Tired Safin looks forward to next year

An exhausted Marat Safin put a lid on a below-par season after a straight sets defeat in the third round of the Paris Masters Series on Thursday but warned he would return a better player next year.

The title-holder's 6-4 6-4 defeat to unseeded Dutchman Sjeng Schalken, in front of a sparse crowd on Court One, was an apt way to sum up the year that has followed his 2000 U.S. Open victory.

The 21-year-old Russian was a shadow of the player that won on Centre Court at Bercy a year ago.

Safin had come back into form in time to win at home in St Petersburg last week but he admitted the effort had eaten up what was left of his energy.

"Today I couldn't put the ball inside the court. Today, I was just dead.

"Everything was just mad. I couldn't. Mentally I'm tired. That's the thing," he said.

He said his win in his homeland had taken its toll.

"Too many people, too much going on around us. I just couldn't anymore, I just couldn't handle it."

A clear improvement in his form in recent weeks gave Safin an outside chance of taking the last spot for the Masters Cup in Sydney on November 12, but he said he was relieved not to be going.

FUTURE

"This year, I couldn't make the Masters anyway because (Frenchman Sebastien) Grosjean has been playing too well. I had no chance," he said.

"It's okay that I'm not going to Sydney. Because I don't want to go number eight, the last one to catch the train. For me it doesn't make sense."

Before going on holiday, the Russian said he would have a talk with former world number one Mats Wilander, who has coached him this season.

There had been rumours that the two might part because the Swede did not have enough time to give to training Safin.

"We have to discuss things for next year and all these things. Today or tomorrow I will know my future," he said.

"I would like to improve something. I think we both know, so that's why it's important to sit and talk openly."

Hampered by injury at the beginning of the season, Safin said he aimed to feature regularly among the top five players in the world next season if he was fit enough.

"It is not the goal for me to stay number 10, number seven or even number six. For me the goal is to be in top five," he said. "Otherwise it's not interesting for me.

"I think it'll be alright if I start the year well. I think I have a big chance to be in the top three."