'Marat Safin in Paris' - Karen Khachanov on his dream Masters match

Karen Khachanov made his ATP Masters 1000 debut seven years ago at the Miami Open and ahead of his 5th appearance, he shared some of his favorite Masters memories.

It has been seven years since Karen Khachanov made his ATP 1000 Masters debut. It was at the Miami Open and to celebrate the occasion he sat down with ATPTour.com to discuss some of his memories. Asked what his favourite Masters host city was he said:

"I would say there are two of them. Paris is a place where I won my Masters 1000 and I have said many times I love to play in France. The atmosphere and energy I get there are amazing and tough to express with words. You feel really pumped there. I would say the other one that I like so much is Madrid. The tournament and the city is really nice."

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When asked about his favorite off-court memories he kept it simply by saying he enjoyed walking with his wife and team through the host cities:

"In Madrid, Monte Carlo and Rome, you can have a nice walk, you can visit some places, museums, and theatres. In general, just to have a walk with your wife or with the team [and] to have a relaxed afternoon is great."

As far as toughest matches go he names his 2018 Paris Masters match against John Isner as his toughest:

"It was in Paris against John Isner [in 2018]. It was in the third round to play [for a place in the] quarter-finals. I won 6-4, 6-7, 7-6. Both of us saved match points… Emotionally, it was one of the toughest matches of my breakthrough in that tournament."

The interview concluded with a question regarding his dream match at a Masters 1000 event to which he replied:

"I would have liked to have played Marat [Safin] in Paris. He won there three times. It was his favourite place and mine too. It would have been a good scenario to have played against him."