Warm, sunny weather helped Wimbledon draw a crowd of 45,955, the largest in tournament history. There were plenty of spectators even on the remote courts, and as always, Safin put on a show.
The 29-year-old Russian tossed his racket when mad at himself, and shouted at the umpire when a linesman’s call went against him in the tiebreaker.
“Thanks for the guy who made the call,” Safin said later. “I want to say hello to him. Too bad that he was a little bit too blind today. But anyway, that’s tennis.”
By turns carefree and combustible, Safin has long been labeled an underachiever. He said every player could win more than they do, but conceded his total of two Slam titles — the 2000 US Open and the 2005 Australian Open — could have been more impressive.
“I should probably have won a couple of more, but I’m pretty satisfied with what I did,” he said.
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