Tennis: London’s Calling, but Can Nikolay Davydenko Respond?

By
at Internationaled.org

Published: October 7, 2010

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Tennis can be a cruel mistress. Just ask Nikolay Davydenko.

This time last year, the quiet Russian was hitting a hot streak through the Asian swing. He had taken out Gael Monfils, Robin Soderling, and Fernando Verdasco on his way to the Kuala Lumpur title.

Then he won the Shanghai Masters, ripping apart the games of the two best players in the tournament: Novak Djokovic in the semis and Rafael Nadal in the final.

That won him a place in the World Tour Finals for the fifth successive year, where he defeated Rafael Nadal in the round-robin stage and earned his first win in 13 attempts over Roger Federer in the semi-finals.

He went on to win what was his 19th—and biggest—title from 24 finals, and the tennis spotlight at last shone on one of the most neglected talents on the men’s tour.

The serious, hard-working, slight man who shunned the life of Miami or Dubai for his home city of Volgograd, and who longed for the kind of support he saw lavished on his charismatic compatriot, Marat Safin, finally came out of his shell to enjoy the plaudits.

Riding a wave of confidence, his successes continued in 2010. He again defeated the world's top two players to win in Doha with some of the best tennis of his career.



In the first set of his semi-final against Federer, he put all 27 first serves into play en route to a 6-4, 6-4 win. In the final, he fought back from match points down against a rampant Nadal.

By now, there was even talk that maybe Davydenko could go all the way to his first Grand Slam title in Melbourne and, for a while, the dream looked possible.

He sailed through the first three rounds with ease but then hit the buffers in the shape of Verdasco. The Spaniard meted out the same treatment that he’d handed Nadal in 2009 and kept Davydenko on court through four hours and five sets of exacting tennis.

The Russian sur...
Article Source: Bleacher Report - Tennis

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