網壇兄妹檔

Marat Safin 是哥哥
Dinara Safina是妹妹
我很喜歡這對兄妹檔

差了六歲，都是網壇好手
哥哥今年以26種子打澳網
妹妹則是女單第10

以前他們的感情，"聽說"是不太好
哥哥總說妹妹不聽他的話，
在公眾前面總是一副："她是她，我是我，她該打好她就會打好"的態度
妹妹也總覺得哥哥太過份
這一兩年來感情越來越好
妹妹說哥哥是她永遠的英雄
哥哥說妹妹打得很好，可以走更遠

很妙呢^^

Dinara turning the tables

by Luke Buttigieg

Thursday, 18 January, 2007

A couple of years ago, Marat Safin didn't show too much brotherly love when asked about his sister Dinara Safina's Melbourne Park exit, stating that it was time his then 18-year-old sibling grew up.

Speaking after Dinara had squandered a one-set lead against Amelie Mauresmo in very warm conditions at Australian Open 2005, Marat didn't stop there, adding that he wouldn't be providing her with any more advice because she didn't listen anyway.

Stung by her brother's harsh words, just over a week before he went on to claim his second career Grand Slam title when he ended local Lleyton Hewitt's Australian Open dream, Dinara has come off career-best seasons in the past couple of years.

Ranked just inside the world's top 50 when she made her departure back then, Dinara has since climbed to No.20 at the end of 2005 and to No.11 when 2006 came to a close, before her fifth title on the Gold Coast lifted her a spot higher to No.10.

While Dinara has been improving her game over the past couple of years, Marat has endured a loss of form and then serious knee problems that saw his ranking head just as quickly in the opposite direction.

He may have started to turn things around again in the second half of last year, lifting his ranking back to No.26, but their respective rankings positions mean Dinara is seeded at No.9 for the year's first Grand Slam and Marat at No.26.

Six years younger than Marat, who also won the 2000 US Open when he thrashed one of the sport's greats, Pete Sampras, in the final, Dinara says she has not rubbed it in because he remains her hero.

"We have a really good relationship and I know that whenever I need any help he's always there with me," she said. "He is still for me the best and for me he's a hero."

Asked during a guest stint on AO Radio on Day Three following her first-round, 7-6(5) 6-1 win over fellow Russian Ekaterina Bychkova, Dinara dismissed friendly suggestions she should now give him advice when his 2005 comments were raised.

"No he's too good for my advice. He thought that I was not listening but that was not true," she said of the comments. "After that interview that he gave, the year when he won the Australian Open, my rank went high so probably he was right."

Having started her 2007 season on the best possible note when she downed former world No.1 Martina Hingis in the final on the Gold Coast, Dinara wasn't aware that Hingis later said she could win a Grand Slam this year and will one day be a better player than Marat.

"It's tough when someone was already No.1 and has two Grand Slams so it's tough to be better than him. I'll try to at least come closer to him. I didn't know that. I will try to do my best," she said of the high rating from Hingis.

One of the taller and more powerful girls on the circuit at 182cm (just under six foot), Dinara was forced out of a few events late last year by medical fatigue syndrome, which she says leaves 'you with no power inside'.

Attributing the condition to simply playing too much last year, having had a busy schedule of singles and doubles when she now believes her body wasn't ready for it, Dinara won't play as many tournaments in 2007 as a result.

But asked what she expects to do both at Australian Open 2007 and for the rest of the season, Dinara said she is a little too much like Marat when it comes to knowing what the future holds.

"I'm a little bit unpredictable, sometimes I don't even know what to expect from myself," Dinara said. "I know that I can play really good and sometimes - well now it's not so often - but know I can go a little bit down and I still need to work on this to be a little bit more consistent."

Based in Monte Carlo like her brother, who she spends as much time as possible with when they are at the same event, Dinara would love to play mixed doubles with him at a Grand Slam but knows that it is unlikely because he has to play best-of-five-set singles matches.

Asked about his sister's improvement in the two years since he made those scathing comments, soon after his second five-setter in as many rounds on Day Three when he beat Israeli Dudi Sela, Marat had much more positive things to say.

"She won the tournament the first week of the year, she beat Hingis," Marat said. "I saw that match, and I think she's doing pretty well with her coach. She improved a lot. She's top ten, and I'm pretty sure she's fit and she's ready to win, and I think she can go far."

But having said in 2006 she has decided to focus on herself rather than be caught up in comparisons with Marat - saying 'I am what I am, I am Dinara' - it would be pleasing the 20-year-old that her big brother now regards her as more of an equal than an annoying little sister.

http://ilook.tw/hbm8