Teimuraz Gabashvili visited an orphanage in St. Petersburg while in town for the St. Petersburg Open. Listen carefully, gals, Marat has a message for you:

Hear that? Marat says retirement will give him plenty of time to find the right woman and make babies. Single ladies, renew those passports!
Oh, and of course it’s [...]

GTT buddy Lorrie sent us these links to Marat Safin’s last press conference at the Kremlin Cup this week (after beating Nikolay Davydenko, Marat went out to Korolev in the second round.) The video is in Russian (non-Russian speakers will enjoy casting Safin into their fantasy James Bond film) but the English transcript shows Marat [...]