This was the last Grand Slam which was not won by one of the Big Four since the 2005 Australian Open (which was won by Marat Safin), until Stanislas Wawrinka won the 2014 Australian Open.
Yevgeny Kafelnikov defended his "friend", Marat Safin refused to discuss a topic that was "not his problem" while Anna Kournikova commented "I have heard of this man. But I don't think I should talk about it. I am Russian and I will have to go back there".
Marat Safin | Marat/Sade | Jean-Paul Marat | Marat | Allan Marat | The Death of Marat | Marat Gelman | Marat Gatin |
The singles line up featured World No. 1, US Open, Canada and Paris Masters champion Marat Safin, Sydney Olympics gold medalist and Moscow champion Yevgeny Kafelnikov and Washington and Toulouse champion Àlex Corretja.
The singles field was headlined by World No. 1, US Open, Canada and Paris Masters champion Marat Safin, ATP No. 7, Sydney Olympics gold medalist, Moscow and two-time Milan champion Yevgeny Kafelnikov and Auckland champion Dominik Hrbatý.
Also competing in the field were Australian Open titlist Marat Safin, 2004 French Open winner Guillermo Coria, Tim Henman, Carlos Moyá and Gastón Gaudio.
However, Federer failed to make the final at the other two Majors, losing in the semifinals of the Australian Open to Marat Safin and the French Open to Rafael Nadal.
In 2011, the Team Kazakhstan involved a famous Spanish academy the Tennis Val which trained Marat Safin, Dinara Safina, Igor Andreev, David Ferrer.