ROGER Federer is wary of the threat posed by a revitalised Marat Safin as the Swiss player continues his quest for a record-equalling sixth straight Wimbledon title on Centre Court today.
The former world No1, Safin has made a mockery of his current lowly ranking of 75 to storm into his first All England Club semi-final at the ninth attempt, and Federer knows the two-time grand slam champion from Russia is no pushover.
Calling Sa
fin's current ranking "ridiculous," Federer added: "He's finally showing again what he can do. It's just quite surprising he's doing it here at Wimbledon, because he used to dislike playing on this surface.
"Last year I wasn't happy to see Safin in my draw. I'm never happy and he probably knows that. He's just been disappointed with the way he's been playing lately, but hopefully he's got a second thing going."
Surly Safin has beaten Federer just twice in their ten previous meetings and did his best to play down his chances of triumphing for a third time after his four-set quarter-final win over Feliciano Lopez. But he is clearly beginning to relish his two weeks in SW19 and showed glimpses in the fourth set against Lopez of the hard- hitting accuracy which once briefly made him the man to beat.
Safin said: "I have had to deal with the things I have had in my life, a lot of injuries. I'm tired of making comebacks every year. It's annoying but that's my career. I'm managing to enjoy it. I think I've been playing great tennis and am very close to my best. But just a little bit more would be great."
The full article contains 289 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
