Life goes up and down for Safin

By Simon Cambers

NEW YORK (Reuters) - When Marat Safin destroyed Pete Sampras to win the U.S. Open title in 2000, it seemed the world order was about to change.

Sampras, who had just won his 13th grand-slam title, was made to look old by the big, strong Russian, in one of the most impressive performances in recent Flushing Meadows history.

Since then, despite a stunning 2005 victory at the Australian Open, Safin has become one of the biggest enigmas in world sport, brilliant on his day but susceptible to mental let-downs and struck by injuries each time it seemed he was about to establish himself again.

Eight years on and a relative veteran at 28, Safin reached the semi-finals at Wimbledon this year and believes he is finally clear of the knee injury that hampered him after that 2005 win in Melbourne.

"The last time I played the U.S. Open normal was back in 2001, when I got to the semi-finals, probably, it was so long ago," former world number one Safin told Reuters in an interview.

"Every time I started to play well I was getting injured, even when I was number one, I got injured with the rib, I couldn't play for two months and my ranking dropped and I lost confidence.

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"But I am getting back again, the results will come eventually. The ranking doesn't really matter, if you get the results it will come back."