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ROLAND GARROS – Who knows, given how fickle the modern pro tennis player is and how unpredictable this pair is, how long we’ll have Marat Safin around.

Safin, who has been working with his soulmate and protégé (of a sort) Andrey Rublev, during this clay-court season, might be gone tomorrow, now that Rublev has been eliminated from Roland Garros by Jannik Sinner.

Or he might not.

But while Safin here, let’s enjoy just watching him hit the ball.

Still just 45 but retired for more than 15 years now, the Russian can still mash the ball.

He doesn’t move like he did – he’s not been hitting the gym with any regularity from the look of things, and doesn’t look like he cares too much.

But put the ball in his range, and it’s still a thing of beauty.

Here’s what he and Rublev looked like in a practice session before this year’s Roland Garros.

As a coach? Netflix and Chill

You would think, given his … bubbly personality when he played, that Safin would be somewhat similar as a coach.

Nope. Not even close.

Safin the “coach in the box” barely has a pulse.

He pays close attention; he’s not on his phone or anything. But it all just rolls right over him. He never reacts. He looks like he could go take a nap some of the time.

It’s hard to tell what difference Safin makes or could make in Rublev’s professional life on court. Although off the court, as a mentor, the younger Russian (whose angst is well-documented and whose perpetual tennis sorrow is seemingly unresolvable) has said he has helped him quite a bit.

In the end, those of us who appreciated the cut of his tennis jib during his far-too-short career are happy to see him back, in whatever form that takes.