Marat Safin bid farewell to his adoring Chinese fans after defeat at the Shanghai Masters yesterday, but not before taking a swipe at his opponent Tomas Berdych and American Andy Roddick.
The Russian suggested Berdych had feigned injury during his 3-6, 6-4, 6-4 win and said the Czech needed to “grow up.”
Then he rounded on Roddick and other players who have complained about the length of the season, saying he had suggested it should be made shorter in 2004 but had been shouted down.
PHOTO: AFP
The 29-year-old refused to shake Berdych’s hand after the match because his opponent called on the trainer to treat his knee.
“Just come on; just grow up a little bit ... 26 years old ... just deal with that,” he said. “If you’re losing, just be a man; be a man and lose as a man.”
“Don’t pretend that you are injured and then you start running around and start to hit winners and then all of a sudden you pull the hands up in the air after winning the match,” Safin said.
“So then of course the guy will say: ‘No, I’ve been injured but then I felt a little bit better,’” he said.
“Of course he will find 10,000 excuses. Still, it’s not enough. You’re playing or you’re not playing. If you’re playing, so just shut ... up and play,” Safin said.
On Monday, Roddick called on the ATP to reduce the length of the men’s season.
“In 2004 we had this discussion in Olympic Games with Roddick about it and they were blaming me that I’m playing too much,” Safin said.
“And I was saying that the season is too long. We should make it shorter. And the guys, they jumped on me, like I was the one who was wrong,” he said.
“So look at all of them — everybody is falling apart. Everybody is getting injured left and right, and everybody is complaining the season is long. It takes six years to realize that something is wrong?” Safin asked.
“They just have to deal with that, not when they are 21 and ambitious and want to make money. They have to think a little bit with their brains and to make the career a little bit longer,” he said.
Meanwhile, US Open champion Juan Martin del Potro retired because of a wrist injury while losing 7-5, 2-1 to Austrian Jurgen Melzer yesterday.
The Argentine followed Andy Roddick in departing the event early because of injury after the US fourth seed limped out of the tournament on Tuesday.
Melzer clinched the first set on a tiebreak and was preparing for his opponent’s second service game of the second when Del Potro decided he could no longer continue.
Top seed Rafa Nadal marched into the last 16 with an entertaining 6-2, 6-7, 6-4 victory over American James Blake.
After Nadal raced away with the first set, the pair contested two absorbing sets before Nadal, with Blake serving to take the match into a decisive tiebreak, unleashed a sizzling forehand to clinch victory.
France’s Gael Monfils reached the third round after coming beating Lleyton Hewitt 4-6, 6-4, 6-2.
In other matches yesterday:
• Tommy Robredo (ESP) beat Florian Mayer (GER) 4-6, 7-6, 6-4
• Rainer Schuettler (GER) beat Tommy Haas (GER) 6-4, retired
• Feliciano Lopez (ESP) beat David Ferrer (ESP) 4-6, 7-5, 6-1
• Robin Soderling (SWE) beat Nicolas Almagro (ESP) 6-4, 7-5
• Ivan Ljubicic (CRO) beat Fernando Verdasco (ESP) 6-4, 7-6
• Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (FRA) beat Zeng Shao Xuan (CHN) 6-3, 6-3
■JAPAN OPEN
AFP, OSAKA, JAPAN
India’s Sania Mirza reached the quarter-finals of the Japan Open yesterday, beating Viktoriya Kutuzova of Ukraine in straight sets.
Mirza took advantage of a rash of double faults from Kutuzova on her way to a 6-4, 6-3 win.
In the last eight tomorrow, Mirza will play Marion Bartoli of France, seeded second, who beat Japan’s Kurumi Nara 6-1, 6-1.
In other second-round action, fourth seed Francesca Schiavone of Italy had an unconvincing win over Taiwan’s Chan Yung-jan.
Schiavone, ranked 26th in the world, took the first set 6-3 before her 106th ranked opponent from Dongshih Township in Taichung County won the next set without losing a game.
However the Italian bounced back to take the deciding set 6-3.
Melinda Czink of Hungary beat Vania King of the US 6-4, 6-2.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY STAFF WRITER
South Korean giants T1, led by “Faker,” won their fifth League of Legends (LoL) world championship crown in London on Saturday, beating China’s Bilibili Gaming (BLG) in a thrilling final. The teams were locked at 2-2 at a packed O2 arena, but T1 clinched game five to make it back-to-back titles after nearly four hours of tense action. China’s BLG started strongly, taking the first game before T1 struck back to level. The Chinese team pulled ahead again at 2-1 only for their opponents to hit back again and go on to take the decider. Faker, who won the Most
The Major League Baseball World Series trophy is headed to Los Angeles, but the party is extending all the way to Japan. People milled around local train stations yesterday morning in Tokyo as newspaper extras were ready to roll off the presses, proclaiming Japanese stars Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto as world champions along with their Dodgers teammates after a stirring Game 5 victory over the New York Yankees. The 30-year-old is a national hero in Japan whose face adorns billboards and TV adverts all over the country. Ohtani this year became the first player in history to hit 50 home runs and
Amber Glenn overcame a fall and her own doubts to win a maiden Grand Prix figure skating title on Saturday at the Grand Prix de France. The American skater had the lead from Friday’s short program. That and the support of the crowd got her through a tough free skate in which she fell on a triple flip and put a hand onto the ice to steady herself on two other jumps. “I didn’t feel that great out there today, but I really tried, and the audience really got me through that last half when I was doubting myself,” Glenn
WORLD SERIES: ‘The individuals that were involved in that last night was a very small segment of the east Los Angeles community,’ the Los Angeles county sheriff said Rowdy crowds took to the streets of Los Angeles after the LA Dodgers won the Major League Baseball (MLB) World Series, setting a city bus on fire, breaking into stores and lighting fireworks. A dozen arrests were reported by police on Thursday, but officials said that most fans celebrated peacefully. Video showed revelers throwing objects at police in downtown LA as sirens blared and officers told them to leave the area on Wednesday night after the Dodgers defeated the New York Yankees in Game 5 of the MLB World Series at Giants Stadium in New York. Another video showed someone standing atop
RSS