By Larry Fine

NEW YORK, Aug 29 (Reuters) - Former champion Marat Safin traded booming groundstrokes with Tommy Robredo for three sets before fading to a 4-6 7-6 6-4 6-0 defeat by the 15th-seeded Spaniard on Friday in the second round of the U.S. Open.

"Sometimes you have a good day, sometimes you have a bad day," the 2000 champion said. "Today I was struggling."

Twice the Louis Armstrong Stadium match was interrupted in the second set by rain and Safin squandered opportunities to seize the advantage.

Leading 3-2 in the second-set tiebreaker he lost five of the last six points as 15th-seed Robredo won it 7-4 to level the match.

"If I would have won the second set, I should have won the match probably," said the former world number one who also triumphed at the 2005 Australian Open before tumbling down the rankings to his current number 44.

Safin, 28, battled the Spaniard on serve in the third set before errors began to seep into his game and Robredo broke him in the 10th game for a two sets to one lead.

That seemed to take the life out of Safin, who went down meekly in a 24-minute fourth set.

"The rain was going on and off and I couldn't get into the game. I missed a few points in the tiebreak," he said.

"The third set was very close and the fourth set I lost it completely. It just slipped away and that's it," said the fiery Russian, who in moments of frustration slammed his racket to the ground and smashed balls against the back curtain.

"Too much frustration in the second and third set."

Safin failed to successfully follow up his spirited run at Wimbledon, where he reached the semi-finals before falling to Roger Federer.

"One good result throughout the year, I don't think you're hoping for something bigger," Safin said about not carrying any expectations into Flushing Meadows.

Instead, Safin found himself pushed around the court by the pin-point topspin forehands and cut backhands from Robredo, who advanced to a third-round match against 19th seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France.

The demoralised Russian said he would not stick around in New York to cheer for his sister Dinara Safina, who could claim the world number one ranking with an Open triumph.

"No I'm going home. I've had enough already," said Safin. "I've been here for too long. I need to go home."

NEW YORK — It's do as I say, not as I do when it comes to Marat Safin and his up-and-coming sister Dinara Safina.

Safin, the 2000 U.S. Open men's singles champion, is well known for his hard-hitting and his explosive temper. His boiling point was reached again Tuesday during his 3-6, 6-2, 6-3, 4-6, 6-4 first-round win over Vince Spadea.

Serving to stay in the fourth set, Safin was called for a foot fault on the first point of the 4-5 game, and then was pushed to the brink again at deuce. While in his serving motion, Safin was again called for a foot fault - this time because his back foot crossed the centre line.

The little-known rule gave Spadea the game advantage and put him in position to clinch the fourth set on the next point.

"It's stupid rules that somebody made in, I don't know, 1850, and now they give me problems with these things," the still-perturbed Safin said. "It shouldn't be that way."

Safin grumbled at the linesman on the far end of the court and voiced his displeasure to chair umpire Carlos Bernardes. Speaking to him in Spanish, and in the universal language of frustration, Safin punctuated his remarks with expletives in English that were clearly heard.

He even sat on his chair mid-game in exasperation. After the set was lost, he went off court with tournament referee Brian Earley and took up the argument with him, to no avail.

Safin said, except for earlier this season in Cincinnati, he never had anyone call a foot fault against him on a second serve. He pleaded to be given a warning the first time he committed the fault before it would cost him a serve.

"I've already been on tour 10 years, and I want to enjoy my tennis," he said. "I don't want to fight anybody. I don't want to face any problems on the court. It's not like I'm starving to death and I need to do something original to earn money. I want to enjoy. It's so simple.

"I just want to have a nice match, win or lose, and whatever happens go home. That's it. I don't want to face the foot faults and all these things."

Earlier Tuesday, Safina - the No. 6 seed - moved into the second round by beating New Jersey's Kristie Ahn 6-3, 6-4.

She is learning a lot from her big brother, especially how to act on court. Well, sort of. In the past, meltdowns have caused Safin to lose focus and, in turn, matches.

"I would behave like a baby and crying and all this. He hated it," the 22-year-old Safina said. "He was always, 'Come on! You have to grow up in your mind. You cannot behave like this. ... That's why he's like learn from my experience. Don't do this."

Safina, a finalist this year at the French Open and the Beijing Olympics, is one of six women who could be ranked No. 1 on the women's tour by the end of this tournament.

"I think if she will do everything opposite of what I've been doing throughout the years, she will be Number One in the world for a long time," Safin said. "That's as simple as it is.

"Two tough finals ... and I think the third one is here. She should take her chance. ... I think she is ready to win the first Grand Slam. I'm really proud of the way she's handling the pressure and the way she's handling herself."

When Marat Safin destroyed Pete Sampras to win the U.S. Open title in 2000, it seemed the world order was about to change.

Sampras, who had just won his 13th Grand Slam title, was made to look old by the big, strong Russian, in one of the most impressive performances in recent Flushing Meadows history.

Since then, despite a stunning 2005 victory at the Australian Open, Safin has become one of the biggest enigmas in world sport, brilliant on his day but susceptible to mental let-downs and struck by injuries each time it seemed he was about to establish himself again.

Eight years on and a relative veteran at 28, Safin reached the semi-finals at Wimbledon this year and believes he is finally clear of the knee injury that hampered him after that 2005 win in Melbourne.

"The last time I played the U.S. Open normal was back in 2001, when I got to the semi-finals, probably, it was so long ago," former world number one Safin said.

"Every time I started to play well I was getting injured, even when I was number one, I got injured with the rib, I couldn't play for two months and my ranking dropped and I lost confidence.

"But I am getting back again, the results will come eventually. The ranking doesn't really matter, if you get the results it will come back."

Now ranked 44, Safin will be unseeded in New York next week but none of the top players will want to face him early on, especially Novak Djokovic, who was beaten by the Russian in round two at Wimbledon.

Having been ranked as low as 90th in March, Safin is on the up again.

Much of the credit, Safin said, should go to his coach, Hernan Gumy.

"It's been just over one year for us now, and I am pretty satisfied," Safin said.

"I am a little old to do certain things. Over the years it gets tougher and tougher to play well, especially when you compare yourself with the years before.

"He understands, he has a lot of patience and is the ideal person to travel with, which is very important. I am not under any pressure."

Safin said he had been wary about moving to his backhand side until Gumy took over.

"The knee was difficult and I was risking a little too much," he said. "That's why my ranking dropped because without confidence you cannot make any more winners from the back of the court.

"All of a sudden the pain was gone and I could start at least to work on the movement, I started to cover the court better, doing more work in the gym."

Nothing is smooth sailing where Safin is concerned, though.

After early defeats in the Masters Series events in Toronto and Cincinnati last month, Safin reached the quarter-finals in Los Angeles but then pulled out of Washington with a stiff neck last week.

"It should be okay. I just need three or four days' rest," he said.

Reuters

WASHINGTON, Aug. 12, 2008 (Reuters) — Marat Safin's U.S. Open preparations suffered a setback when the former world number one was forced to retire from his first round match at the ATP event in Washington with a neck injury on Tuesday.

The Russian sixth seed lost the first set against Italian Fabio Fognini 7-5 and then decided to withdraw from the match.

"I just blocked it and I pulled a muscle," Safin told reporters, adding that he suffered the injury on the second point of the match.

"It was getting worse and worse. I should have stopped earlier. I thought it might get a bit better, but it didn't."

Safin said he would now rest and then go to New York to prepare for the U.S. Open, which begins on Aug 25.

"I need at least four to five days to be able to turn it. I should be OK (for the U.S. Open)," he said. "I can't do much about it. It's a pity but I have to deal with it."

Despite the injury, Safin had surged into a 3-0 lead but after dropping his serve in the fifth game, the double grand slam winner requested an injury timeout.

With his flexibility restricted and his service speed well down, Safin was broken again in a protracted 11th game to give Fognini a 6-5 lead.

"Before, she was the sister of the brother, but now, I'm the brother of the sister,”- Marat Safin, ATP Countrywide Classic, LA 08/07/08

After early battle, Safin cruises into third round
* Ajaybir Behniwal, Bruin Sports senior staff (Contact)
* Published: Thursday, August 7, 2008

Following two upsets earlier in the day, which meant the end of the Countrywide Classic for the world's 12th-seeded Fernando Verdasco and 26th-seeded Feliciano Lopez, Marat Safin knew he had to get ahead of his opponent early.

He did just that after shaking off an unsteady first few games against Wayne Odesnik and cruising to a 6-3, 6-2 win in the second-round match.

“I played well and did what I needed to,” Safin said after the match. “I hit a couple of double faults, but I was able to come back.”

In the third game of the match, Safin was broken by his American opponent, but he displayed resilience in the next game by breaking back to even the score at 2-2.

Though Odesnik kept the match close at the onset, he was unable to convert on a game point, instead double faulting before giving Safin a 4-2 edge.

Safin then used his monstrous serve to help create a cushion that Odesnik couldn't overcome, at one time hitting an ace that even had the serving-speed display jumbling between numbers and unable to give a correct speed.

The 28-year-old Russian quickly began winning over the crowd and getting the respect he thought he deserved.

“I deserve some respect,” Safin said with a smile. “I've been on the tour for 10 years now, so I think I deserved it.”

Although the match was won with ease, there were several entertaining situations for the crowd at the Los Angeles Tennis Center, including a game with four challenges – ¬two of which were not only on the same point, but also both successful.

First, Odesnik served a ball that was called in and Safin hit a winning return.

Odesnik immediately challenged if Safin’s return was in, and the call was overturned.

Safin retaliated with a challenge of his own, claiming that the serve was long – a claim that was proven true.

The Russian went on to cruise from that point as Odesnik seemed to lose his cool and become slightly rattled.

The road hasn't been easy for Safin, however, because he is still trying to get back into top form after fighting off injuries for much of his career, since he always seems to get hurt when he catches fire.

“It's really hard to get going when I keep getting injured,” Safin said. “But I'm still running, trying to play tennis.”

After the match, Safin jokingly told UCLA alumnus and former-ATP-Tour player Justin Gimelstob that he would win a grand slam once Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal decide to retire.

Safin won't get much time to rest before his third-round match against Denis Gremelmayr, who upset the tournament's fourth-seeded Lopez, because he will take the court in doubles play tomorrow with partner and fellow countryman Igor Kunitsyn.

The two will take on a face that is fresh in Safin’s mind. On the other side of the net will be the American duo of James Cerretani and John Isner. Safin and Isner played in the first round with Safin prevailing 6-3, 6-4.

Although Safin was under the limelight at the beginning of the decade, his sister has now made a name for herself by winning several tournaments in the past few weeks, as well as making a run to the finals at the French Open.

“Before, she was the sister of the brother, but now, I'm the brother of the sister,” Safin said jokingly in an address to the fans.

Marat Safin advances to Los Angeles second round

Marat Safin, 5th seed, made it to the second round in Los Angeles win a 2 set win over John Isner. Safin needed only 1 break on each set to make it through.
Safin was not able to make it past the second round in Montreal and at Cincinnati but he will try to make it much further here.

But first the former world number 1 and 2 times Grand Slam Champion will need to get past Wayne Odesnik Odesnik who beat Bobby Reynolds 4-6, 6-1, 6-4 in an all-American first round match.

Vince Spadea set up a second round meeting with Mardy Fish, 6th seed, by defeating Sebastien Grosjean 6-3, 3-6, 6-3. This is Spadea's 11th appearance in Los Angeles. He best results was when he reached the quarterfinals in 2003 and in 2007.


Amer Delic, a qualifer, enjoy a very nice win today. He saved all 5 break point he faced and converted 2 of the 6 break opportunities he had to scores a win over Dudi Sela for 6-4, 6-4.

Dusan Vemic enter in the main draw as a lucky loser and he earned a second round clash with Andy Roddick, top seed, after fighting during 3 sets to win 3-6, 7-6(5), 6-4 over Sam Warburg, a qualifier, in two hours and 54 minutes.

Andrea Stoppini, was other qualifier that took his place in the second round. The Italian won his third career ATP match in just 61 minutes against Igor Kunitsyn 6-1, 6-3. Stoppini next plays Juan Martin del Potro, the third seed who enters Los Angeles with a 10-match winning streak after taking back to back title in July.



Information from www.atptennis.com
Photo by Jonathan Moore/Getty Images

Boos for self-destructive Safin

Marat Safin, whose run to the Wimbledon semi-finals raised hopes that the sport's most charismatic and talented underachiever might at last be making another surge, instead became embroiled in another controversial failure yesterday in the first round of the Masters Series.

The former world No1 from Russia, now No38, swore at an official who foot-faulted him, argued lengthily with the umpire, hurled his racket and was booed repeatedly by the crowd before walking to the net and shaking hands with Dmitry Tursunov even though his opponent's serve on the last point had been called a fault.

Safin will probably deny that he threw the match, insisting that in fact the line call was wrong, but it is impossible to be sure because he refused to come for interview after his 7-6, 6-4 defeat, thereby risking a fine from the ATP.

Many of his opinions were nevertheless audible to spectators. "Is that the best decision you can make? I served three double faults because of that," he screamed at the line judge who suddenly foot-faulted him at 4-4 in the second set. Injuries have hampered him cruelly, but so have self-destructive drives, and at the age of 28 time is short.

Tursunov, his partner in the Davis Cup-winning Russian team of 2006, made a plausible case in defending him. "I can really sympathise with some of the angry stuff towards the end because it's really not the best time to call a foot fault," he said. "If he's making that many he should have been told that throughout the match."

Britain's Andy Murray, meanwhile, got his wish to have as long as possible in which to recover from the familiar inflammation sustained in Toronto last week and caused by the congenital split patella in his right leg. He begins today against Sam Querrey, a 6ft 6in, dangerously steep-serving, top-50 American.

Source: The Guardian

Marat Safin was defeated in the first round 6-7 4-6. Safin disputed numerous calls, had several long talks with the umpire and threw his racket in disgust near the base of the umpire's chair after going down 5-4 in the final set, a service break that also seemed to break his spirit.

Some other results:

T Robredo d M Fish - 62 62
P Kohlshreiber d M Yani - 63 64
S Querrey d P Mathieu - 64 46 63
E Gulbis d J Nieminen - 76(7) 62
T Berdych d F Gonzalez - 63 36 63
A Seppi d F Lopez - 75 75
T Haas d M Youzhny - 76(2) 26 64

The evening session, which begins at 7 p.m., features former No. 1 and recent Wimbledon semifinalist Marat Safin against Russian countryman Dmitry Tursunov.
Tursunov won the only previous meeting against Safin, who is a former two-time quarterfinalist in Cincinnati. Earlier this month, Safin turned in his best career showing at Wimbledon with a semifinal performance, defeating No. 3 Novak Djokovic along the way.

Marat Safin lost to Wawrinka 3-6 4-6.

Unfortunately, our man Safin went down to No. 9 seed Stanislas Wawrinka late Wednesday night.

He beat Wawrinka in far more dramatic circumstances at Wimbledon a few weeks ago.

But this time, he had to briefly play late Tuesday night, get shut down by the rain, wait forever to play Wednesday because of a six-hour delay, and come back again Wednesday night to face a tough customer.

He was the one most affected by the weather issues, which is patently unfair.

It was an up-for-grabs match, with both players making a lot of errors. Safin served only 52%, and was 0-for-6 on break points, three of them in one game, when he was up 1-0 in the second set. Wawrinka held there, and then broke Safin, whereupon Marat fired a ball out of the stadium (or tried).

After that, it was only a matter of time.

Safin made the second round in Montreal a year ago, so his ranking won't change much either way because of this defeat.

Source: Open Court

Damp conditions halted play and the first-round match between Russian Marat Safin and American Sam Querrey was suspended until Wednesday due to the rain. The duel will resume at 1-1 in the opening set.

Atp Rogers Cup Oop Singles: Centre Court not before 7:30 pm

Frank DANCEVIC (CAN) orMario ANCIC (CRO) vs. Novak DJOKOVIC (SRB)
followed by
Marat SAFIN (RUS) vs. Sam QUERREY (USA) 1st rd

WTA East West Bank Classic Singles : Stadium not before 7:00 pm

Daniela HANTUCHOVA (SVK) vs. Olga GOVORTSOVA (BLR) 2nd rd

The Russians are Coming
* Tim Clarke
* July 21, 2008 - 11:41AM

Barmen, nightclub owners and tennis fans all over Perth have been given a massive reason to smile with the news Russian star and renowned party boy Marat Safin is coming back to the Hopman Cup - and this time he is bringing his sister.
Safin became an instant legend on and off court on previous visits to WA in 2001, 2004 and 2005, with his sublime skills with a racket and with the ladies getting tongues wagging and eyebrows raised all over the city.
Announcing the former world number one would be returning in 2009, tournament director Paul McNamee also announced he would be partnering his sister Dinara Safina for the first time in any form of tournament play.
And while McNamee admitted Safina had a big task to try and keep her brother entirely in check in between matches, he believed Safin is more focused on his tennis than ever before - highlighted by his Wimbledon performance.
"It is a big task (for Safina), and Marat is Marat wherever he is in the world. But he really has refocused this year and everyone is saying it in the sport that he is different now," McNamee said.
"He realises he is starting to get into the home straight of his career and it has been a fantastic career. You can't say he has not had a great career but many think he has underperformed a little bit.
"These last few years are very precious for him and I still think he thinks he has got it in him to win another major. He is very serious about his tennis at the moment."
"He is a great player, and twice he has come here and got to the final of the Australian Open … there is no doubt he is very popular here, but I don't think he has played his best tennis.
"And I think playing with his sister he has got an incentive to do really well. That will make a difference, a bit of sibling pressure."
While Safin will bring his fans and past history to the event, Safina is now a world tennis star in her own right, winning one Grand Slam title, the women's double title at the 2007 US Open with partner Nathalie Dechy and also reached the final of the French Open in 2008.
Despite the loss to Ana Ivanovic, Safina is established as one of the best on the WTA, and McNamee said she now feels deserving of a spot next to her brother in the team event, runs between January 3 and 9.
"The interesting thing with Dinara is that we have broached this subject before and she honestly did not feel she was really worthy to play with her older brother she holds him in such high regard," McNamee said.
"For the first time she thinks she is worthy, and why not. She has reached the final of a major this year and is in the top ten singles players in the world."
With local hero Casey Dellacqua and Lleyton Hewitt already confirmed as starters, McNamee was ebullient in the regrowing stature of the Hopman Cup.
"I don't think it is unfair to say this is now the most prestigious invitational tournament in the world," McNamee said.
But it was confirmed neither Roger Federer nor Rafael Nadal on the men's side, or Ivanovic on the women's, would not be attending having given commitments elsewhere.
McNamee said there were several big name irons in the fire, with Novak Djokovic the biggest fish organisers are keen to hook.
"Until he is off the agenda I am still hopeful Novak will do it," McNamee said.
"And with these dates being after New Year my expectation is that we will have a very strong field. We went downhill for a little bit and now we are coming back up.
"I know Roger and Rafa are not coming but no player is out of bounds for us going forward, something we could not have said a couple of years ago."

Lots of luck for Marat and Daniela!!!

Rogers Cup Main Draw

EastWest Bank Classic Main Draw

Jelena Jankovic SRB (1) - BYE
Vania King USA vs Angela Haynes USA (Q)
Olga Savchuk UKR vs Gisela Dulko ARG
Melinda Czink HUN (LL) vs Virginie Razzano FRA (13)
Nadia Petrova RUS (9) vs Alina Jidkova RUS (Q)
Akgul Amanmuradova UZB vs Jamea Jackson USA (WC)
Anne Keothavong GBR vs Jill Craybas USA
Vera Zvonareva RUS (5) - BYE

Dinara Safina RUS (4) - BYE
Shuai Peng CHN vs Julie Ditty USA
Anastasia Rodionova AUS vs Alla Kudryavtseva RUS (Q)
Monica Niculescu ROU vs Dominika Cibulkova SVK (15)
Shahar Peer ISR (12) vs Samantha Stosur AUS
Elena Vesnina RUS vs Regina Kulikova RUS (Q)
Yung-Jan Chan TPE vs Aravane Rezai FRA
Victoria Azarenka BLR (8) - BYE

Patty Schnyder SUI (7) - BYE
Sabine Lisicki GER vs Ai Sugiyama JPN
Aiko Nakamura JPN vs Tamira Paszek AUT
Aleksandra Wozniak CAN vs Flavia Pennetta ITA (10)
Sybille Bammer AUT (14) vs Ahsha Rolle USA (Q)
Ashley Harkleroad USA vs Stephanie Dubois CAN
Marta Domachowska POL vs Coco Vandeweghe USA (WC)
Anna Chakvetadze RUS (3) - BYE

Daniela Hantuchova SVK (6) - BYE
Darya Kustova RUS (Q) vs Olga Govortsova BLR
Bethanie Mattek USA (WC) vs Abigail Spears USA (Q)
Ayumi Morita JPN vs Nicole Vaidisova CZE (11)
Sania Mirza IND (16) vs Eva Hrdinova CZE (Q)
Kateryna Bondarenko UKR vs Meng Yuan USA
Petra Kvitova CZE vs Alisa Kleybanova RUS
Serena Williams USA (2) - BYE

Posted 07/18/2008 @ 12 :20 PM Peter Bodo Tennis World

As I mentioned in my previous post, I recently had a chance to catch up with Gil Reyes, the man who trained Andre Agassi during the remarkable resurgence that transformed him from a "mere" multiple Grand Slam title winner into a beloved icon of tennis. All you need to know about the indebtedness and loyalty Andre feels toward Gil is that Andre named his first born "Jaden Gil."

I called Gil because he's back on the pro tour radar, as part of the Adidas Player Development program, the innovative system whereby shoe and apparel manufacturer Adidas provides athletes under contract to the brand with high-quality support on everything from nutrition to tennis strategy. The most noteworthy athlete to exploit this free support structure is Ana Ivanovic. Grand Slam champions usually hire the best coaches and advisers money can buy. Ana, by contrast, got hers free.

Sven Groeneveld, the most renowned coach (as well as a founding mastermind) of the Adidas program is Ivanovic's only coach - even though Sven is duty-bound to refrain from advising Ivanovic on what she needs to do before confrontations with other Adidas players. So, for two year running in the French Open final, Sven was not only excluded from drawing up the game plan on the evening before the match, during the final he was absent from his usual post, the player guest box. That's because on each occasion, Ivanovic was playing another Adidas athlete (Justine Henin in 2007, Dinara Safina this year).

Anyway, Gil joined the Adidas team recently, and his impact was made known almost immediately. He worked with Sam Querrey, preparing the young American's legs for the European clay-court season. Until this year, Querrey had exactly one win on clay in an ATP event. After working with Gil for two weeks in Las Vegas, Querrey went to Monte Carlo and beat Carlos Moya, Andreas Seppi and Richard Gasquet before he lost to Novak Djokovic. " 'How did this happen?'," Sam asked me, Gil recalled. "I said it was easy - you just asked your body to do something new and it responded. It underlined my basic belief that an aware athlete is always learning to ask more of his body. Training is seen by some as monotonous, and I'd say anybody who feels that way isn't doing the right kind of training."

Here's a funny thing about Gil. Andre's fans love him for who he is - his personality. This has tended to obscure the amount of work Agassi put into his career, particularly in the later stages. In some ways, many of Agassi's fans didn't even want to hear that he left his all on the practice court and in the gym, day after day, because they preferred to cling to their perception of Agassi as a spontaneous, mercurial, sometimes wayward talent, never entirely at ease with his identity as a pro tennis player.

The facts suggest otherwise, and if you don't believe me, you can ask Gil. He's worked with Agassi for nearly two decades, leaving his post as the highly successful strength coach of the NCAA Division I University of Las Vegas, Nevada, basketball squad (Gil was their strength coach when the Runnin' Rebels won the 1990 NCAA championships).

You want to know what Andre and Gil did, work-out wise, on December 11th, 2002? Call Gil. How about March 5, 1994? Call Gil. Pick a day, any day, from the time they began working together Andre retired, and Gil can look up exactly what they did that day at the facility informally called the Agassi Training Center. Every workout they ever went through is written down and saved in a binder.

That's a tribute to the extreme degree of professionalism both men brought to the partnership, and it's too bad if that runs counter to the way we wish to remember Andre. The bottom line is that Agassi worked like a dog, although a well-treated, much-loved one. Here's my theory, for what it's worth: In Gil Reyes, Andre - a young man often at odds with, and in rebellion against, his father, Mike - found the father figure that a part of him longed to hold. It takes just a few minutes of conversation with Gil to realize that he's an extraordinarily sensitive man, in spite of the fact that he's built like a brick you-know-what and could probably take any two Ultimate Fighting idols and snap them in half. Trust me - that's not a slight of the cage warriors.

Gil understood Agassi perfectly, right from the get-go. As he says, "In his heart, Andre was always a seeker. He was in search of his best, and I happened to be the one who helped him realize that in his identity as a tennis player."

Today, Agassi's Grand Slam trophies and his Olympic Games gold medal are on display not on the armoire in the living room he shares with his wife, Steffi Graf. They're on a shelf at the Agassi Training Center. It was the place Andre and Gil designed and built when they grew tired of working out in the garage at Gil's home. Gil designed all the equipment (the machines) and had them fabricated with an overarching philosophy in mind: Strength training is a separate, unique endeavor, not an add-on or afterthought intended simply to make a player "stronger" in what might be called the dictionary sense of the word. Gil had two goals in mind for Andre, and anyone else who works with him: First, to get stronger. Second, to accomplish that safely, with minimum stress or potential for damage through over-exertion or fatigue.

"We really pride ourselves on the fact that we're safe," Gil told me. "Young tennis athletes are not weight lifters, and shouldn't be expected to do some of the things lifters do. One of our priorities is to ensure that when we work on a particular muscle or group, we don't risk collateral damage to other groups. If a player just spent two hours serving, his serving shoulder is fatigued. He shouldn't just go into the gym and start pushing iron. Actually, I've always believed that going straight from the court to the weight room is not a good thing."

Gil takes a great deal of pride in the fact that Agassi won the Australian Open four times, at a time of year when everyone, at least in theory, was prepared for the Grand Slam grind. "Andre was so ready in Melbourne that he actually requested day matches, so that he could play in that intense heat. The officials always cringed when he asked for that, because the (television) ratings wars are played out at night."

Everyone talks about how much the game has changed in recent years, and Gil endorses the idea. "Today's players aren't chasing shots, they're running after lasers. It's become a game of rapid, violent accelerations and equally violent stops and changes of direction. You see how many hip injuries there are today? That's probably the reason. Players are needing to slam on the brakes like never before, which is why there's an premium today on learning to use your thighs as shock absorbers for every C.O.D"

That's Gil-speak, for change of direction.

The operational phrase for every responsible trainer, according to Gil, is "wear and tear." He believes that young players are committed, but wonders if they're sufficiently schooled in the nuances of off-court training. "The persistent sociology in tennis has been that there's no real strength and conditioning regimen in place. It commonly comes down for many of these young players to have a dad in charge. I have nothing against the role of parents in tennis, but you just can't expect an parent to be on top of these things. That's the sociology of our industry, for better or worse."

Gil believes that Rafael Nadal is the new proto-type for developing players - after all, the talent of Roger Federer is self-evident and it doesn't take long for a youngster or his mentors to recognize that the bar he sets is virtually unattainable. But Nadal - that's a different story. To many, Nadal 's success owes as much to hard work and strength as it does to talent. While this certainly sells Nadal short, legions of juniors are thinking: If I can just get as big and powerful as Nadal, I've got a shot. . .

This puts a new premium on strength training, and we have yet to see where that will lead. "There are many, many coaches who know what they're doing," Gil says. "I have to believe they'll respond to this new sensibility out there."

The Agassi Training Center is not a public space; it's a private gym where Gil trains whomever he chooses. It strikes me that a stint at the ATC might benefit Federer; you all saw how he rubbed his serving shoulder late in that Wimbledon final, and how the sting seemed to depart from his backhand under persistent bombardment from Nadal's heavy topspin shots - particularly off the forehand wing. But Federer (and Nadal) are Nike athletes, and Gil has thrown his lot in with Adidas. You know who that leaves: three players who could benefit enormously from some time with Gil: Novak Djokovic, Marat Safin, and Marcos Baghdatis. I'll be curious to see if any of them makes the effort.

It's hard to describe how uplifting it was to talk with Gil. The man just radiates good intentions, which explains why he is so often called Yoda-like. I've always bought into that; how could you not, when Gil says things like: "My best teaching is done with my ears open, my eyes open, and my mouth closed. I had a special thing with Andre. He was a teaching me what I needed to learn, and that ultimately led both of us to reap enormous rewards. I don't know if that can every be duplicated."

July 18, 2008
Toronto,Canada

Russia’s Marat Safin, the 2000 Rogers Cup champion who received a wildcard into the main draw after his stunning semifinal run at Wimbledon, was around on Thursday practicing with Spain’s Tommy Robredo. Many of the sport’s biggest stars have already been spotted around the grounds making last minute preparations before main draw play begins on Monday.