Early life

Safin was born in Moscow to Tatar parents, Mubin ("Mikhail") Safin and Rauza Islanova. He speaks Russian, English, and Spanish as well as his native Tatar. His parents are former tennis players and coaches. His younger sister, Dinara, is a professional tennis player and silver medalist at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing. Marat's father managed the local Spartak Tennis Club, where Safin trained in his youth alongside several tennis players, including Anna Kournikova, Elena Dementieva, and Anastasia Myskina.

At age 14, Marat moved to Valencia, Spain to gain access to advanced tennis training programs which were not available in Russia. Safin says he grew up "very fast ... with no muscles" and that he moved to Spain because clay courts were "better for the knees".

In an interview with USA Today, Safin identified himself as a Muslim, stating, "I'm Russian, but I'm 100% Muslim. All the Muslim people are passionate, stubborn. We have hot blood."

Tennis career

Safin started his professional career in 1997. In 1998, Safin consecutively defeated Andre Agassi and defending champion Gustavo Kuerten at the French Open. He won his first ATP title at the age of 19, in Boston, and later in 1999 he reached the prestigious Paris, Bercy final losing a closely contested 4 set match to Andre Agassi.

World No. 1 and Grand Slam history

Safin held the No. 1 ATP ranking for 9 weeks during 2000 (making him the tallest number 1 ranked player of all time) when he won his first Grand Slam tournament at the US Open, becoming the only Russian in history to win this tournament in the Men's Singles draw, by defeating Pete Sampras in straight sets. However, a succession of injuries hindered his progress and Safin missed the majority of the season in 2003 as a result.

Safin reached the final round in three more Grand Slam tournaments, all in the Australian Open in 2002, 2004, and 2005. He has cited nervousness as the reason for his loss in the 2002 event, and physical exhaustion for the 2004 loss. He defeated Lleyton Hewitt in the 2005 finals to secure his second Grand Slam in five years. En route to this final, he defeated top-ranked Roger Federer in a five-set semi-final match, and future World No. 1 Novak Djokovic, who was making his first appearance in the main draw of a Grand Slam tournament, in the first round for the loss of just three games.

After ending Federer's 26-match winning streak over top-10 players, Safin described the match as "a brain fight." His best result at Wimbledon is reaching the semi-finals in 2008, beating World #3 Novak Djokovic en route. He often lost in the first or second rounds in other years, although he made the quarterfinals in 2001, losing in 4 sets to Goran Ivanisevic.

Masters Series

Safin has won five ATP Tennis Masters Series titles during his career. His first was in 2000 when he won the title in Toronto, Canada. He holds a record-tying three (2000, 2002, and 2004) wins in Paris, France, and one in 2004 in Madrid, Spain.

Tennis Masters Cup

In 2004, Safin reached the semifinal of the Tennis Masters Cup in Houston, Texas, where he was defeated by Federer, 6-3, 7-6 (18). The second-set tiebreak (20-18) was the third-longest tiebreak in the Open Era. Safin also reached the semifinals in 2000 and 2002.

Davis Cup

Safin helped Russia achieve its first Davis Cup victory in 2002, with a 3-2 tie-breaking win against France in the final round at the Palais Omnisports Paris Bercy. His Russian team included Yevgeny Kafelnikov, Mikhail Youzhny, Andrei Stoliarov, and captain Shamil Tarpischev. The team made Davis Cup history by being the second to win the event after losing the doubles tie-breaker, and becoming the first team to win a (live-televised) five-set finals match by coming back from a two-set deficit. Safin helped Russia to win the Davis Cup in 2006. After a straight sets defeat by David Nalbandian in his first match, his doubles victory (partnering Dmitry Tursunov) against Nalbandian and Agustín Calleri and singles victory against José Acasuso drove Russia to victory.

In the 2009 Davis Cup quarterfinal tie, Russia was upset by the Israel Davis Cup team on indoor hard courts at the Nokia Arena in Tel Aviv. Russia was the top-ranked country in Davis Cup standings and the stage was set by Safin, who prior to the tie told the press: "With all due respect, Israel was lucky to get to the quarterfinals." Safin was held out of the first day of singles and then went on to lose the clinching doubles match in 5 sets while partnered with doubles specialist Igor Kunitsyn.

2005

Prior to the 2005 Australian Open, Safin had caught fire towards the end of the 2004 season, thanks in part to his hiring of Peter Lundgren, and was seen as among the favourites for the title. Safin won the 2005 Australian Open. In the first round, he defeated Novak Djokovic, who was making his first appearance in the main draw of a Grand Slam tournament, for the loss of just three games. Then, in a rematch of the 2004 final, Safin defeated Roger Federer, in the semi-final 5-7, 6-4, 5-7, 7-6 (8-6), 9-7, saving a match point late in the fourth set when Federer missed a between the legs passing shot.

In the final, Safin went on to beat hometown favourite Lleyton Hewitt 1-6, 6-3, 6-4, 6-4. Safin attributed his recent revival and more consistent performance to the calming presence of his new coach Peter Lundgren, saying that "I never believed in myself before at all, until I started to work with him." Lundgren had been Federer's coach, until parting ways at the end of 2003; Safin hired Lundgren the following year. He was later defeated in the early rounds of each of the seven tournaments he played between the Australian Open and the French Open. In June 2005, shortly after his unsuccessful French Open campaign, Safin made a surprise finals appearance at the Wimbledon tune-up tournament in Halle on grass. He lost the final narrowly to the defending champion, Roger Federer, 6-4, 6-7(4-7), 6-4. During the clay court season, Safin suffered a knee injury, which he played through consistently all the way up until Wimbledon with the help of pain killers and AI's. He only played one tournament in the Summer hard court season, in Cincinnati, where he lost in the quarter-finals to Robby Ginepri. In the following years, Safin never fully recovered.

2006

Although a serious knee-injury hampered his progression and rankings within the ATP (he missed the 2005 US Open, 2005 Tennis Masters Cup and 2006 Australian Open), he made appearances at the 2006 ATP Masters tournaments at Indian Wells, Miami, Monte Carlo, Rome and Hamburg. On 17 August 2006, after a disappointing year during which Safin suffered injuries and his ranking plummeted to as low as 104, Safin temporarily parted ways with coach Peter Lundgren.

After injuries set him back, Safin was ranked a lowly #104, his worst ranking since May 1998. During his comeback at the 2006 US Open, Safin defeated Argentine David Nalbandian, who was then World #4, 6-3, 7-5, 2-6, 3-6, 7-6(8-6) in a riveting 2nd Round match. Safin then lost in the 4th Round to former world No.2 German Tommy Haas, also in a 5th set tiebreaker, 4-6, 6-3, 2-6, 6-2, 7-6 (7-5). Safin helped Russia beat the USA 3-2 to gain a place in the finals in December 2006, and secondly with a good run at the start of the indoor season the Thailand Open where he was narrowly edged out by No.7 seed, James Blake. On 14 October 2006, Safin made it to his first final in a year-and-a-half at the Kremlin Cup in Moscow, the first all Russian final at that event, losing to compatriot, Ukrainian born Nikolay Davydenko, 6-4, 5-7, 6-4.

On 3 December 2006, Safin defeated José Acasuso 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 (7-5) in the 5th and decisive rubber of the 2006 Davis Cup, winning the Davis Cup for Russia. He had previously lost 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 to Nalbandian in his first match. In the doubles match, he teamed up with Dmitry Tursunov to defeat Nalbandian and Agustín Calleri, 6-2, 6-3, 6-4. The 2006 Davis Cup final was played in Moscow on carpet, which suited both teams well; it gave Russia a slight edge as Argentina usually produces slower-court specialists (i.e. clay and slow hard).

Winning the Davis Cup for his country capped off a successful year and comeback for Safin in 2006. His 7 wins (7-7 record that year) against top ten players (DEF: Baghdatis, Nalbandian, Roddick, Blake, Gaudio, and Davydenko-twice) were fourth-most on the ATP tour behind just Federer (19), Nadal (10) and Blake (8). Safin compiled a 19-12 record on hard courts, a 7-3 record on carpet courts, 6-7 record on clay courts and a 2-2 record on grass courts. Safin's overall match record for 2006 was 34-24.

2007

Safin did not play any warm-up tournaments in the run up to the Australian Open. As Safin was forced to miss the tournament in 2006 because of injury, 2007 was his first Australian Open since he captured the title in 2005. Safin lost against 6th seed Andy Roddick in his third round match by a score of 7-6(2), 2-6, 6-4, 7-6(2) in a grueling 3-hour match. Roddick commented after the match, "With Marat you know you are going to get an emotional roller-coaster. You just have to try and focus on yourself and I was able to do that tonight.

In April, Safin won the deciding quarter-final Davis Cup rubber against France, beating Paul-Henri Mathieu in straight sets.

Safin reached the third round at Wimbledon, before falling to the defending champion Roger Federer. In July, Safin announced that he and his coach Alexander Volkov were parting ways, and that his new coach would be former pro Hernán Gumy. He won the doubles title at the Kremlin Cup in Moscow in October, his first ATP-level title since the 2005 Australian Open.

2008

Safin prepared for the Australian Open at the invitational exhibition tournament, the AAMI Kooyong Classic in Melbourne. Other players in the field were Roddick, Fernando González, Nikolay Davydenko, Marcos Baghdatis, Ivan Ljubičić and Andy Murray. Safin was victorious in his opening match, defeating Andy Murray 6-1, 6-4 before losing in his second match to Andy Roddick, 6-3, 6-3.

In the 3rd place play-off, Safin rebounded from the Roddick loss and overpowered the prior year's Australian Open runner up Fernando González winning the match 6-3, 6-3. Safin won his first round match at the Australian Open against Ernests Gulbis in straight sets - 6-0, 6-4, 7-6 (2). He was ousted in the 2nd round after a grueling five set match against Baghdatis - 6-4, 6-4 2-6, 3-6, 6-2.

In February, Safin was granted wildcards into the tournaments at Memphis and Las Vegas. In Memphis, he was edged out by his 2002 Australian Open opponent, Thomas Johansson, 7-6, 7-6 in the first round. In Las Vegas he was defeated by Lleyton Hewitt during the semi-finals round in 2007 7-5, 6-1. Safin was defeated by Hewitt once again by 6-2, 6-1 in 58 minutes.

In March, Safin lost in the first round of Indian Wells and Miami, to Jürgen Melzer and qualifier Bobby Reynolds respectively. In the Davis Cup between Russia and the Czech Republic, Safin defeated world no. 9 Tomáš Berdych in a five set encounter, after being two sets down, 6-7, 4-6, 6-3, 6-2, 6-4. This was the first time in his career that he has come back to win a match after being down two sets.

Safin's next tournament was in Valencia. He defeated former World No. 1 and number 4 seed Juan Carlos Ferrero 6-3, 5-7, 6-4. In spite of the fact that Ferrero is from the Valencia region, Safin was the more popular player, having been based in Valencia for many years and being a well-known Valencia CF fan - local player Ferrero controversially favouring Real Madrid. He played Dutch teenager Robin Haase in the next round. He won the first set 6-2 and was up 4-2 in the 2nd set. However, Haase broke back to take it to a tiebreak. Safin had 4 match points, including one on his serve, but lost the tiebreak, and eventually the match. In the Monte Carlo Masters, Safin defeated Xavier Malisse 6-3, 6-2, but then lost to No. 5 David Ferrer 6-2, 6-3. He then entered the 2008 BMW Open in Munich, Germany, where his first round opponent was Carlos Berlocq. Safin won 6-3, 3-6, 6-4. In the second round he edged out Michael Berrer 7-6(4), 6-7(5), 6-3, but lost to Fernando González 7-5, 6-3 in his first quarterfinal of the year, and the first since June 2007 at the Legg Mason Tennis Classic in Washington, D.C. Safin entered the 2008 French Open but was eliminated in the second round by countryman and No. 4 seed Nikolay Davydenko, in straight sets, 7-6, 6-2, 6-2.

Ranked at No. 75, Safin entered the 2008 Wimbledon Championships where he defeated Fabio Fognini 6-1, 6-2, 7-6(3) in the first round. In the second round he defeated No. 3 player and 2008 Australian Open Champion Novak Djokovic 6-4, 7-6(3), 6-2. Safin's victory came as a shock as Djokovic was described as a "serious contender" to win the tournament. In the third round, he played defeated Italian Andreas Seppi (29th seed), 7-6, 3-6, 7-6, 6-4. In the Round of 16 came Stanislas Wawrinka, whom Safin defeated 6-4, 6-3, 5-7, 6-1. This was the first time he had reached the quarter-finals in a major tournament since the 2005 Australian Open. Safin went on to defeat Feliciano López 3-6, 7-5, 7-6(1), 6-3 in the quarterfinals to set up a semi-final clash with defending champion Roger Federer. Safin lost the match 6-3, 7-6(3), 6-4. His run to the semi-finals was his best record in Wimbledon and made him the first Russian man to ever reach a Wimbledon semi-final. Safin attributed his great run at Wimbledon down to the hard work he was putting in with coach Hernán Gumy. Safin then played at the Swedish Open, on clay, in Båstad against Marc López, winning 7-6, 7-5 in the first round. He lost his second round match against Potito Starace.

Safin was awarded a wild card into the Rogers Cup Masters tournament in Toronto. He played Sam Querrey in the first round, winning 6-3, 6-3. Because of rain delays, he had to play his next match against Swiss Stanislas Wawrinka on the same day. He lost that match 6-3, 6-4. Safin was seeded fifth for his next tournament, the Countrywide Classic in Los Angeles. He defeated Americans John Isner 6-3, 6-4 and Wayne Odesnik 6-3, 6-2 in the first and second rounds respectively to advance to the quarterfinals, where he was defeated by Denis Gremelmayr, 3-6, 6-3, 6-2.

In the US Open, Safin lost in the second round to Tommy Robredo 4-6, 7-6, 6-4, 6-0. At the Moscow Kremlin Cup, he defeated Noam Okun, Julien Benneteau, Nikolay Davydenko and Mischa Zverev, only to lose to another compatriot Igor Kunitsyn 7-6, 6-7, 6-3 in the final. It was Safin's first final appearance since 2006, in the same event. Following the Kremlin Cup, Safin withdrew from the Madrid Masters event with a shoulder injury cited as the reason. His next event was the St. Petersburg Open at which he lost in the 2nd round. He then lost his first round match at the final ATP tournament of the calendar: the Paris Masters. He lost the match to Juan Mónaco 6-0 7-6. In the post-match conference, he raised the possibility of his retirement from the sport. Via a message posted on his official website, he said he was going to take a holiday and then seriously consider his options regarding his future in tennis. He finished the year 2008 ranked at #29.

2009

Safin started the 2009 season by playing in the Hopman Cup event in Perth with his sister, Dinara Safina. He arrived at the event sporting a bandaged right thumb, two black eyes, a blood-filled left eye, and a cut near his right eye, all suffered in a fight several weeks earlier in Moscow. In the 2009 Hopman Cup, the pair played off in the final representing Russia, but each was defeated in the singles rubbers. Safin said he had decided to play the 2009 season because of a great offer from his manager Ion Ţiriac, he made this decision despite not having a coach.

Safin withdrew from the Kooyong Classic tournament because of a shoulder injury, but recovered to play his first round Australian Open match, which he won in straight sets over Iván Navarro of Spain. In the second round, Safin defeated another Spanish player, Guillermo García-López. In the third round he came up against Federer and lost in straight sets. His next tournament was the Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships. He exited in the 1st round to Richard Gasquet, and exited in the semi-finals in doubles with David Ferrer. In March Safin helped Russia advance to the Davis Cup quarter-finals by beating Victor Crivoi of Romania in the first rubber in straight sets.

Starting the year at 29 in the world, he placed in the top 20 during the year, for the first time since the end of January 2006. His doubles ranking also improved from 300 to 195. In the first round at Wimbledon, at which he was seeded #14, he was upset by 21-year-old American Jesse Levine, 6-2, 3-6, 7-6 (4), 6-4.

Safin played at Catella Swedish Open in a claycourt tournament at Båstad where he lost to Nicolás Almagro of Spain. He began his hardcourt season by making it to the quarter-finals of the LA Tennis Open (his first quarter-final of the season) where he lost to Tommy Haas, 7-6(3), 6-2.

He lost in the first round of the U.S. Open, his last ever Grand Slam, to Austrian Jürgen Melzer, 1-6, 6-4, 6-3, 6-4. After a second round loss in the PTT Thailand Open, he has found some late form coming into the China Open tournament held in Beijing; beating José Acasuso in the first round 6-4, 6-2. In the second round he played Fernando González and likewise in his previous round, he produced a win; 6-3, 6-4. In the quarterfinals, he lost against top seeded Rafael Nadal, 3-6, 1-6. As the tour rolled into Moscow for the Kremlin Cup, it marked the beginning of the end for Safin, as he played his last competitive matches in his native Russia. He defeated World No. 6 Nikolay Davydenko, 4-6, 6-4, 6-2 in the first round, but lost in the second round. He then played at the 2009 St. Petersburg Open, reaching the semi-finals.

Retirement

Safin's final tournament as a professional tennis player was at the 2009 Paris Masters. In the first round, he saved three match points with three aces against Thierry Ascione, eventually prevailing 6-4, 4-6, 7-6(3) with a total of 24 aces and 41 winners. On 11 November 2009, Safin's career ended with a second-round defeat by reigning US Open champion Juan Martín del Potro, 4-6, 7-5, 4-6 in one hour and 56 minutes, after which a special presentation ceremony was held on Centre Court at Bercy. Fellow tennis players who joined him in the ceremony included Juan Martín del Potro, Novak Djokovic, Gilles Simon, Tommy Robredo, Frederico Gil, Ivo Karlović, Albert Costa, Marc Rosset and Younes El Aynaoui.

Characteristics

Safin was known for his emotional outbursts during matches, and has smashed numerous rackets. Safin is estimated to have smashed 48 racquets in 1999. In 2011, Safin stated that during his career he broke 1055 racquets.

Playing style

Boris Becker, in 1999, said that he had not seen anybody hit the ball as hard from both wings for "a long, long time" He is also capable of playing at the net, with his volleys also being effective. However, lack of consistency has been described as Safin's ultimate weakness, since 2005. Safin considers grass to be his least favourite playing surface, even though other opponents with similar playing styles generally dominate on it.

Safin had his best performance at Wimbledon in 2008, where he reached the semi-finals. He dismissed his performance in the 2001 tournament, in which he reached the quarter-finals, as a result of luck. Safin has said "It's difficult to . It's difficult to play off the baseline because a lot of bad bounces.". With Safin's semi-final performance at Wimbledon in 2008, he became the fourth of five active players at the time to reach the semi-finals in all four Grand Slams, joining Roger Federer, David Nalbandian and Novak Djokovic. Other active players have since then joined the list.

Equipment

Safin has used the Head Prestige Classic 600 since 1997 however throughout the years sported numerous paintjobs of the latest Head Prestige rackets (i.e. intelligence, Liquidmetal, Flexpoint and Microgel). His racquets used to be strung using Babolat VS Natural Team Gut 17L gauge, but he then switched to Luxilon Big Banger Original at 62 to 67 pounds. His apparel was manufactured by Adidas.

Major finals

Grand Slam finals

Singles: 4 (2-2)

Outcome	Year	Championship	Surface	Opponent in the final	Score in the final
Winner	2000	US Open	Hard	Pete Sampras	6-4, 6-3, 6-3
Runner-up	2002	Australian Open	Hard	Thomas Johansson	6-3, 4-6, 4-6, 6-7(4-7)
Runner-up	2004	Australian Open	Hard	Roger Federer	6-7(3-7), 4-6, 2-6
Winner	2005	Australian Open	Hard	Lleyton Hewitt	1-6, 6-3, 6-4, 6-4

Masters Series finals

Singles: 8 (5-3)

Outcome	Year	Championship	Surface	Opponent in the final	Score in the final
Runner-up	1999	Paris	Carpet (i)	Andre Agassi	6-7(1-7), 2-6, 6-4, 4-6
Runner-up	2000	Hamburg	Clay	Gustavo Kuerten	4-6, 7-5, 4-6, 7-5, 6-7(3-7)
Winner	2000	Canada (Toronto)	Hard	Harel Levy	6-2, 6-3
Winner	2000	Paris	Carpet (i)	Mark Philippoussis	3-6, 7-6(9-7), 6-4, 3-6, 7-6(10-8)
Runner-up	2002	Hamburg	Clay	Roger Federer	1-6, 3-6, 4-6
Winner	2002	Paris	Carpet (i)	Lleyton Hewitt	7-6(7-4), 6-0, 6-4
Winner	2004	Madrid	Hard (i)	David Nalbandian	6-2, 6-4, 6-3
Winner	2004	Paris	Carpet (i)	Radek Štěpánek	6-3, 7-6(7-5), 6-3

Career finals

Singles: 27 (15-12)

Wins (15)

Legend (pre/post 2009) Grand Slam tournaments (2-2) Tennis Masters Cup / ATP World Tour Finals (0-0) ATP Masters Series / ATP World Tour Masters 1000 (5-3) ATP International Series Gold / ATP World Tour 500 Series (1-3) ATP International Series / ATP World Tour 250 Series (7-4)

Titles by Surface Hard (10-6) Clay (2-4) Grass (0-1) Carpet (3-1)

Outcome	No.	Date	Championship	Surface	Opponent in the final	Score in the final
Winner	1.	23 August 1999	Boston, USA	Hard	Greg Rusedski	6-4, 7-6(13-11)
Runner-up	1.	7 November 1999	Paris, France	Carpet (i)	Andre Agassi	6-7(1-7), 2-6, 6-4, 4-6
Winner	2.	24 April 2000	Barcelona, Spain	Clay	Juan Carlos Ferrero	6-3, 6-3, 6-4
Winner	3.	1 May 2000	Majorca, Spain	Clay	Mikael Tillström	6-4, 6-3
Runner-up	2.	21 May 2000	Hamburg, Germany	Clay	Gustavo Kuerten	4-6, 7-5, 4-6, 7-5, 6-7(3-7)
Winner	4.	31 July 2000	Toronto, Canada	Hard	Harel Levy	6-2, 6-3
Runner-up	3.	20 August 2000	Indianapolis, USA	Hard	Gustavo Kuerten	6-3, 6-7(2-7), 6-7(2-7)
Winner	5.	28 August 2000	US Open, New York City, USA	Hard	Pete Sampras	6-4, 6-3, 6-3
Winner	6.	11 September 2000	Tashkent, Uzbekistan	Hard	Davide Sanguinetti	6-3, 6-4
Winner	7.	6 November 2000	St. Petersburg, Russia	Hard (i)	Dominik Hrbatý	2-6, 6-4, 6-4
Winner	8.	13 November 2000	Paris, France	Carpet (i)	Mark Philippoussis	3-6, 7-6(9-7), 6-4, 3-6, 7-6(10-8)
Runner-up	4.	4 February 2001	Dubai, UAE	Hard	Juan Carlos Ferrero	2-6, 3-6
Winner	9.	10 September 2001	Tashkent, Uzbekistan	Hard	Yevgeny Kafelnikov	6-2, 6-2
Winner	10.	22 October 2001	St. Petersburg, Russia	Hard (i)	Rainer Schüttler	3-6, 6-3, 6-3
Runner-up	5.	27 January 2002	Australian Open, Melbourne, Australia	Hard	Thomas Johansson	6-3, 4-6, 4-6, 6-7(4-7)
Runner-up	6.	19 May 2002	Hamburg, Germany	Clay	Roger Federer	1-6, 3-6, 4-6
Winner	11.	28 October 2002	Paris, France	Carpet (i)	Lleyton Hewitt	7-6(7-4), 6-0, 6-4
Runner-up	7.	27 April 2003	Barcelona, Spain	Clay	Carlos Moyá	7-5, 2-6, 2-6, 0-3 retired
Runner-up	8.	1 February 2004	Australian Open, Melbourne, Australia	Hard	Roger Federer	6-7(3-7), 4-6, 2-6
Runner-up	9.	18 April 2004	Estoril, Portugal	Clay	Juan Ignacio Chela	7-6(7-2), 3-6, 3-6
Winner	12.	13 September 2004	Beijing, China	Hard	Mikhail Youzhny	7-6(7-4), 7-5
Winner	13.	18 October 2004	Madrid, Spain	Hard (i)	David Nalbandian	6-2, 6-4, 6-3
Winner	14.	1 November 2004	Paris, France	Carpet (i)	Radek Štěpánek	6-3, 7-6(7-5), 6-3
Winner	15.	17 January 2005	Australian Open, Melbourne, Australia	Hard	Lleyton Hewitt	1-6, 6-3, 6-4, 6-4
Runner-up	10.	12 June 2005	Halle, Germany	Grass	Roger Federer	4-6, 7-6(8-6), 4-6
Runner-up	11.	9 October 2006	Moscow, Russia	Hard (i)	Nikolay Davydenko	4-6, 7-5, 4-6
Runner-up	12.	4 October 2008	Moscow, Russia	Hard (i)	Igor Kunitsyn	6-7(6-8), 7-6(7-4), 3-6

Doubles: 6 (2-4)

Wins (2)

No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Partner	Opponent in the final	Score in the final
1.	2001	Gstaad, Switzerland	Clay	Roger Federer	Michael Hill Jeff Tarango	0-1, retired
2.	2007	Moscow, Russia	Carpet	Dmitry Tursunov	Tomáš Cibulec Lovro Zovko	6-4, 6-2

Runners-up (4)

No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Partner	Opponent in the final	Score in the final
1.	1999	Moscow, Russia	Carpet	Andrei Medvedev	Justin Gimelstob Daniel Vacek	6-2, 6-1
2.	2001	St. Petersburg, Russia	Hard (i)	Irakli Labadze	Denis Golovanov Yevgeny Kafelnikov	7-5, 6-4
3.	2002	St. Petersburg, Russia	Hard (i)	Irakli Labadze	David Adams Jared Palmer	7-6(8), 6-3
4.	2005	Halle, Germany	Grass	Joachim Johansson	Yves Allegro Roger Federer	7-5, 6-7(6), 6-3

Singles performance timeline

To prevent confusion and double counting, information in this table is updated only after a tournament or the player's participation in the tournament has concluded. Davis Cup matches are included in the statistics.

Tournament	1996	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	Career SR	Career win-loss
Australian Open	A	A	A	3R	1R	4R	F	3R	F	W	A	3R	2R	3R	1 / 10	31-8
French Open	A	A	4R	4R	QF	3R	SF	A	4R	4R	1R	2R	2R	2R	0 / 11	26-11
Wimbledon	A	A	1R	A	2R	QF	2R	A	1R	3R	2R	3R	SF	1R	0 / 10	16-10
US Open	A	A	4R	2R	W	SF	2R	A	1R	A	4R	2R	2R	1R	1 / 10	22-9
Grand Slam SR	0 / 0	0 / 0	0 / 3	0 / 3	1 / 4	0 / 4	0 / 4	0 / 1	0 / 4	1 / 3	0 / 3	0 / 4	0 / 4	0 / 4	2 / 41	95-38
Grand Slam Win-Loss	0-0	0-0	6-3	6-3	12-3	14-4	13-4	2-0	9-4	12-2	4-3	6-4	8-4	3-4		95-38
Tennis Masters Cup	A	A	A	A	SF	A	RR	A	SF	A	A	A	A	A	0 / 3	4-7
ATP Masters 1000
Indian Wells Masters	A	A	A	3R	2R	1R	3R	3R	3R	3R	4R	2R	1R	3R	0 / 11	13-11
Miami Masters	A	A	A	4R	2R	2R	QF	2R	2R	3R	1R	2R	1R	3R	0 / 11	7-11
Monte Carlo Masters	A	A	A	1R	1R	1R	QF	A	SF	3R	1R	2R	2R	2R	0 / 10	11-9
Rome Masters	A	A	A	2R	2R	2R	2R	A	3R	2R	2R	2R	1R	1R	0 / 10	9-10
Hamburg Masters1	A	A	A	2R	F	2R	F	A	3R	2R	1R	2R	3R	1R	0 / 10	19-10
Canada Masters	A	A	A	A	W	1R	QF	A	1R	A	1R	2R	2R	1R	1 / 8	11-7
Cincinnati Masters	A	A	A	1R	3R	1R	1R	A	QF	QF	1R	1R	1R	2R	0 / 10	9-10
Madrid Masters2	A	A	A	2R	3R	2R	2R	1R	W	A	QF	1R	A	2R	1 / 9	11-8
Paris Masters	A	A	A	F	W	3R	W	A	W	A	QF	A	1R	2R	3 / 8	24-5
Total Titles	0	0	0	1	7	2	1	0	3	1	0	0	0	0	15	N/A
Hardcourt Win-Loss	0-0	0-0	10-7	16-13	36-15	27-14	21-15	8-7	27-12	12-4	19-12	14-12	9-14	16-15	215-140
Grass Win-Loss	0-0	0-0	0-1	0-2	3-2	5-2	1-1	0-0	0-2	6-2	2-2	3-2	6-2	0-1	26-19
Clay Win-Loss	0-0	0-0	6-8	11-10	25-9	6-7	22-8	4-2	17-6	7-5	6-7	6-6	9-8	2-6	121-82
Carpet Win-Loss	0-0	0-1	1-2	12-7	9-1	7-4	12-2	0-2	8-3	2-0	8-4	0-0	0-0	1-0	60-26
Overall Win-Loss	0-0	0-1	17-18	39-32	73-27	45-27	56-26	12-11	52-23	27-11	35-25	23-20	24-24	19-22	422-267
Year End Ranking	445	194	49	23	2	11	3	77	4	12	26	56	29	61		N/A

1Held as Madrid Masters in 2009. 2Held as Stuttgart Masters until 2001 and Shanghai Masters in 2009.

Post-retirement career

Since retirement Safin has been an official for the Russian Tennis Federation and a member of the Russian Olympic Committee. In 2011 he began playing at the ATP Champions Tour.

In December 2011, Safin was elected to the Russian Parliament as a member of Vladimir Putin's United Russia Party, representing Nizhny Novgorod. On 17 December 2012, he voted in support of legislation in the Russian Parliament banning the adoption of Russian orphans by United States citizens.

[ Source: Wikipedia ]