Andy Murray outlasts Juan Martin del Potro to win the Rogers Masters in Montreal
Editor's note: On Aug. 17, Ravi Ubha began unveiling the top 10 reasons to watch the 2009 U.S. Open. Check back each weekday until Aug. 28 as we count down to No. 1.
No. 9: Will Safina validate No. 1 ranking?
Now wouldn't it be something if in his farewell Grand Slam, Marat Safin's sister truly announces herself by winning a big one?
Rarely has so much negative energy surrounded a player who reached two Grand Slam finals and one semi in the first three majors of a campaign. The problem for Dinara Safina, of course, is that the No. 1 ranking seems a little hollow without a Grand Slam title. Everywhere she goes, Safina gets ample reminding, which ticks off Safin more and more.
"I hope she can be No. 1 for a long time so she can prove to everybody that they can go f--- themselves," Safin spewed last week at the Montreal Masters.
The only way Safina wins in New York is if she avoids overwhelming favorite Serena Williams: Safina is 0-4 against Williams in Grand Slams, pocketing a combined 14 games, or under four on average. Staying away from coconuts would help, too. (Safina recently injured her hand trying to open one with a knife.)
Maybe Elena Dementieva, Victoria Azarenka, Svetlana Kuznetsova or Jelena Jankovic can aid Safina by derailing Williams. Or Serena might go dancing in high heels prior to the tournament and get hurt.
There's no chance of Safin producing a magical fortnight at the event he took by storm in 2000, a demolition job of Pete Sampras the conclusion. He can't close out matches anymore and exited the French Open and Wimbledon to less-than-stellar opponents. Safin led the excitable Gael Monfils by a break in the third set in Montreal's opening round, only to fall tamely 6-2.
The best we can hope for is some great shots and a smashed racket or two, preferably in a night encounter. Safin's histrionics surfaced, you might recall, in a five-set win over fellow veteran Vince Spadea last year in Arthur Ashe Stadium.
Ravi Ubha is a London-based journalist. He holds a business degree from McGill University and a journalism diploma from Concordia University, both in Montreal, where he formerly covered baseball and hockey. Ubha is a tennis and soccer contributor to ESPN.com, also featuring in other publications, and does play-by-play in tennis.
Kamakshi Tandon is a freelance writer and tennis junkie who contributes regularly to ESPN. She has also written for Tennis magazine, Reuters and Dow Jones Newswires. Tandon is based in Toronto.
Sandra Harwitt, a graduate of New York University's School of Journalism, covers tennis for various media outlets. Harwitt has been accepted to pursue a part-time master of science in strategic communications at Columbia University. She is based in South Florida and New York.
Matt Wilansky is the tennis editor for ESPN.com. He joined ESPN in 1998 after graduating with a B.A. in communication from the University of Hartford.
