Marat Safin is a Russian tennis player, the first Russian to be inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame (2016). Winner of 15 titles, winner of two Grand Slam tournaments - the US Open in 2000 and the Australian Open ("Australia Open") in 2005. In the memory of the fans, Marat remained not only as a great player, but also as the most emotional tennis player in the world. His actions on the court sometimes discouraged the judges and the public with their extravagance and impulsiveness.
Childhood and youth
Marat Safin, a Tatar by nationality, was born in Moscow on January 27, 1980. The boy's parents were directly related to sports. Mom Rauza Islanova 10 years before the birth of her son was one of the most successful tennis players in the Soviet Union (later she became a coach), and father Mubin Alekseevich held an administrative post in the Spartak sports society. In 1986, the daughter Dinara was born in the family, who also later became a tennis player and the first racket of the world.
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Marat Safin in his youth
From an early age, Marat was surrounded by athletes - his mother returned to work early and took the child with her to the court. Already taking his first steps in tennis, the boy showed excellent results, although at that time he was more interested in football.
When Marat was 6 years old, his mother took up training seriously. Soon Safin was sent to a tennis academy in Cincinnati, USA, along with Anna Kournikova, who subsequently remained in America. Returning to his homeland, the guy continued training under the supervision of his mother and soon received a grant from a Swiss bank to study abroad.
Tennis
In 1997, the grown-up athlete, whose height is 1.93 m and weighs 88 kg, went to the tennis tournament in Espino. This performance is considered the beginning of his professional sports biography.
At first, the guy showed different results, but soon the tennis players of the first hundred began to feel uncomfortable with him on the court.
The best matches in the career of Marat Safin include the competition against, the champion of the previous year, at the French Open (Roland Garros) in 1998. The forces were unequal, but the newcomer, who got into the main draw through the selection, managed to defeat the championship leader.
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By the beginning of the 21st century, Safin had become one of the most successful and famous tennis players on the planet. At the age of 25, the athlete beat the titled Pete Sampras at the US Open and received the status of the first racket of the world. But emotionality and impulsiveness prevented Marat from showing even results. The tennis player showed his temper on the court by breaking rackets, especially if he could not beat the opponent.
The athlete worked steadily as part of the performances of the Russian national team, showing himself to be an excellent team captain. In 2002, the Russian team won the Davis Cup, and Safin made a key contribution to this victory.
Marat's last match took place on November 11, 2009 at the French stadium. 14 thousand tennis fans came to watch the game. At the time of the end of his sports career, Safin's fortune was estimated at $ 14 million. The athlete owned a spacious apartment in the center of Moscow and a villa in Monte Carlo.
Since 2009, Safin began to perform frequently at exhibition tournaments and veteran competitions. In addition, he became vice-president of the Russian Tennis Federation.
In 2011, the athlete became a State Duma deputy from the United Russia party. After 6 years, the tennis player passed the deputy mandate. He explained his decision by the desire to devote more time to work in international sports organizations. In the government, Safin retained the position of public adviser to the Chairman of the State Duma of the VII convocation Vyacheslav Volodin on sports.
Personal life
Marat Safin is known for love affairs, and his novels, photos with new women in social networks attract no less attention to his person than sports activities. So, in the mid-2000s, designer Dasha Zhukova became his chosen one, whom the tennis player introduced to everyone as a bride. However, the couple soon broke up, and Daria herself subsequently became a wife. The personal life of the tennis player continued to develop rapidly.
At one time, rumors periodically appeared in articles about Marat Safin in the press that his girlfriend was Anna Druzyaka. Marat and Anna were brought together and bred many times, they prophesied a quick wedding for them or stated that the young were expecting a child. During periods of parting with Anna Safin, they noticed in the company of girls, Valeria Yakubovskaya.
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Marat Safin and Dasha Zhukova
There were rumors that Valeria became the mother of Marat's only daughter Eva, but Safin himself denied this statement, saying that he had no children.
In 2016, opera singer Aida Garifullina became the athlete's lover. Journalists wrote that the star couple was expecting a baby and would soon get married, but Safin and Garifullina broke up due to a busy work schedule.
Subsequently, Marat will make a confession that he feels great without a girlfriend or wife. He can not stand relationships with the opposite sex, which last more than a week. The athlete loves freedom and life for his own pleasure.
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Winner of two Grand Slams at once in a single game, twice winner of the Davis Cup competitions as part of the Russian national team, winner of 17 ATP games, Marat Safin is so popular in our country due to his achievements that his name is familiar even very far from tennis.
The beginning of the career of Marat Safin
The son of the head of the sports base "Spartak-Shiryaevo Pole" and one of the best tennis players The USSR, Rauza Islanova, had every chance to get involved in tennis at a young age. Marat was six years old when he began regular training, and at ten he, along with other small athletes, went to the qualifying stage for admission to the Nick Bollettieri Tennis Academy. He did not pass this selection, but four years later he ends up with mentor Rafael Mensua at the Valencian Academy of Pancho Alvarin. In Spain, Marat lived and trained for four years.
Professional start of a tennis player
Seventeen-year-old Marat Safin played his first match as a professional athlete in 1997 at the Kremlin Cup. Although he lost the duel, Safin attracted a lot of attention. The next year was very eventful - he was part of the Russian team at the Davis Cup and reached the fourth round at the Open Championships in France and the USA. As a result, Safin received the title of discovery of the year and took a place in the ranking of the 50 best tennis players according to the ATP.
Bright career in big sport
In 1999, young Marat Safin won his first ATP title in Boston and reached the final of the Masters tournament. In 2000, the incredible happens - six ATP titles at once and a Grand Slam for winning the US Open, and Marat tops the ATP rankings for two weeks. The next year, two more titles go to the athlete's treasury. In 2002, he won the Masters series tournament and participated in the victory of the national team at the Davis Cup.
sunset glory
The following year was unproductive, and 2004 brought him two Masters and a win in Beijing. In 2005 there was a victory at the Australian Open, and this was the last title for Safin in singles - only a year later he was able to loudly declare himself by winning the Davis Cup with his teammates, and in 2009 end his career, losing the final of the Paris Masters.
Today Marat Safin is right hand Shamil Tarpishchev (head Russian Federation tennis) and a deputy of the State Duma from the Nizhny Novgorod region.
Marat Safin Biography - Tennis player
Safin Marat was born on January 27, 1980 in Moscow. His mother, Roza Islanovna, is a famous Russian tennis player, one of the ten best players in the USSR. Later, she became the coach of Spartak. His father - Mikhail Alekseevich - worked in the same club with his wife.
The first time Marat hit the court in infancy - at the age of five months. It so happened that there was no one to leave the baby with, and Roza Islanovna took him with her to a training session that took place in Sokolniki on the courts of the Spartak-Shiryaevo Pole tennis base.
Since that time, Marat has been to training many times, where his mother taught the kids the basics of tennis. And one day he picked up a racket and began to play. At the same time, he did not have to explain how to hold a racket, how to hit the ball - he already knew everything.
Mom became the first coach of the future famous tennis player. In childhood, Marat took the 2nd or 3rd position in the ranking of his peers involved in this sport.
In 1990, a group of young tennis players from Russia were sent to the United States of America to study at a tennis academy located in Cincinnati. Among them were Marat Safin and Anna Kournikova. Soon Marat returned - he did not take root far from his homeland.
With the support of sponsors, in 1994 the parents of the young athlete sent their son to Spain for further education.
not knowing Spanish, at the age of 14, Marat went to a completely unfamiliar country in the city of Valencia, where he was accepted into the Pancho Alvarin tennis academy. Here Rafael Mensua became his coach.
In 1997, it was decided to return the young tennis player to his homeland, but, despite numerous difficulties, he remained in his beloved country and continued training. He still lives there and continues to improve his professional training.
In 1997, the young athlete won his first sports title. In the same year, they started talking about Marat seriously. In September, Shamil Tarpishchev, the captain of the RSFSR team, offered Safin as a substitute for the Moscow Play Off match with the Romanian national team.
In November 1997, the young tennis player made his debut at the Kremlin Cup - on the ATP tour in Moscow. Unfortunately, he was eliminated in the first round. However, his climb up the ladder of success soon began.
In April 1998, at the suggestion of Shamil Tarpishchev, Safin performed under the second number in the Russian national team at a meeting with the American team, held as part of the Davis Cup.
This time, an unknown young tennis player forced his opponent, one of the strongest tennis players in the world, Jim Courier, to give everything one hundred percent.
After this match, the American said that he would tell his grandchildren about this game.
At the French Open - one of the Grand Slam tournaments - Russian Marat Safin became a sensation. Having brilliantly passed the qualifying round, he displaces Agassi, Kuerten, and then Vacek in the first round. Only Piolin was able to stop the Russian tennis player.
After a sensational performance in France, Marat takes part in the US Open, again ousting eminent professionals from the game. Thanks to such successes, the rating of the young Russian rapidly increased - and, starting from 204th position, Safin reached 48th in 1998.
In early 1999, Marat Safin entered the top thirty tennis players in the world.
According to his teammate Yevgeny Kafelnikov, the new champion has a great future in the world of tennis.
Brief Biographical Dictionary
"Safin Marat" and other articles from the section
Marat Safin was born on January 27, 1980 in a family of professional tennis players. It was said that he was born with a racket in his hands. In the past, one of the best tennis players in the USSR, Marat's mother taught the boy to big-time sports from childhood, and later became his personal trainer. She has noticed more than once how her son easily and naturally wins sports victories. It was she who in 1994 managed to get a special grant for training and training abroad for her son, which undoubtedly contributed to the improvement of Marat's qualifications as an athlete.
professional sports career Marata Safina started from the tournament in Espino in 1997. And the first tournament brought the first victories. Tennis player Safin confidently entered the top 200 athletes in the world. Then followed the first and only disappointment in Marat's career - the defeat at the Kremlin Cup. But with this loss, a streak of victories started. In 1998 alone, the tennis player rose in the ranking from 204 to 48 places. Discipline and perseverance helped the athlete achieve unprecedented heights in sports.
In a short period of time, Marat Safin became the hope of Russian sports, he was predicted to have great achievements. There was no athlete in the world equal to him in strength and potential. At the age of twenty, Marat beat the legendary Pete Sampras at the tournament, where he was awarded the title of the first racket of the world. But due to constant injuries and unstable mentality, the athlete lost this title by the end of the year. Marat remained one of the favorites of world tennis, but he no longer got to the first place. However, he was the non-replaceable captain of the Russian national team and always showed himself in the best possible way. Under his leadership, in 2002 the team won a legendary victory at the Davis Cup.
Ups in Marat's profession were constantly replaced by falls, most often due to injuries. So, the athlete missed almost all of 2003 due to a sprained wrist. At 25, his career reached its peak. At the Australian Open, he won the first victory over Roger Federer, and in the final he defeated Lleyton Hewitt. Bright victories in singles were inconsistent and were replaced by no less striking defeats. The athlete could drop from 50th place to 100th in less than half a year. In 2009, Marat Safin played his final season. On November 11, the last match of the tennis player took place in France.
Marat Safin is one of the best tennis players in the world. The athlete managed to stay the first racket of the world for nine weeks. Now Marat has finished his professional career and became a deputy of the State Duma. How did the athlete manage to reach such heights in the port, and then in politics?
As a child, it was clear to everyone that little Marat would become a tennis star. And how not to become here when the boy was born in Moscow in the family of one of the best tennis players in the USSR and the director of the Spartak club? Almost since childhood, he was taught to hold a racket in his hands.
Marat easily managed to play tennis and at the first stages of training he showed good results, although at the same time he dreamed of becoming a football player and played tennis only on the instructions of his mother, and she was already seriously taking up her son. Already at six, the little athlete became one of the three best tennis players of his age in the entire Soviet Union.
At a very young age, Marat went to America to the tennis academy. Then 9-year-old Anna Kournikova went to the USA with him, who stayed there, but Safin did not like America, he did not show high results and returned to Moscow again.
Parents did not just try to send their son to train abroad. In the 90s, the boy simply did not have a place to train in Russia, all sports schools were in a terrible state. Already in 1994, Safin's mother obtained a grant from a Swiss bank and nevertheless sent Marat to study sports outside the Motherland. It is from this moment that the independent life of a 14-year-old boy begins. Marat trained in Spain at the Tennis Academy. Pancho Alvarina. I had to live very modestly.
The beginning of her professional career started in 1997. The athlete took part in a tournament in Espino, where tennis players who were in the second hundred of the best in the world competed. Then for Marat, it seemed that these were unattainable heights. Marat more than successfully performed at the tournament, followed by the Kremlin Cup, which did not go well and ended in a loss. After that, a streak of luck began in the career of a tennis player. So, starting at the position of 204th in the 1998 ranking, in 1999 he became 45th.
Many famous tennis players had to be defeated by a young and talented athlete. Marat became the hope not only of his mother, but of everything sports world. In 2000, Safin becomes the best in the world. At the age of 20, at the open tennis championship in America, Marat beat Pete Sampras himself and became the first racket of the world. After 9 weeks, he lost this place to Gustav Kuerten.
Often due to injuries that disrupted training, career highs were accompanied by serious failures. Marat missed the whole of 2003 due to a long recovery process after an injury, already in 2004 he was able to return to his former form and a year later he won the long-awaited Grand Slam tournament.
Then the athlete's career kept at the world level, but he no longer managed to be the best. The 25-year-old athlete spent his last season in 2009 at 24th place in the ranking. On November 11, 2009, 14,000 people said goodbye to the tennis player at his final match in France.
A few years later, in July 2009, for many, the decision of the athlete seemed unexpected run for the State Duma. The athlete achieved his goal and became deputy from the Nizhny Novgorod region. It was at this moment that Safin's new career began - political. Here, a lot is similar to sports, the tennis player said.
Personal life of Marat Safin
All the world's tabloids watched Safin's personal life. The first relationship developed in Spain with a girl named Silvia even before the tennis player became famous. Young people met for 4 years, but as soon as Marat succeeded in sports, the relationship ended.
WITH Ekaterina Bestuzheva the romantic relationship lasted almost a year, but did not look like a serious one.
In 2004, a serious romance began with the designer Daria Zhukova. The world media expected the couple to announce their engagement, but Daria preferred Roman Abromovich to Marat.
It's not surprising that the athlete has an illegitimate daughter Eva, which he sees no more than once every six months. The girl's mother, business lady Valeria, found out about her pregnancy after she broke up with Safin. A tennis player every month allocates a certain amount of money for raising a child.
The success of Marat Safin was predetermined in childhood by the efforts of his mother. Now, after the tennis player's career has ended and he managed to change the field of activity, it can be said with confidence that the family of the famous tennis player and the director of the Spartak club managed to raise a great athlete.
