2008年4月6日星期日
Magnificent Davydenko lifts tennis gloom
Who would have thought that tennis could be rescued by Nikolay Davydenko?These are testing times for the sport with match-fixing investigations, suspensions for unknown players caught having a few cheeky bets, a 2008 calendar which looks more unworkable with every inspection and a court case which threatens to undermine the power of the most powerful man in the sport.And then along comes Nikolay, a slim-line Russian with a receding hairline, to wow us all with some of the most exhilarating attacking tennis we抳e seen for ages and the troubles seem momentarily forgotten.Having received a bye through the first round of the Sony Ericsson Open, Davydenko needed to save match points in his first two rounds before things went crazy - as soon as he was scheduled for the centre court in fact. He took apart Janko Tipsarevic in the quarter-finals, reducing the Serb to a watching statue by the end, elevated his game further to dispatch Andy Roddick in the semis and then, in the performance of his life, took apart Nadal in the final with some startling angles and winners.As he celebrated, grinning in the centre of the court, more than 10,000 Americans rose to give him the warmest standing ovation of his career. It looked rather incongruous but it was thoroughly appropriate. Davydenko, don抰 forget, has been hung out to dry since August when a bookmaker told the world that a match he surprisingly lost in Poland was being investigated for unusual betting patterns. The finger of suspicion has been pointing his way ever since and the investigation continues, still without sign of imminent conclusion.The ATP stresses that it抯 an inquiry into the circumstances surrounding that match in Sopot rather than into Davydenko specifically. They say there抯 no deadline and the work continues behind the scenes to establish the truth. But on the evidence of yesterday, Davydenko is going to be challenging for Grand Slams this year and imagine the confusion and potential embarrassment if a major winner was still under scrutiny in a betting controversy.The reporters from outside tennis descend on the Grand Slams and this story will be top of their agenda if it抯 still running. Only a quick resolution from here will avoid that risk. There's plenty of tennis still to be played before we reach the next major, the French Open at the end of May, and Rafael Nadal is one of those aggrieved about the 2008 calendar.The heart of this year抯 schedule is more jam-packed than usual because of US College Basketball at one end and the Olympics at the other. It means three clay-court Masters Series events inside four weeks and a hard-court summer which takes the players from America in July, to Beijing in August, before a return to the States for the US Open later that month.Outsiders view this schedule with disbelief. What is the sport doing to itself and its players? People like Nadal occasionally kick up a fuss but the sport continues to have too many interested parties, looking after their own slices of the pie, rather than a considered overview and a realisation of the need for change to protect for the long-term.And that抯 where we hit the really serious issue of the moment. Etienne De Villiers is a man who can see through the haze. When he arrived at the ATP as CEO and president he brought an outsider's viewpoint and set about constructing a vision for a new-look calendar, to be launched in 2009. But the minute he started to use his presidential powers, the mutiny began and two tournaments started legal proceedings against the governing body.De Villiers� plan was to downgrade Monte Carlo and Hamburg, creating more breathing space in that hectic European clay swing. Suffice to say, they didn抰 like it much.Monte Carlo reached an out-of-court settlement last year but Hamburg has its legal documents still firmly in the in-tray of the Courts of Delaware. Poor old Hamburg. It抯 a nice tournament with a great history in German, European and world tennis but unfortunately we can抰 have three Masters Series events in four weeks. It抯 just stupid. One has to go, it will be a great loss, but it抯 for the greater good.However, if the German lawyers are successful with their anti-trust legal case, it will effectively rip up the proposed 2009 calendar and De Villiers� vision will be in shatters. How typically tennis. Another settlement seems likely, with Hamburg switching to July and probably some hefty compensation in return, but how can tennis change for the better if every radical proposal is challenged in the courts? And then just as we were worrying about things a little too much, along came Nikolay with his one racket, his spitting-image brother and his wonderful forehand. A stadium of Americans was brought to its feet. He even cracked some gags in the press conference.Strange times these.
Davydenko makes light of betting probe and Nadal
Nikolay Davydenko yesterday produced one of the best performances of his career to win the Masters Series title with a stunning 6-4, 6-2 victory over Rafael Nadal. The Russian has been obliged to live under a large and depressing cloud for many months and will probably remain the object of speculation until long after the ATP's verdict on alleged corruption in betting is given, but all that was temporarily forgotten yesterday in the final, his first against the world No2.
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His performance will, however, draw more attention to the player who has had to live with constant doubt during the months the investigation has been going on. He has had his family phone numbers demanded of him, aggressive questioning from the media, and even an umpire who decided to lecture him on how to serve better, suggesting he did it "like me".
Davydenko seems to have survived with satirical humour - "I don't think about the investigation. I think my lawyer should think about it, or my manager," he sighed - with the fighting qualities for which many of the Russians are known, and with even greater attention to making his game more aggressive and consistent.
He hits flat, forcefully and with clever tactical variations. Nadal could not do those things, though he clearly tried to beef up his topspin, containing game with more positive intent. But he made mistakes when he did.
After a shaky start, in which Davydenko looked likely to fall behind and once missed a smash from within a few feet of the net, he was superb, going from strength to strength after saving break points against him in the seventh game.
He then broke Nadal to love, consolidated by holding his next service game to love, and never looked back. "He played unbelievable tennis," admitted Nadal.
Even Davydenko seemed shocked to be holding the trophy. "It is surprising for me to stand here, it is crazy," he said, before revealing that he had played the entire tournament with only one racket. "I only have one racket and I played three sets in virtually every match. Thankfully I didn't break a string."
Davydenko and Nadal are among the 20 leading players who have posed a threat to Etienne de Villiers' leadership of the men's tour. They have signed a letter to the ATP board, of which De Villiers is chairman, demanding that the South African's contract not be renewed at the end of the year without a proper application process.
This increases the possibility that De Villiers will pay with his job for making some controversial decisions, which have included the abandonment of a round-robin system in Las Vegas last year and the attempted downgrading of two popular clay-court events.
Davydenko and Nadal are two of the three top-ranked players - Roger Federer is the third - who criticised De Villiers last year at a press conference called to discuss the proposed demotion of Monte Carlo and Hamburg. The ATP is facing one costly lawsuit over the German tournament's future, which will be heard in Delaware in June, and may face another from Davydenko if the investigation into corrupt betting fails to implicate the Russian.
Nadal is also upset at this year's calendar change which has brought three clay-court Masters Series tournaments together in four potentially exhausting weeks this month and next. "For me it's terrible," the Spaniard said.
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His performance will, however, draw more attention to the player who has had to live with constant doubt during the months the investigation has been going on. He has had his family phone numbers demanded of him, aggressive questioning from the media, and even an umpire who decided to lecture him on how to serve better, suggesting he did it "like me".
Davydenko seems to have survived with satirical humour - "I don't think about the investigation. I think my lawyer should think about it, or my manager," he sighed - with the fighting qualities for which many of the Russians are known, and with even greater attention to making his game more aggressive and consistent.
He hits flat, forcefully and with clever tactical variations. Nadal could not do those things, though he clearly tried to beef up his topspin, containing game with more positive intent. But he made mistakes when he did.
After a shaky start, in which Davydenko looked likely to fall behind and once missed a smash from within a few feet of the net, he was superb, going from strength to strength after saving break points against him in the seventh game.
He then broke Nadal to love, consolidated by holding his next service game to love, and never looked back. "He played unbelievable tennis," admitted Nadal.
Even Davydenko seemed shocked to be holding the trophy. "It is surprising for me to stand here, it is crazy," he said, before revealing that he had played the entire tournament with only one racket. "I only have one racket and I played three sets in virtually every match. Thankfully I didn't break a string."
Davydenko and Nadal are among the 20 leading players who have posed a threat to Etienne de Villiers' leadership of the men's tour. They have signed a letter to the ATP board, of which De Villiers is chairman, demanding that the South African's contract not be renewed at the end of the year without a proper application process.
This increases the possibility that De Villiers will pay with his job for making some controversial decisions, which have included the abandonment of a round-robin system in Las Vegas last year and the attempted downgrading of two popular clay-court events.
Davydenko and Nadal are two of the three top-ranked players - Roger Federer is the third - who criticised De Villiers last year at a press conference called to discuss the proposed demotion of Monte Carlo and Hamburg. The ATP is facing one costly lawsuit over the German tournament's future, which will be heard in Delaware in June, and may face another from Davydenko if the investigation into corrupt betting fails to implicate the Russian.
Nadal is also upset at this year's calendar change which has brought three clay-court Masters Series tournaments together in four potentially exhausting weeks this month and next. "For me it's terrible," the Spaniard said.
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