Safin's last Wimbledon ends with 1st-round loss

WIMBLEDON, England (AP) - It seemed fitting, somehow, that two-time major champion Marat Safin's always-turbulent relationship with Wimbledon would end this way.

A first-round departure.

Against the unheralded Jesse Levine, a 133rd-ranked qualifier from Boca Raton, Fla., who began Tuesday with an 0-2 tour-level record in 2009.

And with a mangled racket and plenty of kicking and screaming, including a couple of arguments with the chair umpire, then a postmatch parting shot at a line judge Safin called "a little bit too blind."

Safin used to rant about disliking tennis on grass, and he once complained about the high price and low quality of food at the players' restaurant at the All England Club. Well, he doesn't have to worry about any of that again after bowing out in his final Wimbledon with a 6-2, 3-6, 7-6 (4), 6-4 loss to Levine.

After confirming this would be his last appearance at the grass-court Grand Slam tournament - Safin has vowed to retire at season's end - he was asked how he feels about being done with Wimbledon.

"Relieved," the 29-year-old Safin replied. "Pretty much relieved."

He's a former No. 1 player who won the 2000 U.S. Open and 2005 Australian Open, but a series of injuries slowed him recently. Still, Safin came to Wimbledon ranked 24th and seeded 14th, and had to be considered quite a favorite against Levine, who never had defeated anyone ranked better than 67th.

The 21-year-old Levine, who was born in Canada and moved to Florida at age 13, found Tuesday's experience "surreal."

"He's an amazing player, and I'm still kind of feeling weird right now that I just beat Safin, because I've always watched him play on TV," said Levine, who briefly played at the University of Florida before turning pro in 2007. "I just kind of went out there with nothing to lose and played some good tennis."

Levine wasn't the only U.S. qualifier to pull off a surprise Tuesday: 17-year-old Melanie Oudin of Marietta, Ga., won a Grand Slam match for the first time, beating the 29th-seeded woman, Sybille Bammer, 4-6, 6-4, 6-2.

On a day that set a tournament attendance record of 45,955, everywhere you looked around the sun-soaked grounds, it seemed, someone or another from the United States was playing - and, for the most part, losing. No. 6-seeded Andy Roddick did beat Jeremy Chardy of France 6-3, 7-6 (3), 4-6, 6-3 with the help of 21 aces, but six other U.S. men in first-round action all exited the tournament: Robert Kendrick, Robby Ginepri, Bobby Reynolds, Wayne Odesnik, Kevin Kim and Rajeev Ram. American men went 3-2 on Monday, when No. 17 James Blake was the tournament's first seeded player to lose.

Taylor Dent - at Wimbledon for the first time since 2005 after two back operations - stuck around at least until Wednesday, because his match was suspended by darkness.

Twenty-two Grand Slam tournaments have come and gone without an American man taking home the trophy, dating to Roddick's victory at the 2003 U.S. Open, a drought that is the country's longest in the 41-year Open era.

Roddick twice was the runner-up at Wimbledon to Roger Federer, who is tied with Pete Sampras at a record 14 major titles. Still, Roddick doesn't mind if Federer and No. 3 Andy Murray of Britain - who beat Kendrick - are getting most of the attention.

"As far as who's talking about what, I don't really care," Roddick said. "You know, I just want to go out and win matches."

U.S. women have no such drought, thanks to the Williams sisters. Venus Williams, seeking a third consecutive Wimbledon title and sixth overall, beat Stefanie Voegele of Switzerland 6-3, 6-2. Williams' only real stumble came on the fifth point, when she lost her footing and sprawled on Centre Court. A couple of games later, she started a run of 14 consecutive points that put her in control.

"It's grass," she said. "You're going to slip sometimes."

Plenty did, too, including Roddick, Chardy and Kendrick. Even a ballkid skidded to a facedown fall on Centre Court.

Williams was joined in the second round by No. 1-seeded Dinara Safina (Safin's younger sister), 2006 Wimbledon champion Amelie Mauresmo and 2008 French Open champion Ana Ivanovic, who saved two match points. In a match between 18-year-old Caroline Wozniacki and 38-year-old Kimiko Date Krumm, the No. 9-seeded Wozniacki rallied to win 5-7, 6-3, 6-1. Date Krumm's Wimbledon debut came in 1989, a year before Wozniacki was born.

Levine was a teen when Safin burst onto the scene as a brash, big-hitting 20-year-old who knocked off Sampras to win the U.S. Open.

"I really had to ... focus on playing against the ball and not worrying about, 'Oh, wow, I'm playing against Marat Safin on the other side of the court,"' Levine said. "Because then things could have gotten a lot more interesting."

As is his wont, Safin made things interesting enough. In the early going, he broke his racket by spiking it on the court.

Leading 4-3 in the third-set tiebreaker, Safin hit a shot near a line that was ruled out. Afterward, Safin said: "Thanks for the guy who made the call. I want to say hello to him. Too bad that he was a little bit too blind."

In the fourth set, Safin told the chair umpire he could check for chalk on the ball to confirm a call. Rebuffed, Safin added: "So all players are stupid?"

Safin reached at least the semifinals at all four majors, including at Wimbledon last year, but he has been criticized for not living up to the potential stored in his 6-foot-4 frame - about 7 inches taller than Levine.

"In the history of tennis, everybody's an underachiever," Safin said. "Agassi should have been winning, I don't know, 15 Grand Slams. Sampras should have been winning 20 Grand Slams. Federer should be winning - already should have 25."

And what about you, Marat?

"I should probably have (won) a couple of more," he said, "but I'm pretty satisfied with what I did."