Marat Safin interview after winning his first match in hopman cup

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Russian tennis great Marat Safin overcame plenty to give his Russian team, also consisting of his sister, an opening Tie Hyundai Hopman Cup victory.

Safin, a former world No. 1, US and Australian Open winner, has decided that 2009 will be his final year on the Tour and he could have hardly made a more newsworthy beginning to it.

While his younger sister Dinara Safina has been in Perth training hard for the last week, Safin was having his own problems back home in Moscow.

Having been involved in an altercation a week ago which left him with one black eye, one cut eye and an injured thumb, it didn’t stop him beating Italy's Simone Bolelli to seal the Tie for the Russians.

While he contemplated retirement at the end of his 2008 campaign, Safin has decided to have a farewell tour this year and a big factor in that was the chance to play alongside his sister at the Hyundai Hopman Cup.

He might not be willing to reveal what his future holds, but he would about why he has come to the Cup for the fourth time.

"It's probably going to be my last year for sure and I'm moving onto my new life. I have no pressure and will do what I can to make it easy for me to play good tennis. Hopefully I can enjoy it and get some good results," Safin said.

"Leave it up to me (what I do in the future). I don’t want to speculate, but my bosses know about it and want to do it this way. You'll see.

"It's always a pleasure to come here, especially when you have a great companion on your team like my sister. I couldn’t refuse the offer to play with her especially as it's the first time and here, where there's a nice atmosphere, everyone is enjoying it and a lot of people are watching."

As for his incident last week, Safin did reveal his remnants were looking worse days ago and that it came from a fight that he prevailed in. He was delighted to play well still despite that and his late arrival in Perth.

"It was some small problem where I wasn’t in the right place at the right time, let's put it this way," he said.

"Yes, I won the fight. I'm OK now. It happened a week ago but I came out and won my match after not playing for two months, so that was pretty good."

Safin had a massive trip to make from Russia to Perth only landing on Saturday night, before having a light hit on court before being ready to play on Sunday, and to play well with 14 aces pleased him.

"I was struggling a little bit after flying forever and arriving late last night, so I couldn't practice a lot," he said.

"I warmed up a little today and tried to get through my match. It's tough to play your best tennis and it's more difficult to move and serve, so it becomes too complicated to play good tennis."

Taking the pressure off himself with it being his last year could well be a blessing in disguise for the 28-year-old, who is confident of having one of his best years before retiring. That could start at the Australian Open where he's a past winner, but he won't miss the game.

"Not really (in response to being asked if he would miss tennis). I'm OK. I like to play, but also enjoy my life and I'm not really crazy about it," he said.

"I am looking forward to playing well there, and hopefully I can have a good draw. I would prefer to play with somebody who can give me some pace so I can get used to the courts and conditions and then after the third round I will be ready to play a tough one.

"I just want to enjoy it, not have any pressure on myself and I don’t care what the results will be if I'm having fun. It's much easier than when people expect things from you, so hopefully I can have my best results this year without the pressure."