Just caught the ending of this now.6-4 in the 5th to Marat.He needs to wake up!

He has an easy (you never know with Safin) 2nd round against a qualifier. But the third round would probably be the match of the first week against Roddick.
AT this form, Andy would steamroll Safin.

Agreed!

Safin made that a lot harder than it should have been and a lot longer than is good, definately has to step it up if he wants to go very far

I agree, at times he was rather sloppy. He'll defintiely need to step up a gear from now on.

let's be fair, Safin always makes his matches harder than they have to be! It wouldn't be a Safin match if he didn't smash a few raquests and lose at least 1 set!!!

Hopefully he'll get his act together a bit in time for his potential meeting with Roddick!!! :pray:

I would not bet on that.
When Safin's the underdog, then he becomes dangerous and Roddick mentally isn't that strong either ...

‘Roddick mentally isn't that strong’

What on earth is that opinion based on? It certainly isn’t fact.

Roddick is a great front-runner – only Federer has regularly got the better of him when Roddick’s gone a set up. If he has a fault it is that he isn’t that good at battling back from behind in a match, but when he gets on a roll he’s very hard to reel in.

He certainly hasn’t lost many matches from a winning position. If you’re going to make sweeping generalisations, let’s have some evidence to back it up.

I think the Roddick v Safin match could go either way, but anyone who thinks Roddick is weaker mentally thatn Safin doesn’t watch that much tennis.

Safin's got to beat Sela before setting up this dream clash against Roddick, and that won't be easy. The Israeli's clearly on decent form, thrashing Sricaphan, and is exactly the kind of player who could beat the Russian.

If he gets through that, I don't think it's a case of him needing to raise his game - his game generally raises itself against the big boys, and I'm almost more confident of predicting a Safin win against Roddick than I am against Sela.

As for Roddick being mentally weak, I don't think so. He might be a bit frail when it comes to Federer, but I don't remember him ever choking a match other than against the Swiss.

It seems we see it time-and-time again from Safin - taking hours to defeat opponents he should dispose of easily, then running out of gas when it comes to the business end of a tournament.

A genuine sporting enigma is Marat.

There is actually truth in both statements. It is true that Roddick is a front runner and could be seen as a fighter. But frankly seeing the first 2 sets yesterday and other matches in the past, he tends to panick quickly. A bit a la Hewitt. If one looked at his gesture when he trailed yesterday a set and a break down, the guy did not know what he was doing. Moving his arms, cap, shirt, spinning his racket all over the place. His eyes glancing everywhere uncapable of staying calm and focused. At the end, his fitness preparation made the difference and outlast the French guy who looked the more composed of the 2.

Anyway, he won and good on him but a win against Safin is certainly not guaranteed.

I am really happy for Marat: It took a while but he moved to the next stage :cheers: .. :D

Come on among the big boys out there (with the exception of Lubo and might be tomorrow Nadal and Blake :whistle: ) he was the guy who was the most unlucky.

Anyway let's hope for the future and a possible match against AROD...BTW I was really unhappy with the behaviour of AROD :yikes: : I did not understand why the umpire did not give him at least a warning.
I hope he will cool down and he will be back focusing mainly on his Tennis.

The real reason people are not happy with Arod anymore is because has just whooped federer's butt. Keep up the good work roders.

:blink: this match wasnt how the text I got led me to believe the match was going - wow, Safin made it hard once more....

I love watching Safin play when he is on song, but he can be soooo frustrating! I hope this is just a first match type of blip and that he goes on to have a good tourney.... I'm not betting on it, just hoping it.

God forbid that Jo would have to change her sig already - I lurve that pic!

Don't worry Pebs, I won't change that sig for a while. And when i do it'll probably be more Marat.......although there may be slightly different wording if he ends up going out too early :angry:

:blink: that could be interesting wording indeed....

well, if he goes out in the next round i may be slightly unhappy with him - may have to write a strongly worded letter of complaint. :P

If he goes out to Roddick, then i won't be so upset - as long as he goes out fighting.....

well old Rodders must be feeling quite optimistic right now... that little win over Fed, his play coming together nicely, so I reckon he'll be a threat to a few right now.... but Safin for us all the way hun :) (or Fed... or Blake... ;) )

I hope so. he's one player that is truly amazing when on form. Sadly he doesnt; hit his form so often though. :( I woudl like to see him have a good slam run, it's long due and woudl make a change to see him in the semis.

Well he's topless on this sig, so if you get a new sig will he be removing more clothes? :D

It's not a question of being 'happy' or not regarding A-rod, he played ok, but not great and he'll have to do better to win the tournament that's the underlying point being made about Roddick.
As for him having 'whooped federer's butt' , whenever a genius, with the flair and ability Fed has, is 'whooped' by an agitated, styleless sweaty arsed tyke in an insignificant
tournament, the world may conceivably sigh, but it will not groan.

Tenez, I think the reason Roddick panics is because – as has been discussed before – he doesn’t really have a Plan B. If his serve or forehand isn’t firing on all cylinders, he doesn’t really have the ability to make changes to his style.

Then again, to be fair, not that many players do have two or three different styles which they can switch between. That facility belongs only to the very, very best.