Meanwhile in Kiev, Marat Safin is...

... partying hard with the ladies.

Don't you just love club pictures?

(Images via Dante Park 2012 Facebook fan page)

Marat just won't go away

He may be retired from tennis but Marat Safin is still around and lovin' the sport.

He was seen hanging out with Novak Djokovic earlier this week in Belgrade at the Serbian Open.

Safin was also spotted having some drinks with actor Gerard Butler during Djokovic's match against Fabio Fognini.


(Images via menstennisforums.com, serbiaopen.rs)

Marat Safin bids farewell to tennis in Paris‎

Marat Safin calls it a career yesterday, receiving a huge ovation from the fans after a 6-4, 5-7, 6-4 defeat to Juan Martin del Potro in the second round of the Paris Masters.

It was the former world no.1's last match on the men's tour.

He may be famous for his furious, racket-throwing rants, but Safin would rather be remembered for the hard work he put in during a 12-year career.

“A lot of people there really thought that I’m not a really hard worker,” Safin, a two-time Grand Slam winner, said.

“But you can ask all my coaches how I dedicated myself to tennis. They will tell you it’s completely the opposite of what a lot of people think.”

During a modest ceremony where he received a special trophy, Safin said, “Today I will put all my memories, all my wins and losses in a small box."

“Today a door is closed, hopefully another one will open.”

Safin remained unclear about his projects for the future.

“Sportsmen are great when they are sportsmen,” Safin said.

“Afterwards, it’s a little bit tough for them. The transition from being a tennis player to do something else is difficult. And if time passes too much, you’re just an ex-tennis player.”

Here's a tribute video for Safin. You are one in millions and we will definitely miss you!

(Via AP)

Marat Safin: Andre Agassi should return titles & money

In an interview with L'Equipe, Marat Safin openly criticised Andre Agassi and suggested that he should give back his tennis titles after confessing he tested positive for a banned substance during his career and lied about it to the ATP.

Agassi admitted in his autobiography "Open" that he used crystal meth in 1997 and failed a drug test, a result he says was thrown out after he lied by saying he "unwittingly" took the substance.

"I'm not defending the ATP, but what he said put it in a delicate position," Safin said.

"The ATP allowed him to win a lot of tournaments, a lot of money. It kept his secret. Why does he need to be so cruel with it?"

"If he is as fair play as he says he is, he has to go to the end," Safin said.

"You know, the ATP has a bank account and he can give the money back if he wants."

Safin, who will retire after this week's Paris Masters, said he doesn't have any intention to write his own autobiography when his career will be over.

"Me, I don't need money," he said.

"The question is: Why did he do this? What is done is done. Does he hope to sell more books? It's absolutely stupid."

(Via AP)

Safin, Sharapova among tennis stars to kick off 2010 at the Hong Kong Tennis Classic

Looks like it has becoming a trend in Asia (e.g. Doha, Malaysia, etc) where tennis events are heavily bankrolled by their respective governments.

Now the same thing is happening to the yearly tennis exhibition JB Classic after its title sponsor pulled out recently.

A new event with different format has taken over - the Hong Kong Tennis Classic 2010.

Next January, teams from four regions of the world (Russia, Asia, America and Europe) will consist of two ladies and a man.

Team Russia: Marat Safin, Maria Sharapova, Vera Zvonareva
Team Asia: Paradorn Srichaphan, Zheng Jie, Ayumi Morita
Team America: Michael Chang, Venus Williams, Gisela Dulko
Team Europe: Stefan Edberg, Caroline Wozniacki, Victoria Azarenka

The new team format will feature women’s & men’s singles and mixed doubles matches over four days of action packed tennis at Victoria Park.

Tickets for the Hong Kong Tennis Classic will be on sale from the beginning of December. Details will be announced in due course.

For more information, please contact the following:
KCE Sport and Entertainment
Mr. Terry Catton, Co-Tournament Director
Ms. Amy Tsang, PR & Communications Manager
Tel: (852) 2723 8721/ (852)9809 8710 Fax: (852) 2311 0040
Email: amy@kcesport.com.hk

Party like a rock star at China Open's dinner party

I love players party. It was a shame that HCFoo wasn't invited to the Batik party held at Mandarin Oriental Hotel last week. Hmmphh....

It looked like a MTV awards show at China Open's dinner party last night.

The players including Marat Safin, Andy Roddick, Novak Djokovic and James Blake dressed up like rockstars while Maria Sharapova, Maria Kirilenko, Serena Williams and Svetlana Kuznetsova glammed up for the evening party.

Serena Williams: I'm shy... 'cause y'all have seen me nude by now.

Short pants made of garbage bag and a see-through shirt? Bad taste.

Marat Safin can wear whatever he wants and still look pretty.

Poor Makiri. First it was Stella Mccartney... now it's Andy and Shrieky.

(Images via sports.sina.com.cn)

China Open upsets Marat Safin fans over farewell party

Marat Safin: I can't believe you did that to my fans...

The organiser of China Open recently announced in their official website that they are planning to throw a party for Marat Safin who is about to retire end of this season.

The party is supposed to involve some hardcore Safinator fans.

However things didn't work out between the fans and the organiser.

Now, probably there'll be no ceremony after all. Maybe a 'fake' one, according to fino7marat, one of the fan who's involved in the issue.

SORRY, We are cheated by China Open

I apologize for making a new thread, but there is something really important to tell you.

Weeks ago I posted a thread about asking for ideas of marat's retiring ceremony, but things changed now.

I bet you have read the interview after round 1, and obviously Marat did not know about the ceremony.

A few days before I posted the idea thread, the organizer of China Open contacted our forum and said we would design the ceremony and we spent a long time trying to make our design better. But things going on changed thoroughly.

They only wanted the ceremony to last for onlt 5~7 mins and we, yes, argued with the organizer and the ceremony might last for 15 mins. that could be OK.

Oh, and the organizer said that all our designs as well as our hard work had gone to dustbin. They will design the ceremony.

Today, they told us the ceremony will last for only a few minutes and my friends were angry about that because they are not informed about the decrease of time.

They were not ever offered tickets for today's match. how much did my Friends helped the organizers to make it better!

OK, my friends showed their objection, saying that they will not take part in the ceremony which they devoted themselves to.

And the Organizer refused their demand to increase the ceremony time at last.

so there won't be a ceremony. that's ok, because marat doesn't want to have one.

Oh, they did not even contact with Marat before but they said that Marat was happy to have one, on the official website.

http://www.chinaopen.com.cn/news/en/...9/195960.shtml

there won't be a ceremony. perhaps there will be a faked one.

True safinholics will not give marat our wishes but some faked ones who work for China Open may appear at the party.

I am just soooo sad now.

Sorry to fino7marat and the rest of the Safinator fans. It must be a huge disappointment for you guys after all the brainstorming.

(Via menstennisforums.com)

TENNIS WATCH: Ernests Gulbis hires Marat Safin's coach

• Latvian press reported that Ernests Gulbis has hired Hernan Gumy as his coach. Looks like Gumy will not be out of job after Marat Safin retires at the end of the season.

• Roger Federer was slapped with a $1,500 fine for using profanity while arguing with a chair umpire during the US Open final. A total of $31,500 is being collected by the season ending grand slam for audible obscenity, including a large portion of $10,500 from Serena Williams.

• Anna Kournikova was reportedly two months pregnant with Enrique Iglesias’ baby after pulled out from the Malibu Triathlon last weekend.

• More endorsement deal for American Melanie Oudin. She has just signed a deal with Air-Tran Airways Limited, which is based in her home state of Georgia.

• Rumours have been circulating that the French Open may be considering a move to Disneyland Paris. However this have been downplayed but not dismissed by French Open tournament director Gilbert Ysern.

• Hot-looking player Nicolas Lapentti could put his retirement on hold if Ecuador wins its Davis Cup tie against Brazil this weekend and secures a place in next year's World Group.

• Kim Clijsters will begin next season at the WTA event in Brisbane a tune-up tournament before the Australian Open.

(Image via bbs.tennis.com.cn)

US Open Day 3 Wrap-up: Rafael Nadal sails through without knee problem, bye-bye Safin, Santoro

Those who are curious about Rafael Nadal's knee probably have the answer now.

He's indeed okay and he can play well too!

Kicking off his US Open campaign, Nadal encountered no apparent trouble in winning the first round 6-2, 6-2, 6-3 over Richard Gasquet.

Maybe you might say Gasquest wasn't a fit opponent...

It's probably too early to predict Nadal's road to final but one thing for sure, Nadal said he has never felt so fresh.

Nadal's rival, Roger Federer, who is bidding for a 6th consecutive US Open championship—and 3rd Grand Slam title in a row this year— has no problem in overcoming Simon Greul with a 6-3, 7-5, 7-5 victory.

Waiting for Federer next is two-time Grand Slam winner Lleyton Hewitt, who defeated Juan Ignacio Chela 6-3, 6-3, 6-4.

Venus Williams may have a wide patches of white tape on her left knee but still, she can easily overcome Bethanie Mattek-Sands 6-4, 6-2.

Kim Clijsters continues to play by knocking off no. 14-seeded Marion Bartoli 5-7, 6-1, 6-2.

With over a billion Indians following her every move on the tour, Sania Mirza displayed horrible tennis after being bageled twice by Flavia Pennetta.

Other seeded women sent home included Samantha Stosur, in a shocking defeat to Vania King, who won 7-5, 6-4; former world no.1 Amelie Mauresmo, who lost to Aleksandra Wozniak; Agnieszka Radwanska, who was defeated by Maria Kirilenko; and Anabel Medina Garrigues.

There were no men's seeded losers today.

Marat Safin and Fabrice Santoro said goodbye to Grand Slam tennis with first round exits.

Both of them are retiring at the end of the season.

Safin, the 2000 US Open champion, lost to Jurgen Melzer 1-6, 6-4, 6-3, 6-4 while Santoro, appearing in his record 69th major tournament, was beaten by Juan Carlos Ferrero 6-4, 6-3, 6-3.

US Open men's singles results from New York on Thursday (prefix denotes seeding)

1-Roger Federer (Switzerland) beat Simon Greul (Germany) 6-3 7-5 7-5
9-Gilles Simon (France) beat Daniel Gimeno (Spain) 6-4 7-6(3) 6-3
18-David Ferrer (Spain) beat Alberto Martin (Spain) 7-5 5-7 6-3 6-3
Philipp Petzschner (Germany) beat Sergiy Stakhovsky (Ukraine) 7-6(3) 6-7(6) 6-4 4-6 6-3
6-Juan Martin Del Potro (Argentina) beat Juan Monaco (Argentina) 6-3 6-3 6-1
Robby Ginepri (US) beat Andrei Pavel (Romania) 5-7 6-2 6-4 6-0
Daniel Koellerer (Austria) beat Rui Machado (Portugal) 6-2 6-4 2-6 6-2
32-Nicolas Almagro (Spain) beat Steve Darcis (Belgium) 6-2 6-4 2-6 7-6(8)
Jose Acasuso (Argentina) beat Marcos Daniel (Brazil) 6-2 6-4 6-3
3-Rafael Nadal (Spain) beat Richard Gasquet (France) 6-2 6-2 6-3
Thomaz Bellucci (Brazil) beat Lu Yen-Hsun (Taiwan) 6-4 6-2 6-3
Pablo Cuevas (Uruguay) beat Chris Guccione (Australia) 6-4 7-6(4) 6-0
24-Juan Carlos Ferrero (Spain) beat Fabrice Santoro (France) 6-4 6-3 6-3
Nicolas Kiefer (Germany) beat Michael Llodra (France) 6-3 6-4 6-4
Juergen Melzer (Austria) beat Marat Safin (Russia) 1-6 6-4 6-3 6-4
Andreas Beck (Germany) beat Evgeny Korolev (Russia) 6-3 6-4 2-6 2-6 6-4
13-Gael Monfils (France) beat Jeremy Chardy (France) 6-1 6-4 6-3

US Open women's singles second round results from New York on Thursday (prefix denotes seeding)

2-Serena Williams (USA) beat Melinda Czink (Hungary) 6-1 6-1
Vania King (US) beat 15-Samantha Stosur (Australia) 7-5 6-4
Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez (Spain) beat Angelique Kerber (Germany)
Kim Clijsters (Belgium) beat 14-Marion Bartoli (France) 5-7 6-1 6-2
26-Francesca Schiavone (Italy) beat Stefanie Voegele (Switzerland) 6-4 6-4
8-Victoria Azarenka (Belarus) beat Barbora Zahlavova Strycova (Czech Republic) 6-2 6-1
Maria Kirilenko (Russia) beat 12-Agnieszka Radwanska (Poland) 6-4 2-6 6-4
3-Venus Williams (US) beat Bethanie Mattek-Sands (US) 6-4 6-2
Kirsten Flipkens (Belgium) beat 20-Anabel Medina Garrigues (Spain) 6-1 6-3
7-Vera Zvonareva (Russia) beat Anna Chakvetadze (Russia) 3-6 6-1 6-1
Magdalena Rybarikova (Slovakia) beat Chang Kai-Chen (Taiwan) 4-6 6-2 6-2
31-Elena Vesnina (Russia) beat Jill Craybas (US) 7-6(6) 6-1
18-Li Na (China) beat Michelle Larcher de Brito (Portugal) 6-1 6-3
Aleksandra Wozniak (Canada) beat 17-Amelie Mauresmo (France) 6-4 6-0
10-Flavia Pennetta (Italy) beat Sania Mirza (India) 6-0 6-0

(Via AP, TVNZ, US Open website)

Marat Safin: Life after retirement... the answer could be marriage

"Agassi is different. He likes to take care of the kids. He has some kind of a school. Courier, he has a band. McEnroe, he's commentating, and also he has a band. So everybody has a different approach. Some people get depressed and they try to come back. Some people they can't because they are overweight. Everybody has a different story. I will see. I think it's very interesting life afterwards."
~ Marat Safin, on life after retirement.

According to Down The Line Tennis, Russian media has reportedly said that Marat Safin will be marrying his pop singer girlfriend Nastya Osipova. No date were mentioned yet.

So a marriage could be something that he's looking forward to after retirement.

Updates:
Here's an interesting comment from an anonymous reader who denied the "marriage":

"This was a lie started by Life.ru. Marat himself said there would be no wedding and when in Paris when questioned by an Argentine sports announcer, he said he had a girlfriend "sort of. A little, a little." Marat is not in love with Nastya Osipova and will not be marrying her."

(Image via Yahoo! Sports)

Marat Safin hopes Sis will prove to critics that they can go f*** themselves

"Nobody believed that she's going to be No. 1 in the world. Nobody believed that she going to be top 10 even two, three years ago. So look where she is right now. A lot of people they giving her trouble, 'Okay, she's No. 1 in the world but she never won a Grand Slam.'

"But I'm really proud that she's holding up herself even though that's somebody can be really rough on her. She's there. I hope she can be No. 1 for a long time so she can prove to everybody that they can go f*** themselves."

~ Marat Safin defended his sister Dinara Safina's no.1 ranking.

2009 Davis Cup Quarterfinals matchups

As usual I'm not too keen about Davis Cup.

That simply because I don't get to watch the events LIVE on TV in my country.

Besides with Rafael Nadal, David Ferrer and Andy Roddick out of this team competition, it just gives me more reasons not to watch it on live stream.

If you can't watch it on TV in your country, you can always count on atdhe.net.

Anyway here are the matchups and photos (can't find Team Argentina, Team Israel and Team Czech Republic photos yet).

The Davis Cup world group quarterfinal ties beginning Friday (all times GMT).

CROATIA v UNITED STATES
Venue: Sportska Dvorana, Porec, Croatia
Surface: Indoor clay
Times: Friday (1400), Saturday (1330), Sunday (1400)
Head-to-head: Croatia lead 2-0

CZECH REPUBLIC v ARGENTINA
Venue: Cez Arena, Ostrava
Surface: Indoor hard courts
Times: Friday (1300), Saturday (1200), Sunday (1100)
Head-to-head: Czech Republic lead 2-1

ISRAEL v RUSSIA
Venue: Sport Palaces, Tel Aviv
Surface: Indoor hard court
Times: Friday (1000), Saturday (1200), Sunday (1200)
Head-to-head: Russia lead 1-0

SPAIN v GERMANY
Venue: Plaza de Toros de Puerto Banus, Marbella
Surface: Outdoor clay
Times: Friday (1100), Saturday (1400), Sunday (1100)
Head-to-head: Germany lead 9-5

SPAIN team: Fernando Verdasco, Tommy Robredo, Juan Carlos Ferrero, Feliciano Lopez; Captain: Albert Costa

GERMANY team: Philipp Kohlschreiber, Nicolas Kiefer, Mischa Zverev, Andreas Beck; Captain: Patrik Kuhnen

RUSSIA team: Igor Kunitsyn, Marat Safin, Igor Andreev, Mikhail Youzhny; Captain: Shamil Tarpischev

UNITED STATES team: Mardy Fish, James Blake, Mike Bryan, Bob Bryan; Captain: Patrick McEnroe

The other members of the following teams are:

CROATIA: Marin Cilic, Ivo Karlovic, Roko Karanusic, Lovro Zovko; Captain: Goran Prpic

CZECH REPUBLIC: Tomas Berdych, Radek Stepanek, Ivo Minar, Lukas Dlouhy; Captain: Jaroslav Navratil

ARGENTINA: Juan Martin del Potro, Jose Acasuso, Leonardo Mayer, Juan Monaco; Captain: Tito Vasquez

ISRAEL: Dudi Sela, Harel Levy, Jonathan Erlich, Andy Ram; Captain: Eyal Ran

(Images via Getty Images)

Wimbledon Day Two wrap

Honestly it's really tough to have a life and blog at the same time. Day 3 is almost over and I'm still struggling to come up with Day 2 wrap.

The guy in the picture fainted due to the heat at Wimbledon. I think I'm going to faint soon too.

I'll quickly wrap this up and go to bed, which I haven't been to for the last couple of days.

Venus Williams opened the defence of her Wimbledon singles crown in impressive fashion with a 6-3, 6-2 victory on Centre Court over Swiss teenager Stefanie Voegele.

Jelena Jankovic overcame blisters and a broken toenail to win 6-4, 7-6 against German Julia Goerges .

Ana Ivanovic narrowly avoided a first round defeat at Wimbledon for a second successive year as she tiptoed past Lucie Hradecka 5-7 6-2 8-6.

The retiring Marat Safin said goodbye to Wimbledon singles on Tuesday at 29 after his defeat to Jesse Levine.

The 133rd-ranked qualifier found himself on Court No. 18 beating Safin 6-2, 3-6, 7-6 (4), 6-4.

Safin who has vowed to retire at season's end was asked how he feels about being done with Wimbledon.

"Relieved," the 29-year-old Safin replied. "Pretty much relieved."

Sixth seed Andy Roddick was given a brief scare before he secured a 6-3 7-6 4-6 6-3 victory over Frenchman Jeremy Chardy.

Meanwhile, one of my favourite, Juan Martin del Potro also reached the second round with a 6-3, 6-1, 6-2 win over Frenchman Arnaud Clement.

Del Potro will now play 2002 champion Lleyton Hewitt for a place in the last 32.

To check out other results, click here.

(Images via Getty Images)

2009 French Open Day 1: This is just the beginning...

Defending champion Ana Ivanovic was made to sweat before concluded a 7-6, 6-3 victory over Italian Sara Errani to reach the second round of the French Open.

Errani was not very happy with the umpire during the match with Ivanovic.

Li Na, who missed last year's tournament due to injury, had the honour of becoming the first player to reach the second round thanks to a 6-4, 6-2 win over Marta Domachowska.

Eighteen-year-old Russian qualifier Vitalia Diatchenko, the world no.151, can't bear to see a tearful Mathilde Johansson whom she beat 2-6, 6-2, 10-8.

Diatchenko, making her Grand Slam debut, will face either world number one Dinara Safina or Britain's Anne Keothavong for a place in the third round.

Ivo Karlovic had set a record of 55 aces in a tour-level match but still he lost to former world no.1 Lleyton Hewitt who will move on to the second round after winning 6-7 (1), 6-7 (4), 7-6 (4), 6-4, 6-3.

Marat Safin made sure there would be at least one more date on his French Open farewell tour when he eased past French wildcard Alexandre Sidorenko 6-4, 6-4, 6-4.

Smoking hot Fernando Verdasco had an easy first round win over Florent Serra after beating the Frenchman 6-2, 6-1, 6-4.

Nicolas Almagro gave Agustin Calleri a brotherly hug after defeating the Argentine 6-4, 6-1, 6-3.

Andy Murray is another player who had an easy win. He defeated Juan Ignacio Chela 6-2, 6-2, 6-1.

Gilles Simon survived a five-setter against American Wayne Odesnik. Simon was forced to work hard before winning 3-6, 7-5, 6-2, 4-6, 6-3.

Hottie Robert Kendrick also survived a five set match after beating Daniel Brands 6-7 (7), 7-5, 7-6 (13), 4-6, 6-3.

For further results, click here.

TV is not showing Ernests Gulbis vs Sam Querrey match. I better go catch my beauty sleep now. Good night!

(Images via Yahoo! Sports)