The mercurial and charismatic Russian wrapped up his colorful career Wednesday at the Paris Masters, falling in the second round to Juan Martin del Potro— a towering and fleet player, who, not unlike Safin nine years ago, stormed to the U.S. Open title as a 20-year-old upstart.

The 65th-ranked Safin fell to No. 5 del Potro 6-4, 5-7, 6-4.

"It's a loss to the game because he is a player that understood, intentional or not, the entertainment value of the game," said Tennis Channel commentator Justin Gimelstob.

Safin, 29, reached No. 1, won 15 titles, helped Russia to a pair of Davis Cup championships and captured two majors at the 2000 U.S. Open and 2005 Australian Open. With his younger sister, Dinara Safina, the two became the only siblings in tennis history to both rank No. 1 in singles.

But the 6-4 Muscovite will be remembered more for the originality and antics that accompanied his fluid, powerful game, which redefined the notion that men of his size would be encumbered by mobility issues. Safin moved with precision and grace.

The Moscow native burst on the scene in 2000, winning seven titles — nearly half of his career total — and pummeling Pete Sampras in straight sets at the U.S Open final.

Safin called his win in New York the match of his life, but the impact was lost on him.

"I never really understood what happened," he said recently.

More of the same was expected, but Safin, who reached the semifinals of all four majors, never dominated the men's game and became as much a puzzle as a show-stopping crowd favorite in the years that followed.

"He made it look very easy at a young age, but it wasn't as easy to him as it looked to others," Gimelstob said.

It was his triumph at Melbourne in 2005 after losing two pervious Australian Open finals and carrying the label of underachieving uber-talent that provided more lasting fulfillment. He saved a match point to beat Roger Federer in five thrilling sets in the semifinals before besting hometown favorite Lleyton Hewitt in the final.

"It was more satisfying, I guess," Safin said at this year's U.S. Open. "It was very important for me to win the second one."

Winning or losing, Safin was never tedious. He would come to be defined as much by his tortured on-court personality as his playboy persona off it.

The unpredictable Russian often showed up at matches with a bevy of blonds in his box and once gleefully yanked down his shorts at the French Open after a brilliant drop shot winner. He estimated smashing more than 700 rackets in his career.

When injuries or burnout took his focus away from tennis in the latter part of his career, Safin resorted to fishing or Himalayan mountain climbs to revive his body and mind.

Though his last tournament win came at Melbourne almost five years ago, Safin could occasionally summon his brilliance, as he did by reaching the Wimbledon semifinals in 2008.

To some fans, his humor and fury was endearing and impossible to resist. Others saw him as wasteful, tact-less and self-indulgent. Like rubberneckers at a car wreck, few could look away.

Dogged by questions of "what if," Safin seemed to bask in his contradictions. According to compatriot Svetlana Kuznetsova, the Russian psyche is equipped to process the perceived gap between talent and success.

"Once I asked Marat this question, and I loved his answer," Kuznetsova, the reigning Roland Garros champ, told a small group of reporters at the U.S. Open. "Maybe it's not good for press, but he just says, 'If grandma would have balls, she would be a grandpa.' It's an expression we say it in Russian: If? What would happen if? But If didn't happen."

Outspoken to the end, Safin criticized Andre Agassi this week for his past drug use and lies to authorities, which the American revealed in his new autobiography, Open.

"He feels guilty? So let him just give back his titles, money, his grand slams," Safin said of the eight-time major winner Agassi.

Wednesday, Safin added: "I'm not writing a book, no chance. All my memories, all my secrets will stay with me."

Enlarge By Torsten Blackwood, AFP Marat Safin of Russia slams his racket onto the court, breaking it, during a match at the 2005 Australian Open in Melbourne. Safin, whose career came to and end Wednesday, says he broke more than 700 rackets during his career.