Goodbye, Safin

At the age of 29, with loss to Argentine del Potro in the Paris Masters, the ever-entertaining Marat Safin called it a day. It had been a troublesome few months for him; with at most average performances taking into account his quality and credentials. His last noteworthy result was the 2008 Wimbledon Semi-Finals, in which he had defeated Novak Djokovic en route to the penultimate stage of the prestigious tournament. His tennis career has been full of ups and downs, but the Russian would have peace with the fact that he was his own master.

Virtues like discipline and stability were antonyms to Safin. Nine years ago, the young boy of 20 stunned the tennis fraternity when he defeated legend Pete Sampras in straight sets and claimed the US Open. The world showered praise for this new wonder-boy and predicted high honours for him.

Yet as they say, it is not the talent but the temperament which ultimately makes a player. Marat seemed to be more fascinated by off-field life – his friends, his cars and his parties; and his tennis did not take off the way it was expected. It is understandable when it is acknowledged that he emerged from modest means. It would be unfair, however, to dwell more on his personal life as his injuries did not help matters either. For the next four-five years, he was recognised as a decent player for his parts played in Davis Cup ties for Russia, and a finals appearance in the Australian Open in 2002; but it was not the future as expected, for his talent was immensely more than what results showed. Fabrice Santoro, asked to comment on his encounter with Lleyton Hewitt in Paris-Bercy final in 2002, said: “This is the number one in the world against the best player (Safin) in the world”.

In the Australian Open 2004, Marat finally looked to be able to come of age. He finished a proud runner-up to the other big legend Roger Federer. Towards the end of that year, Marat caught amazing form which eventually culminated in the Australian Open triumph in early 2005. In the Semi-Finals, he clashed with a Roger Federer at peak, and saved a match point in the fourth set to defeat him 5-7, 6-4, 5-7, 7-6 (8-6), 9-7 in one of the most thrilling matches in tennis history. He destroyed the home favourite Lleyton Hewitt in four sets in the finals to claim his second grand slam.

However, this was not a sign for things to come. He could be considered unlucky to be in the same era as Sampras and Federer - two of the greatest players in history, but Marat did not deliver enough on the tennis court. Yet he remained a most interesting player to watch. Breaking of rackets on the court as a vent of rage was his patent, as was also his honest and outspoken comments. He never worried about others’ opinions about him. Many times he tended to throw away his grip on matches by not being hungry enough on the court. He was perfectly dignified, honest and possessed a good sense of humour. His antics were dear to his passionate fans.

Marat got what he wanted – enjoyable life, dignity and fame. That he remained one of the biggest underachievers in tennis may be of concern to others. Even in the short career that he has had, he has given us more than a couple of moments of the brilliance that might have been.

This is it

It was announced in March by the man himself.

“I’ll be…I’ll be performing the songs my fans want to hear.”

“This is it. I mean this is really it. This is the final…this is the final curtain call.” A pause. “Ok? And…um…I’ll see you in July,”

The July never came.

Tickets for Michael’s concerts had sold at a rate of 11 per second. The concerts were arguably the biggest musical event of the year, and expected to be larger than life.

Efforts made to reveal the moonwalker preparing for live performances after a twelve-year long gap culminated into Kenny Ortega’s ‘This is it’ - a much-anticipated movie released as a documentary-feature.

A sincere attempt at showcasing the master artist at work, the film portrays the man as gentle and simple – at the same time a realistic perfectionist keen to ensure the best quality performance for his fans. Whether jamming to ‘Jam’, or lifting the hands and legs together with his band of dancers in ‘They don’t really care about us’, Michael seems to have a full sense of technical details for the perfect music and rhythm.

He ensures that he himself does not give it his all in the rehearsals, to finally let loose on the d-day. Sometimes just gingerly luke-warming, and looking for the best possible rhythmic collaboration and synchronisation of dance with the music, he seems to genuinely enjoy the moments, and the prospect of another gift for his fans.

Thematic videos of many of his popular songs such as ‘Smooth Criminal’, ‘Thriller’ and ‘Earth Song’ were re-created bigger and exciting to capture the imagination of everyone.

And his team was just in a trance. To be able to share space with the man himself was simply overwhelming.

“Michael has a depth to him that people don’t really know.”

“This is a dream come true. When MJ comes in the room his presence is just amazing….”

The movie is not another spectacle of miraculous song-dance-action, but the revelation of the real man, as calm and wise as a seventy-year old and physically as young as a twenty something. He wanted to be on stage for his fans and also for his children, as in his own words ‘they were old enough to appreciate it and he was still young enough to do it.’

His wish, however, unfulfilled:

“It’s an adventure…it’s a great adventure. Wanna take them places where we’ve never been before…wanna show them time that we’ve never seen before…”