Safin Continues 2004 Tank Tour with 1st Rd US Open Loss

Posted on September 1, 2004

The grounds of the US Open National Tennis Center were on Grumpy Croat Alert last week with the arrival of Marat Safin, fresh off bad-mouthing the Athens Olympic tennis and bombing out in the second round.

You knew it was just a matter of time, or more precisely, days.

The former US Open champ and No. 13-seeded Safin ducked out of Flushing Meadows on Day Two in his opening-round match Tuesday, knocked out by another veteran with much more fire in the belly, Swede Thomas Enqvist in four sets.

"It's not good enough," Safin said, speaking of his confidence level. "Not enough confidence to beat these guys. I had a lot of expectations for this tournament. I'm not feeling happy with myself."

After dropping the first two, the Russian looked like he might make a go of it after winning the third set, but the Swede capped off the frustrated Safin 6-3 in the fourth. The Russian had beaten Enqvist easily in both their previous meetings, both on hardcourt.

Safin played off the tanking aspect after his Olympic debacle.

"I'm trying to fight, trying to get there," Safin said. "I'm just waiting for the better times and I'm doing all I can. Believe me, I'm working quite hard to be there but for some reason it's not enough."

That wasn't even enought time to get a glimpse of the "Safinettes" in the player's box.

Other seeded victims were (11)Rainer "And More Rain" Schuettler (l. to (Q)Seppi 6-1 in the fifth), and (24)Ivan Ljubicic (l. to H.-T. Lee after retiring with a rib injury).

Seeded winners into the second round Tuesday were (2)Andy Roddick (d. Jenkins serving up a bagel in the first set), the back-addled (5)Tim Henman (d. "Dr." Ivo Karlovic in a five-set scare), (7)Juan Carlos Ferrero (d. (Q)Zib in a five-set ugly-fest), (10)Nicolas "The Golden Child" Massu (d. Acasuso, serving up a bagel in the second), (15)Paradorn "The Thai Fighter" Srichaphan (d. Hanescu in four), (18)Tommy "The R." Robredo (d. (Q)Udomchoke), (22)Dominik "The Dominator" Hrbaty (d. O.Hernandez, surrendering three games), (28)Joachim "The Jackhammer" Johansson (d. Lu), and (29)Guillermo Canas (d. (Q)Vliegen in four).

"There had been talk about my back but I had a great practice on Saturday and felt 100 percent," Henman said. "I'm pleased to get through this, I didn't know if I was going to play. It totally seized up on Saturday evening; I couldn't walk and it felt like someone was sticking a knife in my back, so I spent a couple of days working on it. It improved massively in 48 hours."

Roddick overwhelmed the junior champ Jenkins with his power game, hitting a US Open-record 152 mph serve en route.

"I just wanted to welcome him to the court," Roddick said.

During a few of Roddick's serves the 17-year-old Jenkins seemed thankful to just get out of the way and dodge injury.

"I've never seen a serve like that before," said Jenkins, playing in his first ATP-level match. "There's nothing you can do when you have a 152- mile per hour serve coming at you."

Winners in all-unseeded contests were the back-addled Russian Dmitry Tursunov (d. Zabaleta in five), Spain's Al Martin (d. Dupuis in four), American qualifier Paul Goldstein (d. (Q)Suzuki in four), American Jan-Mike Gambill with a rare win (d. countryman Ram in four), Austrian qualifier Alexander "I'll Make Ya" Peya (d. Reynolds in four), Germany's Florian "Oscar" Mayer (d. Flavio "Of Yesterday" Saretta), France's Michael Llodra (d. Elseneer in four) and Arnaud Clement (d. Wayne "Wish This Was the Aussie Open So I Could Announce My Retirement" Arthurs in four), Rafael "The Prodigy" Nadal (d. (Q)Ivo "I Dated Hingis" Heuberger in five), and Italy's Filippo Volandri (d. K.J. "Puffin Stuff" Hippensteel).

On court Wednesday are (4)Hewitt vs. Ferreria, (1)Federer vs. Marcos "Bombs Over" Baghdatis, Davydenko vs. Mark "The Dud Scud" Philippoussis, Haas vs. Davide Sanguinetti, (23)Spadea vs. Luis "Me So" Horna, Pless vs. (20)Kuerten, in doubles Delic/Morrison vs. (2)Bryans in an all-American, Czechs Novak/Stepanek vs. (5)Llodra/Santoro in a tester, Kohlschreiber vs. Julien "United Colors of" Benneteau, Odesnik vs. D.Sanchez, Berdych vs. (32)Bjorkman, Arazi vs. Carlsen, Jeff "The Lizard King" Morrison vs. Ketola, (14)Fernando "Gonzo" Gonzalez vs. Soderling, (17)Chela vs. Ricardo Mello "Yellow", Olivier "All We Need is Just a Little" Patience vs. (12)Grosjean in an all-French, (8)Nalbandian vs. van Scheppingen, Jurgen "Tuna" Melzer vs. Carraz, (30)Feliciano "F-Lo" Lopez vs. Di Pasquale, Beck vs. Ascione, and Montanes vs. Youzhny.

Henin-Hardenne Tested by 15-year-old in Opener at US Open

US Open favorite and world No. 1 Justine Henin-Hardenne put down a challenge from 15-year-old Czech comer and qualifier Nicole Vaidisova Tuesday at the US Open in her opening match, coming back from a 1-4 deficit in the second set to win 6-1, 6-4.

"It's not easy to play the first round," said Henin-Hardenne, whose opponent won her career-first WTA title earlier this summer at Vancouver. "I kind of went to sleep but then I played really well from 4-1 down in the second. You need to stay focused."

Other seeds into the second round were (4)Anastasia Myskina (d. Cervanova 1-and-0), (5)Lindsay Davenport (d. Kurhajcova, feeding a bagel in the second), (7)Maria "Grunt-o-rama" Sharapova (d. Granville in three), (9)Svetlana Luznetsova (silencing Sesil "The Mouth" Karatantcheva 2-and-0), (11)Venus (d. Mandula), (13)Paola Suarez (d. (Q)Liu), (14)Nadia Petova (d. Zheng surrendering one game), (19)Silvia Farina Elia (d. (Q)Abagail "Hit Me Baby One More Time" Spears in three), (27)Mary Pierce (d. French countrywoman Loit), (20)Chanda Rubin (d. Sanchez Lorenzo), (21)Amy "Joltin' Joe" Frazier (d. American countrywoman McCain), (26)Elena "Lina" Bovina (d. Marrero), and (29)Eleni Daniilidou (d. Talaja in three).

Sent home early from this year's Open were seeds (24)Anna Smashnova-Pistolesi (l. to Asagoe 6-1 in the third), and (25)Elena Likhovtseva (l. to Russian countrywoman Kirilenko).

Winners in all-unseeded meetings were 30-year-old American Jill Craybas (d. Pisnik), 31-year-old Israeli qualifier Tzipora Obziler (d. (Q)Widjaja), Katarina "Robotnik" Srebotnik (d. Tatiana "The Pocket Baseliner" Panova), American Lisa Raymond (d. Jidkova), Aussies Sam Stosur (d. Razzano) and Nicole Pratt (d. Castano in three), Spaniard Virginia Ruano Pascual (d. the hapless Alexandra "Dr. A" Stevenson), Anabel "Funky Cold" Medina Garrigues (d. Strycova), American qualifier Shikha Uberoi (d. Obata), Kristina "You're a Fine Girl" Brandi (d. Sequera), Serb Jelena Jankovic (d. Nuria Llagostera "Pancho" Vives), Russian Anna Chakvetadze (d. Barbara "Don't Give a" Schett), Dally Randriantefy (d. Kirkland), Antonella Serra "Nevada" Zanetti (d. Mashona "Little Sis" Washington), Maria Elena Camerin (d. Melinda "The Fifth Element" Czink), and Arantxa Parra Santonja (d. Weingartner).

On court today are Daniela "The Former Walking Stick" Hantuchova vs. (17)Molik, Lee-Waters vs. (3)Serena in an all-American, (8)Capriati vs. Magui "Don't Call Me Maggie" Serna, Vakulenko vs. (2)Mauresmo, (6)Elena "Second Serve Suffers From" Dementieva vs. Beltrame, in doubles (5)Navratilova/Raymond vs. Julie "Play a Little" Ditty/Reeves in an all-American, Callens vs. (10)Vera "Warren" Zvon-areva, Haynes vs. (22)Magdalena "Call Me Maggie" Maleeva, Douchevina vs. Marion "Roly Poly" Bartoli, (15)Patty "Handshake" Schnyder vs. Iveta "Not Choke" Benesova, (31)Vento-Kabchi vs. Schruff, (16)Schiavone vs. Foretz, Kostanic vs. Linetskaya, Gisela "Sgt." Dulko vs. (12)Sugiyama, Black vs. (28)Dechy, (30)Golovin vs. Morigami, and (23)Fabiola "The Fabulous One" Zuluaga vs. Garbin.

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As many readers complained, Tennis-X crashed Tuesday night due to too many users hitting the sight, exceeding our bandwidth. Thanks. Now send us money so we can keep going, we're going to have to buy a couple servers soon. Start e-mailing us some credit card numbers...ATP CEO Mark Miles released a statement on the retirement of Todd Martin: "He was a classic, complete player who excelled on all surfaces. He could win from the baseline and at the net. He approached the game in the most professional manner, working hard off the court and always giving his best on it. At the same time he was always a gentleman and the embodiment of the highest standard of sportsmanship. Off the court no player in the past 15 years can match his record of leadership and service on behalf of his fellow players, the ATP, and the game of tennis. The game is better off because of the kind of human being Todd Martin is. I know his wife Amy and their son Jack will be happy to have Todd home more as they move forward into the next exciting chapter of their lives." Where was the statement when Marcelo Rios retired? Yevgeny Kafelnikov? Jeff Tarango?...USA Network's Ted Robinson needs to take it down a notch when talking about Maria "Grunt-o-rama" Sharapova, it is beginning to sound pre-stalker...We'd so much rather watch matches in silence than listen to Tracy Austin's "When I played my first slam final, blah blah blah..." Hey, Tracy, there's a match going on...Andre Agassi on Todd Martin's sudden retirement: "I think the game and the players are going to miss him a lot. As a competitor he was as good as they came. As a professional, top notch. Certainly well respected as a person. In tennis terms, his return was world class and he had one of the most accurate serves in the game. He could hit a dime."...Country warblers Tim McGraw and Faith Hill are set to show off their tennis skills at Andre Agassi's ninth Grand Slam For Children fundraiser in Las Vegas in October. The couple will join Robin Williams, Josh Groban and John Mayer at the MGM Grand Garden Arena...Props to USA Network for cutting away from the Sharapova-Granville match for the electric Ferrero-Zib fifth set. That match showed Juan Carlos has maybe two more rounds in him at best...Ted Robinson and Tracy Austin, thanks for rehashing the entire Sharapova-Wimbledon cell phone incident, are you on the Motorola payroll?...Is Michael Barkan really the witty masterful interviewer the USA Network commentators constantly talk him up as? We'd rather see a monkey with a mic making an interview attempt than Barkan's annoying smarmy smirkiness...Maria "Grunt-o-rama" Sharapova had the cell phone in hand for her TV interview following her win, is in-hand part of the new contract with Motorola? That is getting tired...Why is the USTA through the US Open website only posting video versions of the post-match interviews? Not very fan friendly...Andy Roddick brought out the new Reebok wear in his opening-round match Tuesday night, and suffice to say, it is ugly. Looks like an art student threw up on him...Andy Roddick opened with the cannon against American wildcard Scoville Jenkins, knocking down a 152 mph serve, a US Open record...Marat Safin had a mini-meltdown yesterday when reporters asked why he showed so little fire in his loss to Thomas Enqvist: "Whenever I try to show emotions, nobody likes it. When I don't show emotions, nobody likes it. What do you want me to do? Whenever I show emotions, everybody is criticizing me and complaining like, 'Why you break so many rackets? Why you shout?' Whenever I try to be calm, I try to be concentrated, it's not good enough. So tell me how I should be. Please...Basically one or two points that make the difference. Then what? Shout, criticize, fight with the umpire? I have no power for this. I'm trying to fight against Enqvist. It's already good enough for me. I try to be there. I didn't want to waste my energy shouting and throwing rackets."...Tim Henman on his back injury: "I've got to thank the Order of Play Committee because I was down to play on Monday but Paul (Annacone) had a word with them and said 'Any chance of a Tuesday?' I can only improve physically, I feel like been serving pretty well. I'm pleased to get through this, I didn't know if I was going to play."...Former player Amos Mansdorf has stepped down as the Israel Davis Cup team captain, a position he held for four years...Jiri Novak was justifiably pissed off after a 13-year-old ball boy fainted while chasing a ball in the first hour of his match and the US Open first-aid unit took 15-28 minutes (depending on accounts) to show up. "He was laying there like he was dead, so we ran to him," Novak told the New York Times. 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