Nikolay Davydenko broke into the circuit ATP At 20 years old with a fighting style that quickly led him to climb positions in the ranking. But, unfortunately For him, in his years of greatest splendor he found himself facing rivals such as Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and a young Novak Djokovic. What seemed like a career linked to success began to be cut short, then came injuries and finally complete exhaustion of the racket sport, an object that took him several years to pick up again after his retirement.
The now 43-year-old man was born in Ukraine, trained in Germany and has always represented Russia, despite having obtained Austrian citizenship. A mix of nationalities and schools that led him to become a fierce opponent for anyone since 2001, when he broke into the main tournaments and showed what he could achieve.
Davydenko, world number 3 and his history with Nadal and Federer
Nikolay Davidenko after winning the Shanghai Masters 1000 against Rafael Nadal in 2009.
The best moment of his career Davydenko occurred between 2005 and 2009when it remained firmly in the Top 10 and reached the Top 3 for a few weeks, at a time when it used to give Rafael Nadal himself big headaches.
“For me, playing against Nadal was like playing against any other opponent. You “I won all our matches on hard court and he beat me all on clay,” he commented in an interview with Punto de Break in 2022. “My game coincided well with Rafa’s on hard courts, which is why I didn’t have so many problems with him. On the other hand, I was never able to beat James Blake in those conditions, he hit very hard and finished the points in just a few shots. Against clay specialists, Spaniards and Argentines, they were the easiest matches for me on cement, because they play long points with a lot of spin.”
The thing is Davydenko was even baptized in the Spanish media as Nadal’s “black beast.” whom he ended up surpassing in history with 6 victories in 11 clashes. Those duels between the two led the Russian to sting the Mallorcan: “ Without a physique you can’t do anything. It has neither serve nor volley . His resource is to stay at the back of the court and run and pass balls until you get tired and miss it.”
But, the one I did always respect was Roger Federer. “I had many opportunities to beat him, but he was always better than me in the important moments of each set. I had set points, tiebreaks, but I always lost. It’s no secret that I had a mental problem dealing with Roger for many years“, he commented in that interview two years ago, when remembering his 19 defeats in 21 duels against the Swiss.
But, the truth is that beyond that headache, Davydenko managed to be in the top five for almost five years without even winning a Grand Slam. And he also had the luxury of beating a young Novak Djokovic in the semifinal of the 2009 Shanghai Masters 1000, one of his two wins against the Serbian.
Russia 2006 Davis Cup champion against Argentina
Injuries and tennis fatigue
Davydenko He was one of the best tennis players in the world and in the ranking he appeared behind the Big Three when in 2010 the first serious injury of his career occurred: “I broke my wrist. It happened to me playing in Rotterdam against Robin Soderling, I fell to the ground and hit my hand hard“I thought it would be a simple bruise, even then when they did an MRI they didn’t find anything,” he said in dialogue with Punto de Break.
Precisely, as medical studies ruled out a fracture, he continued playing a few more tournaments until the pain became unbearable and the crack appeared in the images. computerized: “L The wound healed, but the doll never responded as before. It became much weaker, my two-handed backhand was severely damaged. Even so, I continued hitting it with two hands, it was too late to try the one-handed backhand, although some specialists recommended it to me.”
By then, the Top 10 was far away and despite his attempts, he could not recover the level he had had, so at the age of 33 he announced his retirement.
The farewell of Davydenko, who in 2006 had been part of the Russian team that won the Davis Cup final against an Argentine team that had David Nalbandian as the team’s top figure, was the least striking. It’s just that after announcing his goodbyehe retired to Russia, because Germany denied him citizenship, and dedicated himself to raising his children and fishing.
He was away from the spotlight of cameras and tennis for several years. “The first year I was dreaming constantly with matches. I felt like I was playing them, some Grand Slams, in Australia concretely. Now everything is forgotten and I don’t even think about it. I don’t watch tennis, I didn’t do it when I was active, there is no point in continuing to watch it ”, he revealed in 2019 in a conversation with the Sport Express site.
There, he added: “I have never been a person to be in the media. He only gave interviews after the games, he didn’t go to the parties, nor did he go to the television channels. When my degree ended I focused on my family life, the only news to write about me is that I was the father of three children, but this doesn’t seem very interesting. From 2014 onwards I dedicated myself completely to my children, I took them to daycare and played with them, I was very distracted from tennis, I tried not to pick up a racket for a while and forget about it.“.
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