Sixth seed Andy Roddick knocked 2005 champion Marat Safin out of the Australian Open in a tight match.
Roddick won 7-6 (7-2) 2-6 6-4 7-6 (7-2) in a match that lasted more than three hours on a humid Melbourne evening.

The match was a bad-tempered one for the Russian, who clashed with the umpire over line calls and whether the court was playable after a rain delay.

Safin was officially warned at one point, but his American opponent kept his cool to reach the fourth round.


I wasn't expecting this, I must admit, even though Safin had struggled a tad earlier, I thought he was gonna get one over on Andy here, I thought he could play himself into this tournament and become a major threat to Fed. I guess this was more hope on my part.
Wonder if he will ever get his hands on another slam??

I'm not surprised. I was expecting pretty much what happened, Roddick to win in a tight match.

:( I hoped that Safin would pull the win out of the bag, but reports of his other matches didnt inspire me with confidence. Still, another good win for Roddick so hats off to him.

the git ;)

'Tis a shame...I really wanted Safin to do well...In the Oz open.

If I am not mistaken, this is barely the second 4-setter Safin has lost in the Aussie open.

His 5-setter record is perfect: 8/8.

I was very impressed with roddicks groundstrokes it looked like he has a bit more juice on them from last year.Although i wanted safin to win it was a very impressive peformance from roddick. :D

Yeah Im disappointed but not surprised. :blink:
I wonder will he ever win another Slam ? :huh:

yes he will.

Well, I have to say that whilst the match was a tight one, I always had a feeling that Roddick would prevail.

But.. in many respects of course Marat is the more talented player, so what is the issue?

It is of course his approach to the game, both off and on the court. It is sadly an example of where talent alone is not enough. I was puzzled by his attitude in the Roddick match. You would expect him to get fired up when he did lose his temper, but so often in the match, he seemed almost casual in his shot-making. The rally in which he hurt his finger was a prime example of that.

Of course he has the respect of the other players as they know just how destructive he can be (of other players, not just his racquets!). The fact that Roddick asked Connors to come over for the match was a good indication of that.

Off the court, I get the feeling that Safin is not working on his game enough, whether from the psychological or physical perspective. He undoubtedly has the tools, but just not a sufficiently effective application of them.

And many players are progressing whilst he is in real danger of stalling. I've noticed a lot more variety in the games of the top 10 players of late. For example, some of Roddick's volleys were exceptional in the Safin match, especially on the backhand. I didn't think that I would be writing that! :lol: A-Rod's backhand groundstrokes have also improved a lot. Maybe the top players are realising that if they are ever going to get anywhere near to challenging Federer, they need to really get to work on developing an all-court game of their own? :shrug:

And on top of all that there are the much-touted young guns starting to emerge and will surely challenge the likes of Marat from now on. They will be hungry for success (well, hopefully, at least!) and as they develop their matchplay there will be more difficulties ahead for him.

So where does Marat go from here? Well, I think that in no uncertain terms he needs to shape up or ship out. He ought to be right up there at the top of the game, but you know, that's been said about him for an awful long time now. Of course he is an enigmatic character and has his demons.. but he's also a smart guy and no doubt realises that he needs to up the ante in terms of his game, how he needs to just go for it, make the most of his fabulous talent.

And a slam is certainly not out of the question. But turning up without the focus and desire would make it very tall order indeed. And possibly the mental side of the game is the hardest aspect to work on for him.

So come on Marat! :pray: Would be so good if you just really went for it this season! The men's game would be all the better for it!