Dinara Safina says she didn’t think of her as the best even when she was ranked at No. 1 and always thought that was the right approach since Rafael Nadal had a similar attitude.
After climbing up to the top spot on April 20th, 2009, the former Russian tennis star spent 26 weeks in total as the top-ranked player in the game. While achieving the No. 1 ranking was undoubtedly a major success, she also finished with one a bit negative record after being only one of the three WTA players to reach the top spot but never win a Grand Slam title.
During her career – which was stopped at just 25 due to a very serious back injury – Safina made three Major finals and ended on the losing side each time.
And after the Russian lost back-to-back French Open finals in 2008 and 2009 and also lost the 2009 Australian Open final, Serena Williams shaded the Russian by saying: “I’d rather definitely be No. 2 and hold three Grand Slams in the past year than be No. 1 and not have any.”
Safina: I didn’t have Williams’ ‘completely different’ mentality, I was more like humble Nadal
“I didn’t have this feeling that I’m the best and I’ll beat everyone now. I basically had an adequate attitude and understood that if I didn’t continue to work, I would quickly lose this position in the ranking. Serena, of course, always said that she was the best – but that’s a completely different mentality,” Safina told Sports.ru when asked if she considered herself the best while sitting at No. 1.
“And even Nadal, being the number one tennis player and winning Grand Slams, never said in an interview that he was the best. On the contrary, about any opponent: he plays so well and if I don’t show my best tennis, I’ll lose. I am more inclined to this approach.”
If not for an unfortunate injury, Safina would have probably continued being a strong force for at least a couple of more years and maybe wouldn’t finish her career without a Major title.
Tennis World USA