Former number one Marat Safin is elected to Russian Parliament – Tennis News
A former world number one, Russian Marat Safin was elected to the 450-seat lower house of the Russian Federal Parliament, the Duma. He is a member of Vladimir Putin’s United Russia party and will represent Nyzhny Novgorod region.
The 31-year-old Russian joined the likes of many Russian sport stars including gymnast Svetlana Khorkina, heavyweight boxer Nikolay Valuev and figure skater Anton Sikharulidze, all of whom are enjoying their career as politicians.
After being elected in the parliament, his friend, also a former world number one, Pete Sampras gave full support to the Russian.
“In 20 years Marat will be the President of Russia!”Bantered Sampras, who made a final showdown at the US Open but lost to Safin. He further added, “Trust me, Marat is going to go a long way. He is very intelligent and articulate
and he’s good with people, and that’s half the battle with being a politician.”
The 2005 Australian Open champion, Safin explained his decision of joining politics”
“I could go and make commercials left and right and pretend like I am a celebrity, but that is not me. I never did this, I never liked it. I had a few months of thinking ‘should I do this or should I not’ but now I am pretty sure
of what I’m doing and I want to do it.”
Star of the ATP Champions Tour, Safin further explained his decision by stating that regardless of both professions being completely different, they have one thing in common and that is that you need to have a character.
Unlike hitting and moving around the courts, the former Russian number one tennis hero will sit in an office wearing a suit all day long. However, he needs to be strong, should know what is wrong and what he wants to do next.
The Moscow native enjoyed a successful tennis career. He reached his career best rank that is number one on November 20th, 2000. The right handed tennis star grabbed a total of fifteen career titles which included two
grand slams (US Open in 2000 and Australian Open) and five ATP Masters 1000 event (Toronto in 2000, Paris in 2000 and 2002, Madrid in 2004 and Paris in 2004). The Russian star also made last four appearances at French Open and Wimbledon Championships and had
a 421-266 all time win-loss record. Along with amazing singles career, Safin grabbed two titles in doubles as well.
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