Marat Safin has been elected to the Russian Federal Parliament, called Duma. The former world No. 1 is a member of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin’s United Russia party and will represent the Nyzhny Novgorod region, which is approximately 300 miles from Moscow.
"My life has been changing," the 31-year-old told the Champions Tour web site. "All of a sudden I found myself in a situation where I had to make really serious decisions. It started with one small thing and it grew up to something big. I could go and make commercials left and right and pretend like I am a celebrity, but that is not me. I never did this; I never liked it. I had a few months of thinking ‘should I do this or should I not’ but now I am pretty sure of what I’m doing and I want to do it."
Safin drew similarities between the qualities one needs to be a politician and a tennis pro.
"I’m in completely new shoes,” he said. "The two things definitely have one thing in common and that is that you need to have a character. You have to be strong and you have to know where you’re going, what you want to do, and you have to be able to make sacrifices. I will be working for the next five years day after day, sitting in an office, wearing a suit. I will have good days, bad days and I will have to fight once again like I’ve been fighting on the court. It will be complicated."
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton has described the overall election as "rigged."
Former WTA player Anna Chakvetadze wasn't elected as her party, the Right Cause, failed to garner even one percent of the vote.