Kid sister a serious player

NEW YORK - Tolstoy would have loved her. Count Leo Tolstoy, the Russian scribbler, would have loved this US Open, too, because he was one of the first tennis nuts in his country. Had his own tennis court. Played avidly. And, were he here, would be surrounded by strong-armed countrywomen.

Seventeen of them, for Lenin's sake, infiltrating, seeking the US Championship, for which only 15 Americans were eligible (but only two of them with a chance, Venus and Serena).

I think Tolstoy would have singled out 22-year-old Dinara Safina because she has the best story. Kid sister of the 2000 champion, Marat Safin. Shipped out from Moscow at age 12 to Spain. Strange country. Strange language. Knowing no one. Valencia, where the oranges come from - and good tennis players. Following the route of big brother Marat, she fit right in - "It wasn't hard," she says with a shrug - tuned up her game, and became a touring pro.

Mama, Raouza Islanova, a teaching professional, thought it would be character-building for her kids. She didn't want Marat's pals calling him a mama's boy if she continued coaching him. It worked for big brother and for little sister later (so being a 6-footer is "little"?).

"Forever, I'll always be his little sister," she says, leaning forward in her chair, auburn hair pulled back, hazel eyes gleaming. She has a dream "that would be the most amazing thing that can happen."

She means this family double: sister and brother holding majors. Never has happened. Marat has two, Australia 2005, plus the US.

Now is it her turn?

Well, this female US Open looks like a delightful mess that nobody can win. Or anybody. Extraordinarily, the No. 1 ranking, held shakily by Serb Ana Ivanovic, can be grabbed by any one of four others - whoever bags the title: No. 2 Jelena Jankovic, No. 3 Serena Williams, No. 6 Olympic champ Elena Dementieva, or No. 7 Safina. But don't forget No. 8 Venus Williams, ever a contender. (No. 5 Maria Sharapova is hurt. Defender Justine Henin has bugged out, leaving the rest to scrap for her crown.)

Tolstoy would pick Safina, as being much like the heroic Natasha in his "War and Peace," and he would forgive her for being unable to finish that book. Who has?

"But I tried," she says, and did read "Anna Karenina," whose heroine's serve was broken at the end.

As a player who tries, Safina has few equals. And lately she has outdone big brother, he 37 lengths behind at No. 44.

On a beautiful afternoon, the two of them served up a war and peace scenario. Dinara was on first, and felt so peaceful in beating an American 16-year-old, Kristie Ahn, 6-3, 6-4, she couldn't believe it. Usually, she says, she is "very tight, nervous," in starting a major. "It's better that way," she adds. "But I flew straight from China, so somehow slowly I got into this atmosphere."

China meant the Olympics, where she silver-medaled to compatriot Dementieva. For Safina, who delivered a memorable backhand down the line to snatch a match point from Sharapova on the way to the French final, the Beijing defeat was the lone loss in her last 17 starts. A powerful baseliner, she ran up a 15-match streak by winning Los Angeles and the Canadian Open en route to the narrowly lost Olympic final, 3-6, 7-5, 6-3.

Later came the war as big brother cursed court officials while slipping past Floridian Vince Spadea, 3-6, 6-2, 6-3, 4-6, 6-4.

"If my sister does everything opposite me, she will be No. 1 for a long time," said Marat later, with a chuckle. He was No. 1 himself for a while in 2000.

We all know that the irrepressible Headless Horseman, who can laugh at himself, is at times truculent. It so happened that serving at 4-5, deuce, in the fourth set, he was called for a foot fault on the second serve, thus a double fault to set point. He sat down, refused to play, saying naughty things to the umpire and line judge who called it. The referee, Brian Early, appeared, insisted that he play. So they continued. Safin lost the next point, the set. "But I pulled myself together in the fifth," he says.

A plus, instead of sulking: Safin probably disappointed a few customers by not indulging in a specialty: racket obliteration. His long harangue to reporters amounted to, "They say rules are rules . . . stupid rules somebody made in, I don't know, 1850 . . . it's like talking to walls . . . you are supposed to be warned before being called a foot fault."

Wrong. He was issued a warning for audible obscenity (a beauty), and will be fined.

Anyway, Safina says, "the important thing in tennis is terenic - patience. You work so hard and nothing good happens. You have to be patient." She must tell Marat.

"Why so many of us [Russians] here?" she says. "We push each other while we're growing up."

"Sibling rivalry?" she says of big bro, six years the elder. "Never. He helped. If I would behave like a baby on the court, crying, he was always like, 'Come on, you have to grow up. You have to grow up in your mind.' "

She shakes her head, talking of passing him in the rankings. "Nothing changed. It doesn't need results. It's family. Doesn't matter. Jealousy? In our family, doesn't exist."

Did she watch Marat's match? "Oh, no, I get too tight. I don't watch unless I'm out of the tournament."

Tolstoy would have watched, looking for a fiery character he could model after Marat.