Marat Safin claims he's not superstitious, but he does believe in destiny. Lleyton Hewitt is living out his dream, backed by a lot of hard work.
One will have to fall today when fourth-seeded Safat faces No. 3 Hewitt in the first Australian Open singles final to be played at night.
It's a matchup of two of tennis' most emotional personalities. Safin is known for his racket-breaking eruptions of internal frustrations. Hewitt fires himself up with fist pumps and shouts of "Come on!" that electrify the fans who see him as the embodiment of the "Aussie battler," refusing to yield despite seemingly overwhelming odds.
Safin says everything he's been through -- a US Open title and No. 1 ranking in 2000 at age 20, then injuries that dropped him to 86th -- combined to bring him to where he is now, on the brink of his second Grand Slam championship.
He was runnerup here two of the last three years, losing in 2004 to Roger Federer as he showed he was again of the game's elite. Safin then beat top-ranked Federer in their semifinal Thursday, ending his 26-match winning streak.
"I believe in destiny," Safin said Saturday. "I think everything that happened before to me, it had to happen. I really believe in that. I couldn't change it if it was meant to be this way. So it will be just a little bit too stupid to waste opportunity, a third one especially."
The 25-year-old Hewitt started coming to Melbourne Park when he was 7 or 8, watching Ivan Lendl, Tony Roche, Pat Cash and Mats Wilander. He pretended he was in the main draw.
"I probably won it a few thousand times," Hewitt said. "Probably a lot of ways."
At a month short of 16, he became the youngest ever-qualifier at the Australian Open, but had never made it past the fourth round in eight previous trips.
This time, Hewitt said, his preparations began several months ago, with the goal of peaking at just the right time. He looked at the Masters Cup in November as a warmup, a chance to size up the other top players. Some of them took a break for much of December. Hewitt only had a few days off. He wan
"I'm taking a month off after this next match," he said. "That's why I decided to do all my hard work leading into the Australian summer, and basically through December and through the hot period and get used to the conditions and everything, and get my body in as good a shape as possible. I was going to give myself the best possible chance, knowing that I was going to have a rest straight afterwards."
There's not a lot to separate the two men, despite their very different styles. They're 5-5 in head-to-head meetings.
Safin is about power, in his serve and from the baseline, with a little finesse tossed in. He knows he can't wait for the game to come to him.
"He tries to make you play the same game he wants you to play," he said of Hewitt. "And it just doesn't suit me. I have to go with my tactics, just go for it sometimes, risk it, and be aggressive -- be really aggressive."
Hewitt is the classic counter-puncher, zipping from sideline to sideline to retrieve shots that would be winners against most players, then waiting for a mistake or a weak shot to attack.
"He's a huge fighter," Safin said. "He has unbelievable anticipation. He has unbelievable fitness. He knows the game very well. He reads really good the players. Psychologically, he's very stable. So he has more talents than many other players."
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