Big in Cincinnati - Not

Today, we had Marat Safin and Rafael Nadal back-to-back in the interview room, the deep-ice blue torture chamber where players have to answer questions – and faux questions – like, in Safin’s case, “What memories do you have from 2000, when you won here?”, or for Jet Boy Nadal, “I read a story that you had been at the World Trade Center before 9/11 and that you have visited since the Ground Zero. Can you talk about that experience, and do you plan to go this time?”

I ask such questions as much as the next guy or girl, but often I feel a pang of empathy for the player, the person (as opposed to sub-human reporter) in me always having mistrusted anyone who can speak about his or her feelings glibly, extensively, or on cue. Feelings are very different in that they seem to lose some of their authenticity, as well as intrinsic beauty, in expression. And it’s just the opposite with ideas.

Oh, we all speak a kind of shorthand around here, so I don’t want to make a big deal of it. But it’s always better to ask what someone thinks rather than what someone feels, the latter being the most private – and therefore, precious - thing we have, and the former being the most public. Thoughts, after all, are not just the currency of our communication (hence, punditry!), they’re the metal shields we fabricate to protect and defend our feelings.

I think this at least partly explains why anyone who gets interviewed a lot almost always develops a hardened attitude toward the media, matching the hardened attitude the media, in its incessant appetite for red meat, develops toward its subjects. This is a vulgar business in some ways. And that’s why I’ve always had a soft spot for the less articulate, or “open” players (Bjorn Borg, Steffi Graf, Evonne Goolagong, Pete Sampras). They’re not people who lack feelings, they’re just not very good at making shields.

Still, that makes certain characters like Safin and Nadal, two players who manage to be convey their feelings without turning them into self-serving talking points, that much more welcome.

Shorn of his long hair, Marat seems a less brooding, self-flagellating fellow. I had two things I specifically wanted to ask him about: one of them more or less on behalf of the TW Tribe, which includes an elite cadre of Safin KADs, the other about the topic we’ve been discussing most of yesterday and today, the proposed ATP tour rule and format changes.

So I asked Marat if he was aware of the degree to which his fans (can you hear me, D-Wiz, Lucy?) live and die by their matches, reading into every shanked forehand (no shortage of those these days!) or eye-roll yet another imminent, god-awful explosion, kind of like when they blow up a huge stadium live in television. Did he have any sympathy at all for the poor souls, tossed about all match long, on the heaving seas of Safin’s unruly and self-punishing genius?

* He said:*

And before we get to Marat’s thoughts on the rule changes, here’s an update on his coaching situation: He’s taking a break from “Mr. Lundgren” for the best reasons of all: “I didn’t win a lot of matches. I had difficult losses.” They agreed that Safin would go on the U.S.summer circuit alone, and that they would speak again after the U.S. Open.

Of course, being Safin’s coach is a glass-half-empty, glass-half-full proposition: This isn’t the most coachable guy in the world; after all, he’s drawn to the flame of competition just as much for its promise of self-immolation as glory. On the other hand, contemplate the clay with which you’d be working, and just think of the surplus chicks!

Coaches, who at this level can turn from enablers into predators, are licking their chops over the meal ticket Safin represents, yet he says only two of them have approached him. That may be because, when you’re dealing with a guy like Safin, a direct approach is bound to diminish your allure by half. Have any of you guys (it’s different for girls) noticed that the biggest catches you’re apt to have in the dating game are the ones who asked you out - often because you didn't think you had a shot?

One reporter, though, pressed Safin on a potential relationship with Gabriel Markus (the coach of Nicholas Massu). And Safin’s response was telling of the way the meat market in tennis works:

Actually, I followed up on that, asking if he felt people tried to work all the angles with him because of his checkbook, talent and fame, and his response was pure, unadulterated Marat:

Okay, now that I’ve ruined Markus’s day, shall we move along?

On the proposed round robin format, Marat said:

Someone asked Safin if he was concerned about having to play more matches, overall – and remember, Safin has been quite vocal in the past about the burden represented by the ATP’s commitment policies.

That sounds awfully good and shows some welcome team spirit, but all I can say to Safin, Federer, Nadal et al is: Be careful what you wish for. More importantly, let’s remember that, historically, tennis players have been very good at talking the talk, and less good at walking the walk.

That is, they’ve been known to back ideas to the hilt only to rush headlong in the other direction once those ideas are implemented, and the personal cost of their enthusiasm is billed. This is experience speaking, not cynicism, and I don't hold it against the players. It has been observed that self-interest is the lodestar of every nation, and you can just as easily substitute “player” for “nation.” That makes things messy, but not nearly as messy or complicated as the result of ignoring that reality.

Before he left the press conference, Marat was asked: “Back in 2000 I think a lot of people thought you were going to be dominant for a long time. What do you think happened over the last six years? Is it injuries? Anything you can point to

Safin smiled and replied: “The people, they were wrong.”

P.S. This post has gone on too long, so we’ll leave Nadal for another time, but for now I’ll say this: I can’t imagine anyone who’s exposed to this kid’s enthusiasm, humility, sincerity, and disarmingjoie de vivre having an unkind thing to say about him.