Marat Safin, ‘I’m searching. Constantly.’
薩芬"我總在追求真理﹐無時無刻地"
Marat Safin is a unique person. Even though he lost his high rankings because of a serious injury, the former world number one is still interesting and intriguing for the fans, spectators and tournament management. And at the Kremlin Cup in
‘When people have nothing to say, they come up with meddlesome advice’
Q: Let’s start with an unusual question. What were your thinking about when you woke up today?
MS: I guess, I didn’t think about anything at all, because it all goes automatically – practicing, playing. Waking up automatically, then shower, and then a ride to the courts. Boring… (frowning)
Q: Do you make plans then?
MS: I never do, just because they never come true. Especially in here, during the tournament. Every minute of the day is fixed till the very evening. The only thing I can make plans about is where I’m going to have dinner.
Q: It’s annoying, isn’t it?
那很麻煩困擾﹐可不是
MS: Not that much, I just don’t like it. I want something new and exciting.
Q: What’s annoying then? What is the thing that gets on your nerves?
MS: It drives me mad, when some people say “Marat, you’re a talented player, but you should practice more. Usually people, who say something like that, know nothing or very little and have no relation to tennis. They have nothing more to say, so they come up with such advice.
Q: And your new coach, Hernán Gumy from
MS: You see any career has certain stages – the beginning, the middle and the end. When you’re just starting you should practice more, work on some elements, improve some of them... When you’re 25 it’s hard to change anything. I’m already a mature player, and I need a coach who can understand this. He can force me to do one thing, but at the same time he should let some other things go their own way.
Q: That’s what Gumy is like?
MS: He’s very calm. The point for him is to be this calm while he’s on court and not to make a fuss. Otherwise, you know, I might blow my top off.
Q: Blow your top off? Like doing what?
MS: Well, I might break my racket, or just tell everyone to… Well, you know how our Russian people swear. I bet you’ve heard workers at a construction site?
Q: I have. What else annoys you?
MS: Phone calls. If someone is calling, they want something from you. I don’t like answering, and when I don’t people get offended and angry, ask why I haven’t called them back, what’s up. That’s what annoys me the most.
Q: And your friends? Who are they?
MS: Good question… Almost all of them have some business. But there are also artists. Different people who have been living a long life and who have great experience.
Q: And who is Shamil Tarpischev for you?
MS: Tarpischev? Shama… A genius coach and a man who easily finds a way out of any situation. He reads people perfectly, gets his ideas straight and has enormous experience. He sees people through – he just needs to talk to them for two minutes. I have a great respect for him.
‘I recall my past so as not to walk on air too much’
Q: Comparing your old interviews and the more recent ones, it’s easy to see how much calmer and wiser you’ve become. Do you think much about yourself?
MS: Depends on what you mean by it. Yes, I think about myself, but not in a narcissistic way. (laughing) You see, it’s important not to get too obsessed with yourself and only yourself. But at the same time you should love yourself. If you can’t love yourself, how can you love anyone else? And people, who are close to us, also need our attention badly.
Q: What do you think about your life then?
MS: We all try to foresee what we’ll be doing in 5 years. And we set some goals for ourselves, because it’s very difficult to live without any. First a person aims at entering the university, than take a second degree. Then giving everything to work, to climb the career ladder. Thirdly he is just stuck in traffic jams every day. And then, at 50, he is hit by the realization, that he hasn’t actually done anything with his life. He was fussing, running around, but what for…
Q: And you yourself?
MS: I’m searching. Constantly.
Q: You sound like a philosopher or like a priest.
MS: Nope, I don’t read the Bible.
Q: And what are you reading?
MS: The most recent one was “A Hundred Years of Solitude” by Gabriel Garcia Marquez.
Q: Never thought that you might like books of this kind.
MS: And what’s wrong about it? It’s kind of boring to read only classics all the time, I just need something different. So you go for the contemporary literature or something philosophical.
Q: What do you consider wealth?
MS: The years I’ve lived. I don’t need too much money, a house in Rublevka (the street in
Q: You once said in an interview, ‘I’m lucky, because I’ve got out of poverty’.
MS: That’s not true, I’ve never put it that way. I’ve grown up at VDNH, which is quite a nice district of Moscow. Just the whole situation my family was in was not that great. The four of us were living in the flat of
Q: Do you often go over the past? And what for?
MS: I do sometimes... And what for? In order not to loose the feeling of reality. You start to walk above the clouds, and then there it comes – a recollection from childhood, which immediately brings you back to the ground. For instance I go into the supermarket, where the shelves are full of different yummy things, and recall standing in line to buy some sugar. That’s exactly the moment, you know, when you start appreciating your life of today.
Q: Have these recollections become an extra stimulus for achieving some success?
MS: Of course. Otherwise, who would I have been if I hadn’t got into the tennis elite? Ok, a coach who gets $15 per hour. That might be enough for living, but hardly enough for a family and definitely not enough for buying a flat and a car. And then what? I don’t like this hopeless kind of life.
‘I wear pants that cost me $20’
Q: You’re thought to be one of the most eligible bachelors of the country. How do you choose girls?
MS: Just the same way you choose us. I look at the face and a bit lower.
Q: What do you value in women?
MS: Personality. Character is not a small thing either.
Q: How do you feel about marriage?
MS: I’m positive about it. But only after the children are born. After having been living with someone for 15 years you understand if you really love him or her.
Q: Not earlier? What happens before then?
MS: Love at the very beginning is an illness, a wild and feverous one. Then it transforms into respect, without which two people just can’t live together for long. Or either it does not transform, and to understand this you need time.
Q: Are you fashion-conscious?
Q: But you like to dress up smartly and nicely?
MS: Just have a look. Now I’m wearing jeans that I’ve bought for $20 on sale in the States, white socks that definitely don’t fit the image, shoes that are probably older than myself and a torn T-shirt.
Q: And what about Rolex on your wrist?
MS: (laughing) Ah, this… It’s for free. I’m promoting it.
Q: But you won’t deny your passion for good cars?
MS: No (smiling) I like to be comfortable sitting.
Q: What do you prefer?
MS: I’ve got two right now – Mercedes and Porsche. The first I got as a present, the second – I bought myself.
Q: Well, rather expensive ones…
MS: I’ve told you. One is a present. The second I bought with a huge discount - about 50%, it was sold to me by a friend of mine. You should have rich friends with good cars. (laughing) As Ostap Bender said (the hero of one of the Russian books – The 12 chairs”, and “The Golden Calf”) – a car is not a sign of luxury, but a means of transport.
Maria Kuznetsova
Translated by Elisabeth
No comments:
Post a Comment