Becker takes 57th place in the ATP ranking, and he is still far from his famous namesake. Although some 25-year-old tennis player holds some matches at a very high level. It was he who, last summer, completed the career of the famous Andre Agassi, having outplayed him in the framework of the US Open.
But the status of the favorite was still for Safin. Playing in the December Davis Cup final showed that he had almost recovered from his injuries, became more restrained and learned to enjoy the game again. And the tournament in Australia is historically lucky for Marat: it was here two years ago that he showed perhaps the most striking tennis of his career, first beating Roger Federer in the semifinals, and then in the finals - the host of the court, Lleyton Hewitt.
The match began quite expectedly. In the starting set, both tennis players swayed for a long time, alternating a confident game with errors. Becker was the first to recover, taking the opponent’s pitch and winning the set - 7: 5. The second set Marat spent more actively, very quickly leading 5: 2. But the Russian tennis player calmed down early, began to make mistakes when exiting to the net and sending the balls out one by one. Becker, cold-blooded to indecency, easily took someone else's serve and switched the game to a tie-break. But Safin pulled himself together in time, impeccably held a mini-duel - 7: 2 - and equalized the score in the match.
Becker’s double mistake on his pitch, with which the third set began, made it possible to hope that the German’s nerves are also not iron and now he’s starting to make mistakes. But this episode was only an accident - Benjamin won his serve, and soon, having made a break, he brought the set to victory.
The next set began when Safin, making another mistake, announced the stadium with a cry of hopelessness: “Well, nothing at all ... Nothing happens at all!” For a second it seemed that Marat gave up. But immediately after this episode, Safin, as if nothing had happened, began to act surprisingly collected and aggressive. With a score of 3: 2 in his favor, he made a break and greeted each successive point with a raised hand with a clenched fist. But Becker was finally really nervous, began to make more mistakes and could no longer prevent Marat from transferring the game to the decisive fifth set.
Here we saw Safin in all its glory: he smiled, screamed, made mistakes, won the most difficult balls and completely destroyed all the opponent’s tactical plans with his unpredictability. 5: 7, 7: 6, 3: 6, 6: 3, 6: 4 - and Marat continues his performance at the Australian Open. The rival of the Russian in the second round will be the Israeli Dudi Sela.
Andrey IVANTSOV