Has Safin changed his mind about instant replay?

Marat Safin, who was defeated at Indian Wells yesterday, may be a little more welcoming toward the instant replay system set to be used at the NASDAQ 100 Open in Miami next week.

Earlier, he had this to say:

Marat Safin told the Orange County Register's Janice Carr that he isn't buying it. "I am totally against it," said Safin. "I think it will destroy the game. It will slow it down, lose the momentum and the motion of the game. Who was this genius who came up with this stupid idea? Who approved it?" They are looking for solutions on how to save the game, and this is not it," Safin said. "It is bull. This definitely is not the way to help the game."

But in his interview yesterday:

Q. If you can relax in here and think about the match, why can't you let one bad call just go by?

MARAT SAFIN: Well, because, of course, look at the score, 6-4. It's very important to keep your serve. Then it's coming with a call that's basically it's an important moment. It is an important moment. Once you go 1-0, then you calm a little down bit yourself because you lost one set. Then it is starting all over again.

Of course, you have opportunities in the second set. But if one bad call, it's already 1-0 down, everything, it's moving on too fast. These first few games, just keep your serve. One bad call, that's it. 3-Love in two seconds. Then, of course, the guy is starting to be more confident, start to play his game, he doesn't miss any ball, he makes the shots he didn't even make before, the luck is on his side, all these things. All these things start to push on you, you start to put more pressure on yourself. Then, of course, it's a whole thing. It's a mess. It's becoming a mess.

So one call, yeah, but it was a tough one. It was a really important ball for me.

Q. So next week in Miami with the electronic appeal, do you think that will make a big difference?

MARAT SAFIN: These balls could help actually because, really, it's a breakpoint. We'll see.

It is always easy to bash change when you only look at the negative sides of it - the possibility that instantly replay will be misused and interrupt match flow - but overall I think the positives such as what Safin complains about here still far outweigh those negatives.