The long, ragged farewell was brought to a suitable end today. Marat Safin, 6-foot-4 champion of the past, lost his last match to a 6-foot-5 champion of the future, Juan Martin del Potro. You might say a torch was passed—both guys beat all-time champions at the U.S. Open as 20-year-olds to win their first majors—except that I’m not sure del Potro is looking to pick this particular torch up and run with it.
But Safin’s loss was appropriate, and so was the manner in which it transpired. As usual, he showed flashes of flowing brilliance, and as usual, he couldn’t summon them at the very end of a tight match. For today, let’s remember one of the exceptions to that Safin rule, the best match he ever played, and one where he summoned his flowing brilliance all to the way into the 15th round.
If any match is worthy of a music-video treatment, if was Safin’s 9-7-in-the-fifth-set win over Roger Federer, the man he called “the Federer,” in the semifinals of the 2005 Australian Open. That’s the treatment it gets here, to the tune of the Who’s “Baba O’Reilly.” And once you get used to it, it does add a certain momentum to these highlights. My favorite line from the song—“I don’t need to be forgiven”—might even sum up Safin’s career as he walks away.
—Unlike most YouTube highlight reels, this one doesn’t show entire points. It’s cut all the way down to the memorable strokes. It gives you an idea of what these guys were doing best that day, and how many shots still stick in the collective tennis memory from this match.
—On Federer’s side, there’s a drop shot that’s threaded so finely it can only be described as vicious. There’s a shot-hop backhand pass that could be sent off in a time capsule as an example of his smoothness under pressure. There’s a skyhook overhead, and an inside-out backhand return winner that seems to shock Safin. And there’s the ill-advised tweener he tried at match point in the fourth set. He didn’t need to hit it, and the choice cost him.
—On Safin’s side, there’s a half-volley drop shot winner that shows off McEnroe-like touch. There are numerous thudding backhands up the line, culminating in the best of the evening, the one that brought Federer to his knees on the final point. And then there’s the get Safin made and the lob he hit over Federer to save that match point in the fourth set. Did we know he could run that fast?
—Safin’s confidence and determination grow as these highlights accumulate. He has said that winning this tournament was very important to him because he needed to prove to himself that he could take home a second major. He was never a guy who could keep that level of belief up for long, but perhaps doing it this time was enough for him. He’ll always know that he really was that good.
—The match reminds me of the del Potro-Federer Open final in many ways. You have a taller, heavier hitter trying to batter through the skinny, springy Federer and his wildly curving shots. In both of those matches, as well as in the 2008 Wimbledon final, Federer almost snuck through a match where his opponent was playing lights-out, only to lose in the end.
—Fittingly, this one ends on a high note. You can see some exhaustion from both guys in the fifth set, but after nailing all those backhands down the line, Safin puts the last one even closer to the corner. That’s how accurate he was with it that day. Federer finally succumbed, but he forced Safin to throw the final punch and literally knock him to the ground.
—I may miss Safin's handshakes the most. Win or lose, he was always respectful of his opponent; he always realized it was just a game—in some ways, he was too gentlemanly. At first I was surprised by his harsh reactions this week to the Agassi revelations. But then he was always a guy who believed in the solidarity of the players, that it shouldn't be every man for himself. It makes sense that he would see Agassi as betraying that.
Notice also his muted celebration here. It was exactly like his muted celebrations after both of his Slam wins. He doesn’t want to revel in his opponent’s defeat, and he knows that winning a tennis match is not the most important thing in this world. That attitude might have hurt him as a player, but it made him a favorite of everyone who played with him and those of us who watched him. He was one of the guys. And in his “failures”—to master his nerves, to discipline himself, to live up to his potential—Safin was one of us.
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There's more from me on Marat over at ESPN.com. Paris talk tomorrow.