Federer vs Safin Epic Tiebreak IN FULL | ATP Finals 2004 Semi-Final 

Yer Safin and Nalbandian went to early. Notice how the one handers like Federer and Lopez are still going but all of the two handers arent just recently retired but long gone. Something about two handers having so much wear and tear on the body

@@Creees Neither Safin nor Nalbandian had great training regimens - Nalbandian's in particular was sub par. Big guys also are exposed to more wear and tear with longer strides and more body mass. See Boris Becker and his hip replacements. Too bad on both those guys though because they were both top tier talents, especially Safin. Safin with half the motivation of Federer or Nadal would have won 10 majors IMO.

@@Skiiiiiifreeeeeee its amazing sport tennis. I watched this old video and added in the Safin left foot step on my serve and it has done absolute wonders. Wow was this man talented. I think the dame could be said for Nalbandian, if he trained and dieted more professionally then i think 6 majors would not be farfetched. I think Federer can be very happy Safin and Del Potro had problems with their bodies.

Good old days!!!

and Agassi, Sampras, Rafter, Philiposis..

yes maybe the best forehand the sport has seen. Jack Kramer said ellsworth vines and some argue Kramer forehand too

How amazing is this

RandomGuy285 PERFECTLY SAID.

roddick, Blake, Gonzo, Davydenko, Hewitt ... none of them ever had any chance against Federer from 2004-2008, the only ones who were able to offer something and have the talent to face the swiss were Nalbandian and Safin

So in other words they're playing to not lose lol

@@fejuncor perfectly said

1055!

what if...he got two majors, pretty good for a classic russian head-case(we all are trust me) and a cursed injury history

Safin defeated prime Federer.thars only something that very few people have ever done

@@spideyocd he was the only one. From 2004 to 2007 Federer won all his Grand Slams matches on hard courts.

yes but monica seles is the biggest what if she did not get stabbed. Strong case for her being the GOAT in the women's game if she does not get stabbed. Plus they changed the grass at wimbledon in 2002 so higher bouncing grass would have helped Seles win wimbledon, but she would have had Williams sisters clijsters henin capriati to deal with. If safin was more committed to the sport he would have pushed the big 3 for a couple years after 2005.

Well. Second (or third) to Fed (and Nalbandian perhaps), but otherwise, you're not wrong. :)

I agree generally but see some big talents coming up who might assist in changing things... Courts need to remain or change to faster again though

they slowed down the court speed

@@PremJay I don't understand though. Seeing awesome winners is way more entertaining I think

Hellow Courts should all be the same hard except for clay tour and grass court that would even ground for servers and baseline players

This! They slowed the game down for TV

John Dematis same feeling here.

I didn't even have a TV back then.missed his golden years altogether

John Dematis I had the same thought! I was 8 back then but I wish I had started following tennis earlier! What an amazing legend Federer is!

He was never the same after having mononucleosis right before AO 2008. It was a bloody painful year - he wasn't fully fit for months, got bagled by Rafa at Roland Garros, lost the greatest match of all time in Wimbledon, and when things were finally looking up after the Olympics and USO, he had another torturous defeat at the Masters Cup. His back was so bad during that match against Murray that he had to sit down in the line judge's chair between games, but still he fought until the very end. Looking back, that was the year when he lost the aura of invincibility, as well as some of the physical prowess. He still has great legs, especially for his age, but for someone with extraordinary balance and footwork, even just being a little slower is a big hindrance. He also had to change his technique and racquet to preserve his body and keep up with the slower courts and the more powerful baseliners. It's also harder to play in such an aggressive style when his opponents have time to run around pretty much any shot imaginable.

young folks need to realize how INSANE the pure fundamentals of fed have persisted from the beginning of the MONSTERS(marat) to the lame de-clawed versions(zverev, whoever)

yes too bad he was not fully dedicated like nadal or djokovic. Or him and fed would have had a good rivalry in fed's prime years

@@derrickc1353He was on top of his game at this point and for a bit longer. Only player in the world in 2004 who could threaten Federer. Later, yeah he got distracted. But do what. Not every player has to play for 20 years.

@@Nill757 Safin liked to party. He had other interests besides being an all-time great. He could have been an all-time great if he was dedicated to the sport.

@@derrickc1353 my point, he was dedicated to the sport, for awhile. The guy was great then, won USO 2000 v Sampras and AO 2005 v Fed, reached #1 ranking 2000. Feds coach Lundgren said Fed only worried about Saffin 03 04 early 05. Everybody forgets him now because of Fed that era. I don’t. If he wanted to do a Borg, chase women drive fast cars after 8 yrs ATP, I don’t really care.

@@Nill757 Borg got burned out he was dedicated to the sport. Some say he could not handle mcEnroe beating him twice in 1981 which may have been true too.

Jack Lo so was Nalbandian!

Not quite, nalbandian still troubled him, and also a guy named nadal who already had a win over fed. But pretty much all the rest of the field Fed was dominant.

Nalbandian is the best player EVER to haven’t won a slam

@@michelemonfasani9724 No....!! Rios was.

Davydenko as well

Safin was great!

Safin the Man!!!

Guilherme Larangeira yep

He's also under accomplished. I love his game when it's on. And he's a big influence on my backhand. Everybody you how talented he is, but he wouldn't put it together consistently enough for a better career.

The last player to frustrate him by aggressive play style .

If he had it all, he would be won Slams at Clay or Grass

He's not really underrated. Everyone knows about his talent. He's rather known as the greatest underachiever.

Top 3

yeah courts are f*cking slow these days, Indian Wells is pretty much clay tbh..

We have a lot of intelligent players nowadays,they are so smart and they know whenever they have to change their gameplay to win the match.Not like the players in the past who just attack and attack and attack,while the others serve and volley.

@@danggiang5366 WTF are you saying. '' intelligent players nowadays'' are u fucking kidding me. Lol

@@danggiang5366 Wow ..u must b drunk :O

soheil adam yes,they know whenever they have to attack or have to defend,not just attacking.That's why i said"intelligent players".

federer was from another planet. now new young guys on internet call weak era to those past days cos they didnt born for see the beggning of tennis... look federer 2000 to 2005 playing all time with number 1 or ex number 1, all champions of atleast 1 gs, best top ten from that moment, nalbandian safin rodick agassi ferrero davydenko (all champions of 1 master 1000). while now the top ten player reach 1 or 2 finals on the whole year... if there is a new weak era is this right now. no top ten players for the last 6 or 7 years.

safin claims he never improved his performance on his interview after last match with del potro.

THE BEST, i stayed up for it, i was at the time playing probably 4.0 ustpa BS and was so inspired by that match, just fucking poetry in every cadence

Fast courts ended in 2001, see wimbledon 2002 final, soooo slow.

And a lot of people call that era a weak one...

@@paulorosa1481 Slow?XD

Best era 1980/2000

Everything for entertainment were great during this era Tennis, wwe , Hollywood movies, cricket everything

Imagine being drunk

he's got the looks at least

davd1986 yeah when he came back he did some good matches but he was not the same player :-(

Hewitt was way past his prime. And don't get me started on how many times he beat FedEx in his prime , including safin. His prime was during 2001 2002 season, and that was it. And Agassi rightly said in his book, Hewitt - The best shot selector in tennis. He played with pure guts and determination. No disrespect to FedEx or Sarin, both great players. And fast forward to 2014 Sydney final, FedEx beaten again by sheer determination.

Safin was marvellous at Wimbledom 2008 against Djokovic!

@@mindrover777 past his prime even though he's the same age as safin and fed, ok bud. Fed started to get better in 2002, success in 2003 and peak in the next few years

That's a great way of putting it ✊

Roger with endless patience, and calculation.

If only Serena could learn...

and like his Croatian fore bearer of slavic pride in tennis.....he got his major(s)...that fucking semi or qrt match against fed in 05 is an all timer, mien gotte

Ceiling, bruh

Well, he should!

Then Federer will take revenge again in that year at Halle and never lose to Safin again, dropping only one set. Wish they played a lot more often though.

@@ManSizeSextet hahahaha dumb fuck

@@Aghoradipathi big mad or small mad?

Safin is the only one to have beaten The King during his Kingdom (2004/2007) on slams played on hard surfaces. What an unbelievable achievement. One of the best game EVER and my favourite

And one of the few to have beaten the previous King during his reign on slams played on hard surfaces (Sampras), with no "help" from his opponent like injuries, lack of energy, or emotional issue s...

I wouldn't go so far as to say he'd run circles around them, but yeah, he was absolutely the equal of Cilic et al. Zverev is young and will improve, with luck he will win more majors than Safin (of course he will not have a Federer equivalent to contend with, i.e., no one in his generation is so good he can deprive all the others of big titles). Another thing about Safin was that, while he was a bit of a wildman and could go on mental walkabout with the loopiest, he was in no way a mental midget. Cilic, Berdych, Tsonga, etc., have the games to beat the best, but are held back by timidity. Safin was a lot of things, but he wasn't timid, and raised his level against top rivals as all great champions do. Of course, one could make the argument that Safin was less intimidated than the Slamless veterans of the past decade only because he wasn't born and raised to fear the mighty Federer, Nadal, Djokovic ... but that's an argument for another day.

They're not better than Safin, Deepak. It's the idiot haters of Fed who's jealousy and ignorance top all.

Safin was one of the most talented players ever and he underachieved, partly because of his injuries and also lack of commitment unfortunately. But he had a complete game, big serve, powerful baseline game especially his backhands (one of the best) and he was competent at the net.

Spot on. Safin's major drawback was lack of motivation which led to poor training regime and made him even more injury prone. In-form Safin was a better overall player than even Rafa and Nole. He had it all. Big and versatile serve, great from both sites (FH/BH), great shot depth and angles, balance, ability to change direction .. full package.

Below par training just leads to a lot of underachievement as the big points are often lost due to unconsciously or consciously knowing you didn't do everything to be ready for it. And of course your level of play can will suffer relatively over a long stretch.

23, but the point still stands.

Legends such as Connors or McEnroe? GMAFB.

davd1986 actually, 24

@@dgaubin Papigringo, what is your response to dgaubin? Your response will help me determine the real purpose of your remark about Serena. Take all the time you need to think up a good come back :)

Definitely not Drysdale. Its Jason Goodall and some other dude. I believe Cliff Drysdale commentated this match with Patrick McEnroe and Mary Carillo

CJ Ever yes

Much better!

I’ve thought the same!

It was the start of his no-ponytail/bandana look. But if we're being technical about it, he didn't have a ponytail either in 1998-99.

It was us open 2004

Federer rocks

@6e Set No.

@6e Set It may be in your opinion, but I like watching a variety of playstyles substantially better than watching slow tennis all the time

@6e Set Of course! There are plenty of good matches around, but it's not really the players that are in charge of their playstyles right now. The courts all being about the same speed nowadays plays a part in this, but to each their own, right?

@6e Set Really, though, I'm okay with slow surfaces. I'm just not okay with so many surfaces being the same. Agree with you, though

Also dont forget that epic between Baghdatis and Agassi in US Open 2005. It was actually very hard for Baghdatis, which was frequently hampered with cramping.

Definitely. At the same time one may think that with hawkeye, this tiebreak would have ended 11-9 and perhaps it wouldnt be remembered

Many*

yes, thank you, finally someone who gets it

Yes Safin really struggled when the courts slowed down and the raquets became spin orientated

This is against the constitution

This is battery

@@-music2023 it's true that they take big swings at the ball to generate spin. Nadal and Thiem would have been clay court specialists in the past. The last three you named are rare examples of players who try to hit penetrating shots even though conditions don't favor that style... credit to you.

yes what a passing shot, gotta love that backhand

I loved your input, I agree with everything

2000 sampras was far from his prime though

To us yes

So was 13:35. Thank goodness for instant replay huh

Duh. Hawkeyes showed it out.

Well spotted- way out