Safin draws a blank at last Wimbledon

Mercurial Russian Marat Safin [ Images ] tumbled out of his 10th and final Wimbledon [ Images ] on Tuesday but he had no regrets and cannot wait to clear his head on holiday.

"I need to get out of my brain and start from a new page," he said after an ignominious 6-2, 3-6, 7-6, 6-4 first-round defeat by American qualifier Jesse Levine.

He said what he wanted most was "definitely a huge vacation... I need more than a couple of months just to start all over again from the blank paper".

It was a sad end at Wimbledon for Safin, one of the most talented but temperamental players in the game.

He won the U.S. Open in 2000 with a dazzling defeat of Pete Sampras [ Images ] and made a stunning comeback in 2005 to win the Australian Open [ Images ].

"I should probably have won a couple more but I'm pretty satisfied with what I did," the 29-year-old said."

He will always be remembered for being a fiery volcano who constantly erupted, breaking over 700 rackets on court in sheer frustration.

Safin said he could never bottle up his emotions. "If everything accumulates inside of me, I cannot play," he said.

After all, he argued, Roger Federer [ Images ] "cries after winning and that's a surprising part for me".

Safin, playing on the circuit this year for the last time, was always out of sorts and could never dominate Levine, who beat a top 50 player for the first time in his career.

As the sun set over Court 18, he was most annoyed with the line judges, arguing that a string of crucial calls went against him, especially in the third set tiebreak which he lost 7-4.

Mumbling angrily at himself in Russian, the 14th seed could never get in an effective blow against Levine, a feisty little terrier who kept harrying away at his towering opponent.

But that is not the end of the Safin family era.

His sister Dinara Safina [ Images ], the women's world number one, was asked what made her brother so special.

In a moving tribute, she said "He is honest and he doesn't hide anything. Like he's not a fake. Like he is how he is, on the court, off the court."

She added: "He has this charisma, this humour. You cannot learn this. Either you have it or you don't have it."

A fitting tribute to a heart-on-your-sleeve champion who often found his stunning talent clouded by an explosive temper.