His goodbyes may not have been as prolonged as those of the Rolling Stones, who embarked on a so-called farewell tour as long ago as 1971, but Marat Safin seems to have been waving nostalgically to crowds for almost as long as he has been smashing rackets.

The long goodbye, however, is finally at an end for a man who, in the public eye at least, has appeared just as much about rock 'n roll as about serve and volley.

This week's Paris Masters is Safin's final farewell, the Russian having announced at the start of the year that 2009 would be his last season. There could hardly be a more appropriate place for the 29-year-old Russian to bid “adieu” rather than “au revoir”.

Safin, who started with a 6-4 4-6 7-6 (7-3) win over Frenchman Thierry Ascione, has won this tournament three times, a feat equalled only by Boris Becker.

Having lost to Andre Agassi in the final on his debut in 1999, Safin went one better a year later by beating Mark Philippoussis in a fifth-set tie-break, swept aside Lleyton Hewitt, then the world No 1, in 2002 and Radek Stepanek in 2004.

It was also here in the Palais des Omnisports de Paris-Bercy, in front of Boris Yeltsin, the former Russian president, that Safin won two singles rubbers to put his country on the road to victory over France in the 2002 Davis Cup final.

The fact, nevertheless, that Safin went into his first-round encounter last night against France's Thierry Ascione having won only three matches in the previous four tournaments here tells you much about his career. Bedevilled by injuries, the Russian has not won a tournament since he claimed his second Grand Slam title at the 2005 Australian Open, having first announced his arrival as a player of outstanding ability with an extraordinary straight-sets victory over Pete Sampras in 98 minutes in the final of the US Open five years earlier.

“I wish I could have won a lot more tournaments, but I got injured every time I played well,” Safin said as he looked back on his career.

“I was making comebacks every single year. That makes it difficult mentally.

“It causes a lot of stress. It's not a lot of fun.”