A little sister's plea

Dinara Safina pleaded with big brother Marat on Tuesday not to quit tennis, insisting that his colourful, rollercoaster career, which has yielded two Gramd Slam titles, is far from over.

Safin, a former world number one, has struggled with form and motivation in recent years and has not added to his career haul of 15 titles since winning a shock Australian Open in 2005.

Since then, the 28-year-old's ranking has slipped and he currently stands at 73 in the world.


"He's retiring every tournament," smiled Safina, the 13th seed, who got her French Open campaign off to a winning start on Tuesday with a 6-1, 6-3 victory over Ukraine's Kateryna Bondarenko.

"But then I see him play and I'm like: 'You play so good. Just keep going'. He's such a good player. In Hamburg he had a good win (over world number 13 Tomas Berdych), so I hope it gives him some confidence.

"He really played good. When you see him play, it's just amazing."

Safin, a semi-finalist here in 2002, was due to face Monaco's Jean-Rene Lisnard in his opening encounter.

(via IOL, photo/AP Photo/Lionel Cirroneau via Yahoo Sports)