10.01.06 Marat News

Marat has today advised of his withdrawal from the Australian Open. Despite the knee allowing Marat to now practice extensively on court and he was feeling much better than before, a decision had to be made that he was just not ready to play Grand Slam tennis. As Marat said:" I am very sad that I cannot go to the Australian Open to defend my title as Champion. I have been working very hard and it is a lot better. In my heart I know I want to be at the Australian Open to try to play but I have had to listen to what Peter, my team and also myself are saying that it would not be right to go to a Grand Slam and put so much test on my knee right now. I am sorry to all my Australian fans but I will be back next year!"Marat intends to keep working on his fitness and it is intended that he will make his return in Marseilles on the 13th February.


And I was looking forward to watching Marat Safin back in action during the Australian Open. It's probably quite a special grand slam out of the four because that's when I really started watching tennis and that's when I saw Safin defeat the mighty Federer. And at that time he really clawed his way to victory, which really inspired me. It was a lovely memory.