Wimbledon 2005 News
By Alix Ramsay | June 22, 2005

Love is a complex thing. You cannot force it, you cannot ignore it, but sometimes it just happens. For some, it is love at first sight (Tim Henman and the slick grass of Wimbledon), and for others it takes time to develop but grows into a lifelong affair (Andre Agassi and the All England Club). Some happen into the relationship only for it to become a deep affection (Lindsay Davenport, of whom more later, and SW19) - and then there is Marat Safin.

Safin is, if you remember, the man who hated the grass courts just 12 months ago. Loathed them. Would never play on them again. But, oddly enough, after losing only one match on grass in the last three weeks (he lost to Roger Federer in Halle), he loves it. Well, almost.

He played some sparkling stuff to defeat Mark Philippoussis 7-6, 7-6, 6-4 and head for the third round. There he will face Feliciano Lopez, but that is for another day. Today Safin was basking in the warm glow of another good performance, another good win and not a set dropped.

So when did the great love affair with the green stuff begin? And what made the difference? Well, Safin said, it started two weeks ago.

"I pass through the difficult moments in my life, really difficult times on grass during my seven years of my career," he explained. "And I couldn't really find myself comfortable on that surface until I played Halle. I made, like I said, some good results. I beat some tough players there. All of a sudden I felt comfortable. I felt really comfortable moving on it. Just I think it's one of the most important things, actually, when you're playing on grass, is to move. If you serve well, and to find actually the return, all of a sudden all this came to me and I felt pretty good."

He felt good enough for the first set against Philippoussis but poor old Philippoussis did not feel too clever after that. Coming into the tournament with an injured left ankle, he had favored it too much and put added strain on his right ankle. That started to give out towards the end of the first set and, by the end of the match, the big Australian was limping badly and struggling to move.

Even so, he kept pestering Safin and forced the Russian to work hard for his victory. And the fact that Safin kept his cool and stuck to the game plan was what impressed Safin most. These days he is happy on grass, and that takes some getting used to.

"I'm comfortable playing on it," he said."I'm confident and I made some great results two weeks ago and I made some great matches here, I think, for the first and second round. This was pretty good - pretty good performance, especially today. That's how confidence coming back, especially on grass. It's really important to have a confidence - confidence and a comfortable feeling on it."

Roger Federer has always had a comfortable feeling at Wimbledon, a feeling helped greatly by the 6-4, 6-4, 6-1 win over Ivo Minar. After a couple of sets Federer had more than got the measure of the young Czech and, once that had happened, Minar collapsed as Federer knew he would. That's what happens when young upstarts play the world No. 1 and the defending champion, and Federer thinks that his experience and that fear factor are useful tools.

"I think it helps sometimes," he said. "But you've got to ask the other players what it does. I've only played against a few No. 1s in the world and you always feel the pressure. You always feel that if you give the other guy a chance, he'll take it. Once he's in front, he's not going to give it away. These are the moments that make the best players stay up there."

Lindsay Davenport has been up there - or thereabouts - for many a long year and is currently enjoying her position at the top of the rankings tree. She, too, has learned to love Wimbledon and now regards the place as one of her favorite Grand Slam events. She moved neatly into the third round with a 6-0, 6-3 win over Jamea Jackson even though she had to work harder than she had planned to in the second set.

"I feel pressure to win in the sense that I know there are not going to be many more opportunities to win Grand Slams," she said. "But some of that pressure is relieved by the fact of knowing that I've won this one once in my career. I know that as I keep playing, my chances are getting smaller and smaller. But who knows. I'm still enjoying it and would like to get one more under my belt before it's all said and done."

Svetlana Kuznetsova was almost done and dusted when she faced Sania Mirza from India. The U.S. Open champion was far from her best while Mirza was going from strength to strength and enjoying every moment of her time on Centre Court. Chasing Kuznetsova all the way to the finish, she could not quite catch her as the Russian won 6-4, 6-7, 6-4.

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