'Mental' Marat plays it cool to see off lacklustre Djokovic

A practice session at Wimbledon's Aorangi Park was coming to an end when a racket flew from one end of the court to the other, narrowly avoiding the decapitation of a trusty hitting partner.

Those watching smiled at each other and nodded in a knowing fashion. 'That'll be Marat Safin,' they all thought, as the Russian came into view. One year he reportedly broke 48 rackets in competitive play.

Marat Safin: 'I haven't won this sort of match for a long time'

'Few  dared  to think, however, that the following day the forgotten man of tennis, remembered only by swooning young women and grateful night-club owners, would summarily dispatch Novak Djokovic, the No 3 seed and arguably the player of the year.

Safin himself barely gave victory consideration. He did not bother to look at the draw beyond his second-round opponent and had already made a booking on the 8.30pm flight back home to Moscow last night.

Such is the mercurial nature of this enigmatic genius (lapsed) and such is the fragility of his resolve that no one, again not least himself, will regard yesterday's stellar 6-4, 7-6 (7-3), 6-2 victory as evidence that he can still be here next week. Since winning the 2005 Australian Open, Safin has not reached the second week in any Grand Slam event. 

All over: the vanquished Djokovic (right) is hugged by Safin after his straight-sets demolition job

His world ranking has been dropping annually to its current 75 - an embarrassingly low level for a former world No 1, the U.S. Open champion of 2000 and the player identified as the likely principal challenger to Roger Federer back at the turn of the millennium.

Safin is still only 28. It used to be that Dinara Safina was known primarily for being Safin's younger sister. With Safina reaching the French Open final last month, it is now more a case of Safin being known as Safina's brother.

Disappointingly, he did not make the Paris match. 'Yeah, she didn't send me the charter. That's why I didn't come.'

Safin's reputation for 'mental instability', as his opponent rather indelicately put it, proceeded him to such an extent that it affected the way the Serb approached the Centre Court match. Fatally, as it transpired, he waited for Safin to self-destruct rather than doing some of his own destroying.

'That was one of the things which went wrong,' said Djokovic after just about his worst performance of 2008. 'I shouldn't just wait for mistakes. I was supposed to go for the shots and play the aggressive style that I always play.

'Maybe, also, I had too much respect for him.' That respect dates back to his days as an aspiring junior and the thrill it must have been for him to practise with a top player. 'We had then - and still have - the same manager,' said Djokovic. 'He was one of my idols.'

Not that he would now give Safin more credit than was due. 'It was mostly me,' said Djokovic, accurately explaining the loss. 'I wasn't doing anything to hurt him. My serve was going on his racket. No angles, no precision whatsoever.' 

Game over: Djokovic feels the pain of his Wimbledon exit

No good, in the final analysis. A double fault to ace comparison of 10 to four illustrates both the errors and lack of penetration. And it was entirely typical of his supine performance that when the end arrived it came via a second serve weakly hitting the top of the net and dropping tamely to the ground.

The win was certainly a timely one for Safin who does a nice line in self-deprecation. He could not remember the last time he had played so well but was unable to rate his display on a scale of one to 10. It had been so long.

'I started to get a little bit desperate because I've been working really hard week after week, practising and putting myself together,' he said.

'And the results are not coming, not coming. You need to be mentally strong to continue to play this game.' Not exactly his strength. Marc Rosset, friend and fellow member of the Bonkers Brigade, once tried to explain the enigma.

'If something goes wrong in his mind, everything goes wrong,' said the Swiss former player. He may play 20 perfect forehands and if the 21st is bad he'll hate himself for it and it turns into a catastrophe.'

Safin had played his opening match this year on Court 11. 'Which is almost in another club,' he said. 'You don't have any challenges there, no Hawk-Eye, the chair umpire may be half sleeping. But you need to get through these matches.'

He could be back in the sticks tomorrow against Italian Andreas Seppi, given the Muscovite's often expressed dislike of grass and his willingness to take pop shots at the All England Club. Last year he railed against the cost of both spaghetti and strawberries.

He was not going to recant now. 'The strawberries are too expensive. It's true,' he said. 'They don't have enough for dessert. It's true.'

But there is now something he likes about Wimbledon. 'Thanks for the people who make the courts slower.' he said. 'They have been getting slower and slower throughout the years. No one is even getting close to the net.'

Tim Henman has been saying that for the past six years.