Sign up to The Irish Times Archive (1859 - 2008)My Account »

TENNIS:MARAT SAFIN, widely regarded as one of the most gifted players of his generation, brought down the curtain on a chequered career when he bowed out to US Open champion Juan Martin del Potro 6-4, 5-7, 6-4 in the Paris Masters yesterday.

Safin’s swansong in the second round came against a player whose career resembled his own in many ways. Like the Argentine, Safin won his first major title at the US Open at the same age, nine years ago. Typically, the volatile Russian did not go quietly, criticising fellow former world number one Andre Agassi this week for revealing his past drug use in his autobiography. “He feels guilty? So let him just give back his titles, money, his grand slams,” Safin (29) said of the American.