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Entry system ranking: 143 (282 points (-1)) Champions Race: 126 (7 points)(-3) Current tournament: Place: Monte Carlo, Monaco Next tournament:
Place: Munich, Germany
Date: April 29 - May 5, 2002 Draw Size: 32 Surface: Clay Prize Money: US $381,000 Stadium Court Seating: 3,800 Tournament Director: Rudi Berger Website: www.iphitos.de
Thanks Ivanna for the photo! (Norman in Bueno Aires)
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NORMAN THE CONQUEROR SUFFOCATES SAFINHe bent, be cramped, but he didn't break. Looking all of the part of a titlist in the making, Sweden's Magnus Norman overcame his own nerves and an emotionally distraught Marat Safin?6-4 6-3 4-6 7-5 to register his most important Grand Slam victory to date on Wednesday. "It's definitely up there as one of my biggest victories," Norman said. "I had a great chance to make the final. Now I'm just a match away." In an extremely tense, see-saw final set that saw both power baseliners squeeze through numerous tight spots, No3-seeded Norman won the match on his third match point when the Russian strongman hit a wild forehand two feet out. Upon winning the match, the normally cool Norman threw his hat into the sky and yelled in joy, while Safin angrily broke his racket and left the court weeping. "I was nervous, just as nervous as he was," said Norman. "But I've come so far with my tennis and played a lot of crucial matches, I know how to handle the situation better than I did maybe a few years ago." "I came on to the court like a loser. How are you going to play tennis like that? I had too many minuses in my head," said Safin, who committed an unseemly 65 unforced errors, despite cracking 12 aces and 17 service winners. Until his feet blistered early in the third set, Norman was his typical steel backboard self, content to engage in mind-bending crosscourt backhand rallies and taking any midcourt ball that came near his slapshot forehand and burying it in the corner. "The first two sets I played my worst tennis. I missed every ball," said Safin. "I played stupid, played like crap. Nothing was under control.?I'm not afraid to say this. It's true. I played like this because I was scared, my eyes were this big." But after being broken for the first time to fall behind 1-2 in the third set, Norman couldn't find a way to penetrate Safin's huge serve, which was frequently clocked at 130 mph. The 20-year-old Safin - who was thoroughly frustrated by his inability to overpower Norman from the ground - briefly found his range, charging the net and ripping down-the-line winners. He won the third set by crushing three down-the-middle aces in a row. Despite losing his first set of the tournament, the Swede recovered, digging himself in at the baseline and forcing his opponent to go for high-risk shots. The 24-year-old Norman had an excellent opportunity to break Safin at 5-4 by jumping out to a 30-0 lead, but then his nerves clearly began to fray, as he began to push back his returns and groundstrokes rather than being forceful. Safin held to 5-5 and got up 30-0 on Norman's serve. Then, Norman appeared to hit a service winner, but the chair umpire called it out from the other side of the court, enraging Norman, who argued to no avail. The Nordic warrior then belted a forehand winner and screamed, "C'mon! C'mon!" as if he was hailing a gruff herd of Vikings.?He easily held to 6-5. "That brought out the best in me. I got really pumped, fired up," Norman said. Safin was so unglued that he failed to work himself into a tiebreaker. He missed three relatively easy backhands to hand Norman three match points, one which he saved with a huge forehand down the line and the other with an inside-out forehand. But the big Russian failed to give himself a game point, missing another backhand down the line. Norman took the contest and Safin was more than depressed. Norman?said he was waiting for Safin to go for too much. "That's Marat Safin. He's a great guy to watch, because you never know what's going to happen. He can serve an ace and the next time his racket is in two pieces. The tour needs a lot of those players. Not boring like me who don't show any emotion," he laughed. Safin, who broke three rackets during the match, added, "The last two balls I gave him Christmas present. I'm very sorry for my attitude on court. The crowd has to understand when things are going completely wrong, you have nothing under control. You cannot do anything to change it. I said to myself, 'I cannot play this stupid'." Source: French Open
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