For Australian Open [Images] champion Marat Safin [Images] the grasscourt season represents something akin to a chamber of horrors.

His five previous visits to the treacherous lawns of Wimbledon [Images] have been instantly forgettable with two first-round and two second-round defeats.

Only a quarter-final run in 2001, when he lost to eventual champion Goran Ivanisevic, offered any evidence that the combustible Russian had come to terms with the surface.

After losing his head, and the match, against Tommy Robredo in the fourth round of the French Open recently, Safin looked about as enthusiastic as a man facing root-canal treatment when asked about the looming grasscourt grand slam.

"Not many players can play on it (grass). You can try...you can have a good draw," said the deep-thinking resident of Monte Carlo.

"When you don't play a grass-court specialist it can look like you can play tennis but when you're playing somebody good on grass, it's tough.

"It's a mental problem for me, every time I go on grass I cannot move, I feel like I'm going to fall over every single time. The bounces are too low, bad bounces, it's raining all the time...You know, the whole thing makes me go nuts.

"There's only a few people who can play on this thing, and I'm not one of them."

COLOURFUL PERSONALITY

Strange then that less than a fortnight later the Russian reached the final, on grass, in Halle where only world number one Roger Federer [Images], unbeatable on the surface for more than two years, stopped him.

In a sport crying out for colourful personalities, Safin fits the bill perfectly.

Not only does the 25-year-old boast one of the most eye-catching styles in the sport -- a huge serve and effortless power off the ground -- his expressive body language, penchant for racket smashing and glamour-model entourage make him compulsive viewing.

Whatever he might say about grass, there is something about the twinkle in his eye that gives the impression that he is fascinated by the unconventional challenge it represents.

His performance in Halle even suggested he might arrive at Wimbledon with slightly higher expectations than he would like to admit.

"That was my best match ever on grass, I don't know the last time I played such great tennis," Safin said after his narrow defeat by Federer in Halle.

"I hope to do well at Wimbledon, you have to have belief in yourself on grass. I played the best player in the world and I came close to beating him."

Should his knee hold out -- he has a niggling injury that requires surgery -- and if he survives a tough-looking early draw, Safin might get another crack at Federer in the semi-finals.

If that proves the case the burly Russian may well have exorcised his grass-court demons for good.

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