[薩芬] Injured Safin may face US Open heartbreak

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from: http://uk.sports.yahoo.com/050618/3/bmv6.html Injured Safin may face US Open heartbreak Sat 18 Jun, 5:26 PM LONDON (AFP) - Marat Safin may be forced to skip this season's US Open, as he battles to put an end to a potentially crippling knee injury. The colourful Russian won the US Open in 2000 in breathtaking style, a victory which helped propel him to the world number one spot and transformed him into one of the tour's most compelling players. But since lifting his second career Grand Slam title in Australia this year, the 25-year-old has endured a mediocre season which has only been salvaged in the last month by a fourth round run at the French Open and a runners-up place on grass at Halle last week. On Saturday, Safin admitted that he has knee ligament damage and will be forced out of action for up to four weeks after Wimbledon in an effort to cure the problem. "The doctors said I shouldn't really play here but it's grass so it's soft and I can't break anything," Safin said Saturday. "If it was a hard court, I wouldn't play. "I have a ligament rupture in my knee and it's pretty painful. I need to take a month off after Wimbledon so the doctors can sort out a programme." Safin, who readily admits that playing on grass is not one of his favourite surfaces, and has a best showing of a quarter-final place here in 2001, said he has been taking painkillers and injections before each match to try and ease the pain. He felt the problem again when he made the final in Halle last week where he lost the final to Roger Federer. "I wanted to retire at Halle," admitted Safin. "If I keep playing for a couple of more months after here, I could break the ligament." Safin, the fifth seed at Wimbledon which starts on Monday, faces Thailand's Paradorn Srichaphan in the first round with a potential second round clash against 2003 runner-up Mark Philippoussis in the offing. Federer, the two-time defending champion here, tipped Safin to be a major threat here but the Russian is still not convinced about his chances on grass even though Safin is working with the Swiss star's former coach Peter Lundgren. "I have worked a lot on my fitness, working on my movement on the grass courts where you have to take short steps," explained Safin. "Peter has been pushing me to be more aggressive, to play my game and not waste a lot of time running on the baseline waiting for my opponent to make mistakes. "I need to go for my shots." Safin, like the majority of players on the tour, is no convert to the art of serve-and-volley which so inspired the likes of Pete Sampras to seven titles here. "Players are better at returning the ball now than they were in the past. Hewitt, Roddick and Federer are great returners," he said. "Now you have to wait for the right ball to go to the net, you have to mix it up. "In the past I have struggled. I have needed to improve my serve, my volley, my slice." -- ※ 發信站: 批踢踢實業坊(ptt.cc) ◆ From: 203.203.34.44