Nikolay Davydenko
US$ 16,186,480
| |
Singles | |
---|---|
Career record | 482–329 (59.4%) |
Career titles | 21 |
Highest ranking | No. 3 (6 November 2006) |
Grand Slam singles results | |
2005) | |
Team competitions | |
Davis Cup | W (2006) |
Last updated on: 29 September 2014. |
Nikolay Vladimirovich Davydenko (Russian: Никола́й Влади́мирович Давыде́нко
Personal life
Nikolay was born on June 2, 1981, in Sievierodonetsk, at that time Severodonetsk, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union, in the family of Vladimir and Tatiana Davydenko. He started playing tennis at the age of 7 with his brother Eduard, nine years his senior. At the age of 11, he left his hometown for the Russian city of Volgograd. The initiator of the departure was his brother Eduard who worked as a children's tennis coach in Volgograd at that time. He motivated his brother's move by the fact Nikolay's professional growth at home was impossible. Four years later, in 1996, the brothers decided to move to Salmtal, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany for the same reasons.[3]
I had been living in Russia for four years, constantly training under the guidance of Eduard who wasn't giving me any respite. Then we left for Germany. An old acquaintance of ours was living there and he has convinced my brother it would be better for me. In [old] Europe, I could play more tournaments and make more money than in Russia.[4]
The brothers had lived in Germany for three years and then applied for German citizenship but the
He and his wife Irina, a former model (m. 2006), have three children, an older daughter named Ekaterina (born 2012) and two sons — Konstantin (b. 2015) and Dmitry (b. 2017). His nephew Philipp is a former professional tennis player and ATP/WTA coach. Davydenko speaks Russian as a native language, German as his second one, and English.[3][7][8]
Tennis career
Early career
Davydenko started playing at the age of seven with his brother, Eduard. During his junior tennis years, he moved to Salmtal, Germany with Eduard to further improve and participate in more tournaments.
Davydenko turned professional in 1999. In 2000, he played mainly on the Futures Tour, where he captured one title and reached three finals. He made his ATP debut at Amsterdam, reaching the semifinal. Later in August, he won his first Challenger title in Mönchengladbach.
2001–2003
Davydenko made his Grand Slam debut in 2001 at the
In 2002, Davydenko continued to play on both the ATP Tour and in Challenger events. It was a steady year with quarterfinal appearances in Båstad and Vienna. During the year, he captured his fourth Challenger title in Szczecin.
Davydenko made huge strides on the ATP Tour in 2003. He opened the season with his first ATP title in
2004: Breakthrough
His progress continued in 2004, capturing two more titles for the second consecutive year. After a slow start to season, a quarterfinal in the
2005–2009: Peak years
2005
In 2005, he began the season by reaching the quarterfinals for the first time in a
Davydenko lost in the semifinals of the 2005 French Open to
2006
After his rapid rise into the top 5 in 2005, Davydenko continued to stay in the top 5 for 2006. He repeated his quarterfinal appearance at the Australian Open, losing to
2007
2007 started with another quarterfinal appearance at the Australian Open for the third consecutive year. He was slow to find his form in the
2008
Davydenko started 2008 at the
Davydenko began the European clay-court season with a final appearance in his next tournament, the Estoril Open in Portugal, where he met world no. 1, Roger Federer in the final. In the second set of the final, while trailing Federer, 6–7, 2–1, Davydenko retired with a left leg injury. He then reached the semifinals of the Monte Carlo Masters. He won his thirteenth career title in Pöertschach, defeating Juan Mónaco, 6–2, 2–6, 6–2. After a disappointing French Open, Davydenko went on to win another title, this time in Warsaw, defeating Tommy Robredo, 6–3, 6–3, in the final. Appearing at the 2008 Summer Olympics, Davydenko's stay in Beijing was brief; despite being seeded fourth at the Games, he would be upset by Paul-Henri Mathieu in the second round. He did not win back-to-back matches until the US Open. At the Open, he lost in the fourth round to qualifier Gilles Müller, 4–6, 6–4, 3–6, 6–7, breaking his streak of two straight semifinals.
Davydenko reached the semifinals at the
2009
Davydenko started the year at an exhibition in Abu Dhabi, which featured six of the world's best players. Davydenko defeated Andy Roddick, 6–4, 6–4, before being defeated by top seed Rafael Nadal, 6–2, 6–3.
His first tour tournament was in Chennai, India, where he was the top seed. He defeated Daniel Köllerer in straight sets, but was forced to withdraw before his second-round match against Lukáš Dlouhý because of a left heel injury. This injury subsequently forced Davydenko to withdraw from the Australian Open. In Rotterdam, he was defeated in the second round by Julien Benneteau. The injury he sustained in Chennai earlier in the year returned, forcing Davydenko to withdraw from the 1000 Series tournaments in Indian Wells and Miami. This caused his ranking to fall from no. 5 to no. 9 by April 6.
Davydenko returned to the tour after a two-month absence. In Monte Carlo, he defeated Ivo Karlović and David Nalbandian, before being eliminated by Andy Murray in the quarterfinals, 6–7, 4–6. In Barcelona, he posted back-to-back three-set wins over Feliciano López and Radek Štěpánek. He was ousted by world no. 1 Rafael Nadal in the semifinals, 3–6, 2–6. Despite his run in Barcelona, his ranking slipped out of the top 10 for the first time since May 23, 2005.
Davydenko was upset in the early rounds in
On grass, Davydenko advanced to the third round at
He won his third title of the year at the 2009 Malaysian Open by beating Gaël Monfils, 6–3, 6–3, in the quarterfinals, Robin Söderling, 1–6, 7–6, 6–2, in the semifinals, and Fernando Verdasco, 6–4, 7–5, in the final. Following his triumph in Malaysia, he competed in the 2009 China Open, losing in the quarterfinals to eventual runner-up Marin Čilić, 4–6, 4–6. At the Shanghai Masters 1000 event, he defeated three seeded players en route to the final, tenth seed Fernando González, thirteenth seed Radek Štěpánek, and second seed Novak Djokovic. He upset Djokovic in the semifinals, 4–6, 6–4, 7–6. In the final, he played Rafael Nadal and again won in an upset, 7–6, 6–3.
At the
Davydenko finished the year ranked no. 6 in world and in the top 10 for the fifth consecutive year.
2010: Wrist injury
Davydenko started the year at the exhibition event in
Davydenko then went to Rotterdam to play in the
At the 2010 BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells, Davydenko defeated Latvia's Ernests Gulbis. Before his third-round match with Viktor Troicki of Serbia, he withdrew due to a fractured wrist.[12] According to Davydenko, his first MRI made in the Netherlands didn't allow to determine the fracture due to an inflammation, and thus it was diagnosed only in the US.[13] Davydenko returned to the grass court in Halle,[14] after missing the 2010 French Open. In his first match back, he beat local player Simon Greul, 7–6, 6–0. He played despite his doctor's advising him against playing the tournament.[15] However, he lost in the next round to Benjamin Becker, 3–6, 4–6.
He then fell in the second round of
2011–2014 : Decline
2011
2011 saw a decline in Davydenko's form. His first appearance was in the
Then, at the 2011 BMW Open tournament, he started slowly but progressively found some good form, which allowed him to eventually win the final, 6–3, 3–6, 6–1, against Florian Mayer. This was his 21st ATP title, and it meant that he had won at least one ATP-tour title for nine straight years and returned him back into the top 30 in the rankings. This was, however, his only final of the year and he failed to progress past the third round in any Grand Slam or Masters tournament, although his defeat at the US Open, came to world number one Novak Djokovic, 3–6, 4–6, 2–6, after victories in the first two rounds against Ivan Dodig and Potito Starace.
2012
Davydenko lost in the first round of the Australian Open to Flavio Cipolla, 4–6, 6–4, 6–3, 2–6, 1–6, and the first round of Roland Garros, to Andreas Seppi. He played World No. 4, Andy Murray, in the first round of the 2012 Wimbledon Championships, and was defeated, 1–6, 1–6, 4–6.[16] Davydenko did slightly better at the US Open, winning his first-round match against Argentinian Guido Pella but losing in the second round to local Mardy Fish in five sets. The collective results represented Davydenko's worst performance at the Grand Slams in a single year.
Examining the year overall, Davydenko started poorly with a first-round loss in
In July 2012 Davydenko represented the
Davydenko's final tournament appearance of 2012 was the indoor in
2013
Davydenko started his 2013 season by reaching the finals of the Qatar ExxonMobil Open in January after defeating Spain's David Ferrer (then ranked 5 in the world) in the semifinals. He then took on Richard Gasquet, the world number 10, in the final, eventually losing in 3 sets (3-6, 7-6 (4), 6-3). He would later appear at the French Open, reaching the third round before being knocked out by Gasquet in straight sets (4-6, 4-6, 3-6)
He ended the year in rank No. 53.
2014: Retirement
In the 2014 season, Davydenko failed to win consecutively. He lost to Daniel Brands in the first round of the Qatar Open. He was beaten by
Davydenko began his clay court season with a first round loss to
Playing style
Davydenko employed an offensive baseline game, using deep and penetrating groundstrokes on both wings. His groundstrokes were technically efficient on both forehand and backhand. His tremendous footspeed and anticipation enabled him to hit the ball early which caught opponents out of position and allowed him to dictate the play, somewhat similar to former
Davydenko's main weaknesses were his volleys, and his occasional inability to close out matches. His volleys were not as consistent as his groundstrokes, though he did have one of the best swinging volleys on tour. Many tennis analysts also criticized Davydenko for lacking variation in his game due to the fact that he mainly played from the baseline with his consistent groundstrokes. In the later years of his career, he varied his game by employing the slice and moving into the net more often. Davydenko's difficulty closing matches lost him numerous important matches after holding the lead. This was evident during the 2006
Equipment
Beginning mid-2010, he began using Dunlop Sport racquets and was using the Dunlop Biomimetic 200 Plus. However, in the beginning of 2012, he stopped the contract with Dunlop and returned to using the Prince Ozone Pro Tour.
At the 2014 BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells California, Davydenko was playing with a Babolat AeroPro Drive GT.
Davydenko wore Asics shoes and clothing towards the end of his career.[21] His previous brand was Airness.[22]
Controversies
In January 2007, Davydenko was fined AU$10,000 and apologised to Sydney International organisers after criticising the tournament for being "too small" and withdrawing from the tournament due to injury.[23]
The ATP launched a match fixing investigation of Davydenko's match against Martín Vassallo Argüello in Sopot of 2 August 2007, after several large bets were placed at an online British gambling company, Betfair, in Argüello's favour after Davydenko had won the first set 6–2. Davydenko withdrew from the match during the third set with a foot injury.[24] Although Davydenko had suffered three first-round defeats in his last three tournaments, was injured in an earlier-round match, and showed signs of injury in the second set,[25] it did not make sense to Betfair that such a heavy betting volume would go in Argüello's direction at that point of time in the match. Per its agreement with the ATP, Betfair notified the Tour.[26][27] It has since been revealed that nine people based in Russia had bet US$1.5M on Davydenko losing while two unknown people would gain US$6M from the loss.[28][29] A total of $7M was wagered on the match, ten times the usual amount.[30] Due to these irregularities, all bets were voided. On September 11, 2008, Davydenko, along with Argüello, were cleared of any involvement in match-fixing. The inquiry, which lasted over a year, was the longest ever held into match-fixing in tennis.[30]
Further controversy also surrounded Davydenko after one of his matches at St. Petersburg Open in October 2007. During his 6–1, 5–7, 1–6 defeat by Marin Čilić, he was given a code violation by umpire Jean-Philippe Dercq for not giving his best effort. He was later fined $2000 by the ATP, but the fine was rescinded upon appeal.[31] The following week, he lost 2–6, 2–6 to Marcos Baghdatis at the Paris Masters. This generated some controversy, as Davydenko was cautioned by the umpire to do his best during the match.[32]
Career statistics
Grand Slam tournament performance timeline
W | F | SF | QF | #R | RR | Q# | DNQ | A | NH |
Tournament | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | SR | W–L | Win % |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Australian Open | A | 2R
|
1R
|
1R
|
2R
|
QF
|
QF
|
QF
|
4R
|
A | QF
|
1R
|
1R
|
2R
|
2R
|
0 / 13 | 23–13 | 63.89 |
French Open | A | 2R
|
2R
|
2R
|
1R
|
SF
|
QF
|
SF
|
3R
|
QF
|
A | 2R
|
1R
|
3R
|
1R
|
0 / 13 | 26–13 | 68.42 |
Wimbledon | A | A | 1R
|
1R
|
1R
|
2R
|
1R
|
4R
|
1R
|
3R
|
2R
|
1R
|
1R
|
A | A | 0 / 11 | 7–11 | 41.18 |
US Open | A | 1R
|
2R
|
2R
|
3R
|
2R
|
SF
|
SF
|
4R
|
4R
|
2R
|
3R
|
2R
|
2R
|
A | 0 / 13 | 26–13 | 66.67 |
Win–loss | 0–0 | 2–3 | 2–4 | 2–4 | 3–4 | 11–4 | 13–4 | 17–4 | 8–4 | 9–3 | 6–3 | 3–4 | 1–4 | 4–3 | 1–2 | 0 / 50 | 82–50 | 63.28 |
Year-end championship finals
Singles: 2 (1 title, 1 runner-up)
Result | Date | Tournament | Surface | Opponent | Score |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Loss | 2008 | Shanghai |
Hard (i) | Novak Djokovic | 1–6, 5–7 |
Win | 2009 | London |
Hard (i) | Juan Martín del Potro | 6–3, 6–4 |
See also
References
- ^ http://www.protennislive.com/posting/ramr/career_prize.pdf [bare URL PDF]
- ^ a b Российский теннисист Николай Давыденко официально завершил спортивную карьеру. itar-tass.com. 15 October 2014
- ^ a b "Nikolay Davydenko — Encyclopedia". tass.ru (in Russian). TASS. Retrieved 23 September 2021.
- ^ "Nikolay Davydenko". lenta.ru (in Russian). Retrieved 23 September 2021.
- ^ "Davydenko applies for Austrian citizenship". International Herald Tribune. 22 May 2007. Retrieved 9 February 2008.
- ^ "Николай Давыденко рассказал, что мог получить австрийское гражданство" [Nikolay Davydenko on how he could get Austrian citizenship]. eurosport.ru. Eurosport. 29 November 2019. Retrieved 23 September 2021.
- ^ "Who we are". davydenko-tennisacademy.com. Davydenko Tennis Academy. Retrieved 23 September 2021.
- ^ "Давыденко: "Мои понты — это дети. Время, когда у меня были "Мерседесы" и "БМВ", прошло"" [Davydenko: “My show-offs are children. The time I had Mercedes and BMW [as show-offs] is over. "]. sport-express.ru (in Russian). Sport Express. 25 November 2020. Retrieved 23 September 2021.
- ^ "Davydenko thrilled to join greats". BBC Sport. 2009-11-29. Retrieved 2009-11-30.
- ^ "Nikolay Davydenko shocks Rafael Nadal in final". BBC Sport. 2010-01-09. Retrieved 2010-01-09.
- ^ "Davydenko shocks Nadal in final". BBC News. January 9, 2010. Retrieved May 20, 2010.
- ^ "Tennis-Davydenko withdraws from Indian Wells with broken wrist". Reuters. March 14, 2010.
- ^ "Николай Давыденко: "Шарапову мне жалко"" [Nikolay Davydenko: "I Sympathize with Sharapova"]. YouTube (in Russian). Sport-Express. Retrieved 1 March 2021.
I asked "Why?" Well, maybe there was [some kind of] inflammation and it [the fracture] wasn't visible yet. I had played with the fracture for a month
- ^ "Yahoo Sport - Sport-Nachrichten, Live Berichte, Videos und mehr!".
- ^ "Federer eases to victory in Halle". BBC News. June 8, 2010.
- ^ "Nikolay Davydenko". BBC Sport. Retrieved 2012-06-27.
- ^ ATP Player Record 2012: Nikolay Davydenko
- ^ "News | ATP Tour | Tennis".
- ^ "Blake hands defeat to Davydenko". BBC News. November 15, 2006. Retrieved May 20, 2010.
- ^ "Setwatch: Federer v Davydenko". BBC News. January 25, 2006. Retrieved May 20, 2010.
- ^ http://www.dunlopsport.com/Dunlop-Tennis/News--Events/International/News/World-No6-Davydenko-signs-with-Dunlop-/[permanent dead link]
- khokhol. I can scream that I'm khokhol"]. sports.ru (in Russian). 17 October 2014. Retrieved 23 November 2020.
I entered Top-10 without having a sponsor. It was in the middle of the year, budgets were planned, everyone had their own players, it was tough. There were always some suggestions but I wanted a tidbit. I was offered one by the French 'Airness' which is not even on the tour. I really liked promoting their brand. I had been with them for two years and I'm very happy. I like exclusive, I like something others don't have
- Sydney Morning Herald. 17 January 2007. Retrieved 28 January 2018.
- ^ Stahl, Jeremy (2007-08-20). "Davydenko drops out with foot injury". Eurosport.com. Retrieved 2007-12-04. [dead link]
- ^ "Tennis officials investigate suspicious betting". Associated Press. 2007-08-03. Archived from the original on 2008-01-25. Retrieved 2007-12-04.
- ^ Araton, Harvey (2007-08-27). "Free Market Comes With a Dark Side". The New York Times. Retrieved 2007-11-15.
- ^ "Davydenko faces betting inquiry". BBC Sport. 2007-08-27. Retrieved 2007-12-01.
- ^ "Davydenko fine appeal successful". BBC Sport. 2007-11-13. Retrieved 2007-11-24.
- ^ Drape, Joe (2007-11-25). "Talk of Efforts to Fix Matches Rattles Pro Tennis". The New York Times. Retrieved 2007-11-24.
- ^ a b "Davydenko cleared of match-fixing". BBC Sport. 2008-09-12. Retrieved 2008-09-12.
- ^ "Nikolay Davydenko Appeal". ATPTennis.com. 2007-11-13. Archived from the original on 2007-12-27. Retrieved 2007-11-15.
- ^ "Davydenko facing new controversy". BBC Sport. 2007-11-01. Retrieved 2007-11-15.