Russian tennis icon Marat Safin has been elected into the lower house of the Russian Parliament - the State Duma - as a member of the ruling United Russia Party, local media reported. The 31-year-old 2000 US Open and 2005 Australian Open champion won the parliamentary elections in the region of Nizhny Novgorod - situated 500 kilometres from Moscow.
"I thought for a long time before deciding to go into politics," said the former world number one. "Of course I could pose in fashion commercials showing myself as a high society star but it's definitely not my lifestyle. "Politics - it's a completely new life. It's a new way of thinking, new way of acting, which has no relation either to tennis or sports in general."