Drama queen Safin thinks women are "emotional"

Russian tennis star Marat Safin, who just upset Roger Federer in the Australian Open semi-finals, had some straight talk for his sister, WTA player Dinara Safina, who lost to Amelie Mauresmo in three sets in the second round of the Open.

"She has to make a lot of changes to be able to compete with all these kind of players," Safin said, "and to be able to do that, she needs to have a character and she needs to be a little bit of a grown-up woman... She has to grow up, be a little bit responsible for the things that she is doing and the decisions that she is taking. For some reason she cannot make any decisions; she needs somebody to explain her everything."

I do not follow Safina's game, but I certainly have no reason to doubt her brother's frustration over her failure to advance to a spot in the rankings where he thinks she should be, given the quality of her game. My gut feeling is that her brother's words may push Safina to work harder.

It was Safin's words later, in another interview, that were offensive. When asked how Safina had responded to his public chastisement of her, Safin's reply was: "Women are very delicate people so... it takes a little bit of time, you know, for them to calm down and really to think properly because they go with emotions, but then they use the head."

I don't deny the "women are emotional" argument the way some women do. Women are emotional, generally speaking. What angers me about this comment is the assumption that emotional means "delicate" and the presumption that men are not emotional. To hear the "women are emotional" argument from a male athlete is especially irritating, and to hear it from a male tennis player is almost hilarious.

From John McEnroe's barbaric fits of screaming, cursing, and racket-throwing to Ilie Nastastie's biting sarcasm and explosions of temper to Andre Agassi's into-the-stands ball-whacking and chronically foul mouth, male tennis players have shown themselves to be some of the most emotional--and delicate--members of the planet.

And now the irony you've been waiting for: During the 2000 season, Safin smashed 50 rackets during competition, and I don't mean by accident. He is known for screaming louder than Sharapova and burying his head in his hands when he makes errors.

When asked if his mother was accompanying him and Dinara to Melbourne, Safin said "No, she's not. Two women is too much for me."

Probably true.