On This Day: Safin caps mid-2000 turnaround with exceptional rise to No. 1

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On This Day: Safin caps mid-2000 turnaround with exceptional rise to No. 1

Mercurial star received seven titles in eight months to hit prime spot for the primary time

November 20, 2025

If Marat Safin’s profession usually gave the impression to be outlined by fleeting moments of genius, the 2000 ATP Tour season was when all of it persistently got here collectively for the highly effective right-hander.

Safin received seven of his 15 profession tour-level titles from April to November of that 12 months. Such a burst of extended success was considerably surprising from a 20-year-old who had began simply his third full 12 months on Tour poorly, but Safin’s type proved so sizzling that he rose to turn into the 18th No. 1 in PIF ATP Rankings historical past on twentieth November.

After starting 2000 with 11 defeats in his first 16 matches, Safin headed to the Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell because the World No. 35. Six wins later, he was lifting his second ATP Tour title after a run which included victories in opposition to Prime 10 stars Nicolas Lapentti and Magnus Norman and residential favorite Juan Carlos Ferrero within the championship match.

Safin entered the Prime 20 for the primary time after lifting the trophy in Catalonia. Maybe extra importantly, the success additionally appeared to flick a swap in his head. He added one other clay-court trophy to his assortment one week later in Mallorca after which reached his second ATP Masters 1000 remaining in Hamburg, earlier than lifting his maiden trophy at that degree in Toronto in early August.

In New York in September, Safin dispatched Pete Sampras in straight units with a surprising show to assert his maiden main crown on the US Open. Arduous-court titles in Tashkent and St. Petersburg, and one other Masters 1000 crown on indoor carpet in Paris, accomplished his 2000 title haul. From the beginning of Barcelona in April, Safin racked up a 68-16 report throughout the remainder of the 12 months.

Having risen to No. 2 after the US Open, it was the Paris triumph that proved the clincher for Safin in his pursuit of prime spot. At 20 years and 10 months, he was on the time the youngest participant to succeed in the highest of the PIF ATP Rankings, though that report was quickly overwhelmed by Lleyton Hewitt (in 2001) and later by Carlos Alcaraz (2022).

Coming into the season-ending Nitto ATP Finals (then the Tennis Masters Cup), Safin wanted three match wins to ensure he would end as ATP 12 months-Finish No. 1 introduced by PIF however misplaced to Sampras within the group stage and Agassi within the semi-finals, enabling Gustavo Kuerten to pip him to that honour. Regardless of the disappointing finish, Safin’s cost to No. 1 stays one of the exceptional mid-season turnarounds in ATP historical past, one which Safin later acknowledged even perhaps took himself unexpectedly.

“For me it was very unusual in my expertise reaching No. 1 and being No. 1,” Safin, who twice returned to prime spot in 2001 and spent 9 weeks there general, informed ATPTour.com. “I wasn’t prepared for that as a result of I couldn’t think about only a few months earlier that I’d have the prospect to turn into No. 1. I used to be Prime 50, dropping, taking part in very badly. I underestimated myself… I didn’t consider in myself, and I used to be seeing myself weaker than others, which is unbelievable.”