Safin loses, bothered by expectations

NEW YORK — Marat Safin is still trying to disprove the idea that he’s a one-hit wonder. He didn’t help his cause Tuesday afternoon at the U.S. Open.

The emotional and enigmatic Russian was a first-round loser in the same tournament he won four years ago. Sweden’s Thomas Enqvist pulled off the upset, beating No. 13 Safin, 7-6 (7-5), 4-6, 6-3, 6-3, in Arthur Ashe Stadium. Safin remains in search of his second Grand Slam title.

“I feel really bad when I don’t get to the finals or the semifinals of a tournament,” said Safin, a two-time runner-up at the Australian Open. “It really bothers me.

“The opinion of society really bothers me. It’s bothering me because everybody is expecting me to win the tournaments.”

Safin didn’t play the Open last year because of a left-wrist injury, and was looking for a happy return to the National Tennis Center.

That didn’t happen as Safin continued a trend of less than impressive hard-court play over the last six months.

Since losing in the Australian Open final to No. 1 Roger Federer, Safin has gone 6-8 on the hard court.

“I don’t have enough confidence (on the hard court) to beat these guys,” said Safin, who tossed a few racquets during the match

Gold medalists opens with victory

Chilean Nicolas Massu won the singles gold medal at the Athens Olympics, and partnered with Fernando Gonzalez to win the doubles gold medal.

Those were the first gold medals in Chile’s history.

The USTA honored the pair during its opening ceremony at Arthur Ashe Stadium on Monday night. But gold medal or not, Massu wasn’t on one of the tennis center’s show courts for his first match Tuesday.

Instead, he played in the intimate confines of Court 11, much to the delight of the fans who can watch a match there up close and personal. Massu, the No. 10 seed, made quick work of Jose Acasuso, 6-4, 6-0, 6-2.

Myskina credits Yeltsin

Anastasia Myskina, winner of the French Open this year, is the third seed and one of four Russian women seeded in the top 10 at the Open. She gives former Russian premier Boris Yeltsin some credit for promoting tennis in her country. “He bring a lot of money I guess to tennis,” Myskina said after she defeated Ludmila Cervanova, 6-1, 6-0. “He bring sponsors.”

There were a total of 15 Russian women players in the Open compared with five Russian men. The highest-seeded Russian man, Marat Safin, was beaten Tuesday. Asked why the Russian women are doing better, Myskina replied, “You should ask them, not me.” She did it with a smile.

www.tenniscoach.com

Tennis coaches tend to be quite the self promoters, but that doesn’t necessarily make them any different from say, golf coaches. Butch Harmon got a lot of mileage out of being Tiger Woods’ coach. Longtime Southern California tennis coach Robert Lansdorp, who has coached Lindsay Davenport, is now the coach of Maria Sharapova, the new Wimbledon champion. He sat in Sharapova’s friends’ box Tuesday night, advertising himself with a T-shirt bearing his Web site.