Senior Salutes: Safanov, Radnor tennis team forced to stay one step short
Many athletes are left with tales of lament over what could have been in the spring of 2020. Few have quite so convincing a case as Radnor tennis player Max Safanov.
Last spring looked like the start of something very special for the junior. With sophomore Garrett Spillerman, Safanov earned a place in the PIAA Class 3A doubles tournament, even winning a match in Hershey, a three-set upset of District 10 champion Cathedral Prep, this by the fourth-seeded duo out of District 1.
As a team, Radnor held the same seeding in the team tournament. But the Raiders went on an improbable run to the state final, mowing down three district champions before falling to Great Valley in the final.
It seemed like a springboard for the Raiders, and for Safanov in particular. But in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic, all those hopes were dashed.
“It’s very disappointing, obviously, because my junior year, I was playing probably some of the better tennis of my high school seasons and in general from past years,” Safanov said. “I was excited to play with the team and get as far as possible, get into states again. I was feeling like I could’ve taken down some of the bigger guys and tried to get to singles states, because I haven’t been able to get to singles states.”
READ: Senior Salutes: Boys Tennis
The way last spring ended, you wouldn’t doubt Safanov’s optimism. The run through the team tournament in particular was special. Radnor eked out 3-2 wins over District 3 champion (and de facto host) Hershey and District 10’s Cathedral Prep, Safanov contributing a three-set win to the former. In the semifinal against Unionville, the District 1 champ and reigning state champ, Safanov’s 6-2, 7-6 (4) win over Tristan Bradley at first singles marked the Raiders’ only singles point, just enough to augment a pair of doubles wins on the way to a 3-2 victory and the final.
It didn’t end the way Safanov wanted, with District 1 runner-up Great Valley sweeping out singles to claim the title, 3-1. But none of the Raiders expected that to be the end of the story.
“We were left as the runner-up, so this year I was hoping that we could get further in the season and get a victory for the school and for the team,” Safanov said. He added that he’d had his sights set on all three postseason tournaments. He and Spillerman could chase doubles again, a year older and more improved.
Safanov, the fifth seed in District 1 singles last year, fell in the quarterfinals and missed out on the final states berth courtesy of fourth-seeded Ethan Bradley of Unionville in a three-setter. With 17 seniors on the Raiders’ roster, the deck was loaded to push for a team tournament berth.
“It’s great because every year you’re seeing the same guys and you’re building more connections with guys and you’re finding out more about them,” Safanov said. “And the more comfortable you are around your team, the better your guys play as one and the more your guys help each other and support each other.”
But Safanov and his teammates never got a chance to test those hopes.
Tennis is Safanov’s first sporting love. Both of his parents hail from Moscow, and his Russian heritage — his full name is Maximilian — is very important to him. Max was born in Cincinnati, and when the family moved to the Philadelphia area, he tried his hand at all manner of sports.
Tennis was the only one that stuck.
“My dad was always interested in tennis,” Safanov said. “He would always watch tennis on TV when he was younger. He loved Boris Becker, Bjorn Borg, all those kinds of guys, but he never played it himself. So when I came along, he signed me up for basketball, soccer, tennis, all these sports. He played basketball and soccer. But I wasn’t as good and I didn’t have the same motivation to play them. But then I played tennis and I had the most talent in that and as soon as I picked up a racquet, I was able to play well, I guess.”
It’s not the end of Safanov’s tennis journey. He’s been able to get his game back in the last few weeks, playing at a friend’s home court. He hopes the pandemic relents to allow him to enter men’s tournaments this summer as a tune-up for college, where he’ll play at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York.
He hopes one silver lining of the spring tumult is the expedited connection with his new RPI mates.
“We had a team Zoom call a few days ago with all the team and the freshmen,” he said. “We discussed everything — what the plans are, what he knows. And I have a group chat with them as well and they’ve talked about what they do in their spare times and their schedules and how they work out, run, do weights, all that stuff with each other. So it’s cool to know what they do and how they’re going through it.”
