Argumenti I Facti Newspaper Interview
, April 2007
2007 Argumenti I Facti 俄國報紙專訪

• cited from Annie at TGFR http://guyfromrussia.proboards48.com/index.cgi?board=press2007&action=display&thread=1182431175

Marat Safin: “Who needs me without my tennis
薩芬:如果沒有網球﹐我還能做什麼

Last weekend our tennis players defeated France in the quarterfinals of Davis Cup in Moscow.
Here is our conversation about sport, reality, faith, beautiful women and true men with the most experienced player of our team who gained the final winning point in that match - Marat Safin.

上禮拜我們的網球員於莫斯科DAVIS CUP 八強打敗法國。
這篇專訪記錄在比賽中奪取關鍵最後一分﹐隊伍裡經驗最豐富的薩芬談論運動﹑美女﹑男子漢等。

— Marat why do you think we are facing a situation when only Russian tennis players are leaders on the international arena and achieve international success nowadays?
— I don’t think this is the case. We have excellent athletes in all sports. For example, take a look at how many young forces have been brought up in football in the past 5 years. It’s a totally different story that our teamwork isn’t so good and our teams are very unlucky at times. There is also one more thing you have to consider: everything develops in a spiral kind of way. During the Soviet Union times ice hockey was extremely popular and we were the best in the world… Then some changes occured. Nowadays, our country leaders have taken interest in football so I think we should be expecting some serious results on that front .

-MARAT ﹐你覺得為何現今俄羅斯球員在國際網壇能大放異彩有如此偉大的成就?
-我並不這樣認為﹐其實在各項運動我們都有傑出的選手﹐你看看過去五年內﹐我們在足壇注入多少新血。情況是完全不同的﹐我們的隊伍不強或者我們不夠幸運。還有一件事情值得深思﹐每件事的發展都像連鎖效應般。在蘇聯時期﹐冰上曲棍球非常流行﹐而且我們是世界第一﹐之後有了上微妙的變化。而今﹐我們國家領導將培育重點放在足球上﹐所以我想未來足球成績將一嗚驚人。

I only play well during Davis Cup…»
我只有在DAVIS CUP才打得好?

— After all your injuries you still get back to tennis and show a decent level of the game on the whole. You’re also joking that the only times you play well these days are during Davis Cup
— Last year I wanted to end my career for good because I could not move properly. The situation was very difficult. And then I came to the following realization: if I quit tennis now, in two months noone will want me or have any interest in me… This is the exact thought that made me get back to regular training and get back into tennis elite.
-經過傷病困擾﹐你於復出後依舊有超水平的表現。你自己也開玩笑說﹐好像只有在DAVIS UP 時你會打得好。
-去年我真的一度想永遠離開網壇﹐因為自己始終無法自由移位﹐實在非常艱苦難熬﹐而後我回到現實情況思考:如果我放棄網球﹐兩個月後沒人需要我﹐也不再對我有任何期待...這的確是殘酷的現實考量促使我回復正常訓練﹐試著爬回頂尖行列。

— Marat, do you think you’re a happy person?
— It is rather hard for me to define happiness. One thing I can say is that I am very lucky. My Dad wishes me luck before every game.

— You have a little extract from the Koran as your necklace, then there is the pendant from “the black eye” and some others… Don’t you think it’s too much?
— If you treat everything in such a manner, take everything so logically and seriously, it will definitely be too much. I bought some of these myself, some were given to me by family and friends and I everything I wear – I wear because I like it. There is nothing more to that.
-MARAT ﹐你是個快樂的人嗎
-很難去定義何謂快樂阿。我只能確定一件事﹐我很幸運。在每場比賽前我爸都會祝我幸運。

-你的項練綴飾有可蘭經牌﹐也另外戴著"黑眼珠"﹐還有其他一大堆。。你不覺得太累贅了嗎
-如果你做事都按照世俗的規矩﹐認真地考量﹐那麼當然是戴太多了。我自己買一些﹐有些是家人跟朋友送的﹐我戴的每個東西--我戴只是因我喜歡﹐沒有其他複雜的因素。

— Do you visit the mosque at least on holidays?
— This is a truly personal and sacred topic, which I would not like to discuss.

— You started to act more calm on court – don’t break so man rackets, don’t swear as much and don’t fight with umpires as much. What happened?
— Well I am 27 after all. It is time to calm down and enjoy whatever it is you’re doing, take pleasure in life.

-你假日上清真寺嗎
-這屬於極私人與神聖的話題﹐我不想討論

-在場上你越來越平靜了-沒摔那麼多拍子﹐不再頻頻咀咒﹐也不常跟主審口角。怎麼回事
-畢竟我也27歲了﹐也該是靜下來好好享受自己所從事的工作跟生活的時候了

— Last year you changed your image al the time: had hair all over your shoulders like a musketeer, then had a bun like a sumo wrestler and then shaved it all off completely. What is that? A way to find your identity?
— No, there was no search. It’s just that my Dad is bald, and thought that all my curls would fall out soon so I decided to see how I would look in different styles. And then I decided to see how bald men feel and shaved it all off.

-去年你不斷改變外貌﹐長髮及肩像步兵一般﹐又綁了個馬尾活像個相撲手﹐之後又理個大光頭。那代表什麼﹐你在找尋自我嗎
-沒有阿﹐我沒在找什麼。就單純因為我爸是個禿頭﹐想到我的捲髮哪天都會掉光了﹐所以決定留長看看會是什麼樣子﹐最後再理光來感受禿頭又是什麼滋味。

Sharapova is not the woman of my heart»
SHARAPOVA 不是我心儀的那型女人

— Thousands of girls are in love with you, they go crazy about you, you’re their hero. Could you describe your ideal female?
— I think that there is no ideal like there is no perfection. I am a realistic man. Why would I want to draw up some ideal, to give hope to people, female fans especially?
-千萬個女孩子都愛你﹐為你瘋狂﹐你是她們心中的英雄。可以形容一下你理想中的女人嗎
-我想﹐世上沒有所謂理想﹐正如沒有什麼東西是完美的一樣。我是個務實的人﹐為什麼我要設下一些理想的條件給人們﹐尤其是女球迷們呢?

— Do you fancy Masha Sharapova? Could she become the heroine of your novel?
— I perfectly accept the fact that Masha together with Anya Kournikova. But I perfectly well realize that this is not my cup of tea and Maria could never become a woman of my heart.
-你喜歡SHARAPOVA 嗎﹐她會是你心中的女豪傑麼
-我完全認同 MARIA 跟庫娃受到廣大歡迎。但我也十分清楚那不是我想要的﹐MARIA 絕非我心儀的類型。

— What about your ex, Dasha Zhukova? Is she really so charming that Roman Abramovich could lose his head over her?..
— I won’t call Daria a femme fatale. She has a lot of positive sides as well as negative ones in my opinion but it is not my place to discuss them. We broke up with our own interests and opinions in mind. As for Abramovich, I think she has every ability to turn his head.

-那麼你的前女友DASHA 呢? 她真如此迷人﹐讓 ABRAMOVICH 為她神魂顛倒?
-我不會稱DASHA 是個致命吸引力的女人﹐她有很多優點﹐也有缺點﹐而我認為以自己的身份並不適合討論這些。我們分手是兩方同意的。至於ABRAMOVICH﹐我相信她確有吸引他的魅力。

— Marat why don’t you use your striking appearance? You could easily become the hero of Hollywood, do some advertising, earn heaps of money and feel totally grand.
— If only it was that easy. There were some suggestions but I am not ready to sell myself for peanuts. Don’t get me wrong, if I lived in the US my fortune would have been 3-4 times bigger. But we have different values and it’s more important for us to live in peace and quiet.
-MARAT﹐你什麼不擅加利用自己迷人英俊的外貌呢? 很輕易就可以在好萊塢成就﹐拍些廣告﹐賺很多錢﹐感受無上尊貴
-如果有那麼容易就好。總是有人在建議﹐但我沒打算。不開玩笑的﹐如果我住在美國﹐我的財產起碼是現有的三四倍。但是我們有不同的價值觀﹐而人生很重要的是活得平和安靜。

— What in your opinion is the most important thing for a real man?
— To become a personality, an individual and to never betray your principles.
-作一個真正的男子漢﹐什麼是最重要的原素
-要有個性﹐個人風格﹐而且絕不背離自己的原則。

Dmitry Grantsev