MADRID — Dinara Safina, formerly the World No. 1 on the WTA Tour, readily admits that watching is significantly more challenging than playing. Despite this, she recently made the decision to return to elite tennis, taking on a coaching position.
Safina might have questioned that decision on Friday in Madrid as Diana Shnaider and her partner were engaged in a tense battle on Court 5 at the Mutua Madrid Open. They ultimately triumphed over Nicole Melichar-Martinez and Liudmila Samsonova in a dramatic 12-10 match tiebreak.
Witnessing Safina squirming and wincing in her seat was difficult. Was she on the verge of a heart attack?
“Almost,” she replied with a shake of her head.
Shnaider echoed the sentiment:
“I can imagine that. I almost had one, too.”
Safina, renowned as one of the premier clay-court players of her era, is back on the red surface, now working with Shnaider, who recently turned 21. Ranked No. 13, Shnaider delivered a flawless 6-0, 6-0 victory against Anastasija Sevastova on Saturday, taking just 44 minutes.
This was Shnaider’s first bagels-and-breadsticks win at the WTA Tour level (she achieved it twice previously in ITF events in Kazakhstan and Turkey). The dominant performance sends her to a Monday Round of 16 match against either World No. 2 Iga Swiatek or No. 31 Linda Noskova.
How did Safina and Shnaider`s paths cross?
Shnaider was coached by Igor Andreev until the end of last season, followed by her father, Maxim, a lawyer, who coached her temporarily. When Shnaider began seeking a new coach earlier this year, her mother, Yulia, reached out to 2004 French Open champion Anastasia Myskina for ideas. Myskina, who is close friends with Safina and a colleague at the sports channel “Bolshe!” – where they talk almost daily – suggested Safina. Yulia soon contacted Safina via text message.
“They asked me if I can come to Dubai, and I said it’s very fast, I cannot change my plans,” Safina explained. “Then with U.S. tournaments [Indian Wells and Miami], I have no visa. So I said, `OK, I’m good for clay-court season.’”
“I spoke on it with my family. For me, it was the perfect timing,” she added.
Shnaider expressed her enjoyment of their practice sessions and spending time together. She highlighted Safina’s extensive experience as a top player as her most valuable asset.
“A lot of mental strength, focusing on the right things,” Shnaider commented. “How to manage emotions better. It’s just small adjustments, where to put the ball better in the court. Stepping in to be more aggressive. Seize opportunities, stepping in, coming to the net.”
“I would say mostly not pushing myself down into negative emotions. If I’m doing a mistake, not to think about it. Finding what I did wrong, finding a solution and keep focused on the next ball. Not to be too harsh on myself,” she elaborated.
Safina finds experiencing tennis from the coach’s perspective intriguing.
“I don’t know if it helps her, doesn’t help — looks like sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn’t,” Safina remarked. “Sometimes she listens, sometimes she doesn’t listen.”
A reporter noted that Shnaider is still only 21 and relatively early in her tour career.
“Not a kid, come on,” Safina countered firmly. “We have to be honest. It’s an adult like this. Slowly, she has to grow up and become a woman to be a little more disciplined.”
Shnaider doesn’t dispute this assessment.
“I’m always listening to her, just sometimes it takes time to do what she’s asking for,” Shnaider said. “I’m never like, ‘Whatever.’”
“I understand what she wants but sometimes it’s just a little bit hard. It’s not like — click — you can just change yourself,” she explained candidly.
Safina retired from professional tennis in 2011 at the young age of 25 due to a chronic back injury.
What has she been doing in the years since?
“Actually,” she said with a sigh, “living life.”
Over the past 14 years, Safina has pursued a variety of interests. She returned to school and earned a law degree. She worked in player relations at tournaments in Madrid, Moscow, and St. Petersburg, and even served as an operations director for an IT company, although the standard office hours didn`t suit her. She also spent time living in New York City and coached Anhelina Kalinina.
For nearly a decade, her biggest personal struggle was an internal battle for self-control.
“I went through a lot of things — I never spoke like loudly about this,” Safina revealed. “I gained a lot of weight and I was struggling with binge eating disorder. I had it for quite a long time.”
“Ups and downs. Depressions, struggling with it. I couldn’t find myself. Slowly, I started to get out of there,” she shared.
That process of recovery began in 2020.
“And now I’m here,” Safina said with a smile.
Just a month ago, Dinara and her brother, Marat Safin, were most widely known as the first and only siblings to simultaneously hold the World No. 1 ranking on their respective tours. Now, both are coaching Top 15 players; Marat recently joined the team of Andrey Rublev.
An interesting parallel: Both coach and player have won an Olympic silver medal. Shnaider earned hers in doubles with Mirra Andreeva last summer in Paris, while Safina won silver in singles at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
The current agreement between Safina and Shnaider extends only through the clay season. They plan to discuss their future plans after Roland Garros.
“We’ll see,” Safina commented. “It’s still to talk about.”
Shnaider seems enthusiastic about their collaboration so far.
“I love how it’s going so far,” she stated. “How she sees my game. What she wants me to improve and get better.”
“By the end of — or maybe before [Roland Garros] — we will sit and talk, maybe agree. Give our thoughts to each other. For me now I’m just enjoying, and I hope she is, too.”
