Dinara Safina : "I wasn't ready for my career to be over"

Dinara Safina last year at the trophy ceremony with Maria Sharapova and Simona Halep

Dinara Safina is now working for the Mutua Madrid Open - where she has played her last professional match in 2011 and which she won in 2009 - and still tries to figure out what tp make of her after career life. It's not easy for the always easy going russian. I had the chance to catch up with her. I've met the same nice, funny, easy to talk to Safina that we've left some years ago.

"How have you ended working with the Madrid tournament ?

My manager owns this tournament, I was in Valencia having some vacation and he called like “what do you think about coming here working for the tournament and helping with the girls” and I’m like “yeah, why not !”. I haven’t been on the Tour for a long time so I was really excited to see everyone again. I accepted straight away. And I still know most of the girls. I’m here to help the relationships between the tournament and the players, when they need them to do some activities. Also helping the players to feel more at home here.

Is it weird not to be playing or has this feeling gone ?

Oh it’s gone and now it’s the opposite : I’m happy to help them, I feel good with helping people. It makes me feel good.

What have you been up to since you retired ?

Lots of things were going on, maybe one day I’d say exactly what happened but basically not much, just living at home, dealing with some health issues. The back is ok but I have some other issues which I’m fighting through and hope sooner or later I’ll go through.

Was the transition difficult from being a top player to be retired cause it wasn’t your decision, your body tookit for you…

That’s not easy because now sometimes I’m like pffff… What to do ? When you plan your retirement then you’re ready mentally but this happened so quickly… I played my last match here, three days later I went to the doctor, closed the door and started to cry. It was over, I had so much pain in my back. It was not easy cause I wasn’t prepared. Years have passed but still it’s not easy cause I can’t exactly find what I would like to do. Sometimes I’m like maybe I can help a player on Tour, to get better. There are so many things in my mind. An other day I’m like maybe I should work with the federation and help the young girls. I want to help somebody but I just don’t know how I can help and if I can really do this. I’m honnestly so afraid that I’m gonna do worse for them ! I have experience but sometimes this desire to help somebody doesn’t work. I’d feel bad I did something wrong. So I don’t know. If somebody would ask I’d consider this.

Do you feel the game has changed since you’ve stopped ?

It’s different… Don’t know if it’s for better or worse. Before it was really competitive inside the Top 10. Before, you’d see the Top 10 in a draw and be like ok nothing will happen to this girl until the quarters. Now you don’t know if those girls are gonna win sometimes. I don’t understand if the level has dropped or that it’s they’re so similar but it’s both a little bit maybe. Before, you were 15 in the world and you’d look at Top 10 and be like pfff so far. But now being Top 10 or 20… I can se the difference between Maria, Serena, Vika and the others. I saw them practice, they’re completely different than the others. Wozniacki and Halep maybe too

You were such a hardworker, do you think young players nowadays work as hard ?

I knew I wasn’t as talented as my brother. Everybody knew it. But I was working hard. And to be good, I needed that. I was ready for sacrifices, I was ready to move away from my home to train in Valencia. I was put on a diet by a nutritionnist, we’ve changed all my diet and it worked, I stopped cramping in third sets and so on. I was ready all these changes to be better. Are the players ready to do this now ? I don’t now, maybe some. Sometimes they don’t think those details are important but at the end of the day it’s making a huge difference and I was the proof of that. Now they think it’s ok when they lose a match : me, the next day of even right after the loss I’d be back on the court. I’d say I’d hit this ball and work on what I missed until I can close my eyes and make it perfectly.

What is your biggest dream now ?
Now I dream of have a family, that's my biggest dream. Have husband and kids and I don’t need anything else."