Here's an article on the China Open site about Marat holding his retirement ceremony there, along with the release Main Draw Entry List.

"On the women’s side, the first wild card goes to Belgium player, former world No. 1,Kim Clijsters. On the men’s side Marin Cilic from Croatia, Marat Safin from Russia, and Marcos Baghdatis from Cyprus received the three wild cards. All the past champions at China Open since 2004 are most likely to meet again at China Open.

Marat Safin had confirmed to hold his retirement ceremony at China Open. He expressed his affection and gratitude for China Open in his letter to the Chinese fans: “I had great experience at China Open last time I was there, and to win the champion at China Open is very important moment for me as well. I am very happy I will be back to Beijing this October to participate the first year of newly upgrade China Open, I would like to invite you all come and witness this great tournament with me at Olympic Stadium. And I also like you all be there and spend one of my memorable time with me at China Open.”

“Marat Safin has several options to hold his retirement ceremony after the US Open, including Beijing, Shanghai, Paris and Moscow,” said the player manager of China Open Organizing Committee, “and yet he chose China Open to bid farewell to all his fans around the world.” Safin means a lot to China Open and China Open also witnessed Safin achieving his best accomplishments. To bid farewell at China Open is to show his gratitude for his fans in China and in Asia. Fighting in the same stadium with his sister Safina undoubted means something special for him, noted the manager."

I thought Bercy was the place to say it formally. Well plans change....

EDIT: Everything locked already but people will still have access. :(


Annie, the moderator just put the board in maintenance mode. It's a sad day for everyone of us who's ever been part of the forum. Everything's gonna be locked. I got to post a little before she did. Refreshed after a good five minutes and I'm logged out.

All good things must come to an end, as the last thread on TGFR was named, it was true.

Let's follow Marat till Bercy.
I say put it 'on hold' mode till 2011. Somebody might be coming back. But this is wishful thinking on my behalf.

Truly yours,
Author.

Marat's received a wildcard entry along with Marcos Baghdatis on October 2. Everyone's happy, another tournament for the farewell tour. Dinara's also in. :)

Here's the actual article, released this week. Indulge. Lucky are the people who get to watch him play.



Grand slams stars to shine at China Open
By Guan Xiaomeng (chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2009-09-09 17:24
One year after the Beijing Olympics, the Beijing Olympic Green Tennis Court will again host Rafael Nadal, the Beijing Olympic champion, together with a swarm of his fellow star players. 　　The organizing committee of the China Open tennis tournament announced on Monday all of the regular players confirmed to play at the upcoming Open in early October are ranked within the ATP top 50.

　　Top ten seeds and grand slam winners including Novak Djokovic and Andy Roddick will join the tournament in China and eighteen of the top-30 ranked men's players have also confirmed. All of the 25 regular players are from the top 45. Two of the wildcards have gone to former China Open champions, but lower-ranked, Marat Safin of Russia and Marcos Baghdatis of Cyprus.

Well not 'closing down' really, but the legendary The Guy From Russia website (guyfromrussia.proboards.com) is going to be locked down when the 2009 US Open ends. It will still be open for viewing, but members cannot post and update anything. When the next year arrives the forum will be going into archives. That's the bye-bye part. Although there are still other forums alive, menstennisforums.com, maratsafin.freeforums.org, safinator.com, maratoss.narod.ru (Russian forum with hardly any traffic) and some others, this site has been one of the forefathers of Maratik love. Everyone's been to the site and we will surely miss it very very much, with very colourful people like Anna, Lau, Ily, Annette, Lena, Mary, Tinuviel, Justsafin, Annie, Dina, and so much more...

The administration's decision cannot be appealed... And by the time you have read this, it's already closed.

This site has a plan is to make the information in TGFR still available to other people, even though we all know not many of them will be interested in a retired tennis player, but still, this is our much-loved Marat Safin. And LOVE NEVER DIES. Davai Marat!

I cannot promise to deliver! :) First I will have to ask the administrators and moderators if such thing can be done. :)

Thanks :)