Tennis: Safin Defeats His Demons to Slay Hewitt

The deep well of self-doubt that Russia's Marat Safin has been staring into since he won his first grand slam title as a carefree 20-year-old at Flushing Meadows in 2000 threatened to consume him again in the Rod Laver Arena. Terrible nerves gripped his mind and froze his body for a set and half against Lleyton Hewitt before he finally broke the psychological shackles to win 1-6, 6-3, 6-4, 6-4.

And he has Roger Federer, the world No1, to thank - not because the former Australian Open champion, and reigning Wimbledon and US Open champion, was below his best when the two met in Thursday's semi-final, rather that at the end of 2003 Federer decided to part company with his coach, Peter Lundgren, who last May joined forces with Safin.

"You need to believe in yourself and I didn't," said Safin. And Lundgren has successfully nurtured that belief. Yet even the calm and encouraging words of his coach could not help him for those first awful 30 minutes. The hollow noise emanating from Safin's racket indicated he was mistiming the ball; and his feet refused to move.

All the 25-year-old Russian could think about were his two previous finals in the same stadium. In 2002 he had lost to Sweden's Thomas Johansson and played dreadfully, and last year again he could not find his best form when it was most needed against Federer.

Lundgren and Safin had talked long and hard about the problems Hewitt would set and the way the Russian could win. Essentially he needed to impose his much more powerful game on the Australian, who was feeling his own pressures after becoming the first men's home player to reach the final since Pat Cash in 1988. But the Safin power was initially switched off almost completely. "I was scared, nervous and passive. I could not serve, I could not run. I was so disappointed."

Safin is a huge, affable man who gets on with almost everybody in the locker room; he exudes bonhomie. When he pulverised Pete Sampras in straight sets in the US Open final five years ago, everybody assumed he would quickly develop into a dominant force. The one proviso was his temperament. He raged, he smashed racket after racket, he fought out a constant duel on court with himself.

All the time he retained his sense of humour, which endeared him to everybody, but he knew in his heart and soul that the win against Sampras counted for little. It had been too easy and he had been under no pressure. "You can win one grand slam by mistake, and it was a mistake."

So he heard the rumours and began to believe them: that he was an immensely talented player but not one who would win any more of the world's four major tournaments. And his two defeats in the Australian Open final further increased those doubts and ate away at his self-belief.

"Peter helped me believe in myself. We worked very hard and communicated really well, so this win against Lleyton means so much more to me than the win in New York. Maybe now I can go on and win a couple more slams and perhaps become the world No1 again. It has been such a relief."

Hewitt, having fought through three enormous matches in the previous three rounds - although none of them quite as big as Safin's semi-final victory over Federer - must have felt that having run to Cairns and back in his efforts to make the final he was suddenly on a fun run. Of course, he did not dare believe Safin could continue to be as poor as that first set, but the 29-year gap since the last Australian, Mark Edmondson, won this title appeared eminently bridgeable.

Safin was obsessed with not allowing Hewitt to run down his shots on the forehand side, so much so that he missed several easy kills by allowing the Australian to second guess him and move to the backhand side. But gradually, almost imperceptibly, Safin was cranking up the power and one break in the second set was enough to level.

Even then he veered towards the cautious, which enabled Hewitt to open up a 3-0 lead in the third. Safin called for the trainer to massage his legs but it was his mind that needed manipulating.

Suddenly everything clicked. At 4-2 up Hewitt lost his serve, raged at a line judge who had foot-faulted him and then, in what seemed a blink, Safin reeled off seven successive games, including three breaks of serve.

"To be honest I think he ran out of gas. When I broke him in the third set I think his belief went. He was missing that extra step and he could not cope," said Safin, whose own serve became all but unplayable.

For Hewitt, the former US Open and Wimbledon champion, this was his third significant final defeat in a row. Last year he lost to Federer in the US Open final and also in the end-of-season Tennis Masters Cup. "My game has improved and I can walk away with my head high," he said, before adding a little forlornly: "But it would have been nice to have won one of them." And this one especially.

He may not be given to the same deep self-doubts as Safin but this defeat is bound to hit him hard. After failing to get past the last 16 here in his previous eight attempts this was a huge opportunity. "But Marat was awesome," Hewitt conceded.