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Reflecting on the Career of Nikolay Davydenko

Oct 21st 2014

Recently, Nikolay Davydenko quietly announced his retirement from the sport after not having played since Roland Garros. The announcement placed a seal on a career that included 21 ATP titles. Among those were the 2009 year-end championship in London and three Masters 1000 shields.

Nikolay Davydenko

Davydenko, known for his attacking baseline style, began to slow due to injury several years ago, and his game slowly suffered as a result. Having used his quickness to transition from baseline to net as a weapon over the years, this tactic became less effective with age and injury. Nonetheless, this playing style took the Russian on a ride up the rankings where he peaked at world No. 3. Finally, at age 33, Davydenko took time off after the French Open to consider retirement.

I decided to retire in June after Roland Garros,” he said. “I felt I could not play at the level I used to play at. I practiced twice a day, but I felt I couldn't achieve the result I wanted. But I was waiting for the moment when I would wake up and say to myself it was enough.”

That moment officially came at last week’s Kremlin Cup, where Davydenko admitted that the list of injuries had taken their toll. “Unfortunately, for some years now, I have been struggling with injuries. It's hard for me to talk about it. I have been thinking when to announce it. The time has come. I have my whole life to live. I officially announce my retirement from professional tennis.”

However, the Russian left his imprint on the sport during his career. Among his list of successes include a 6-5 career record against Rafael Nadal. He is the only player to have faced the Spaniard five times or more who owns a winning record against him.

Additionally, Davydenko helped lead a Russian team that included Marat Safin, Mikhail Youzhny, and Dmitry Tursunov to the Davis Cup Championship in 2006 at Moscow. That team returned to the final the following year, where they fell to the United States.

The Russian’s best Grand Slam efforts came at the French and U. S. Opens, where he reached the semifinals twice at each event. He was eliminated three times by Roger Federer in those tournaments.

However, his career did not come without some controversy. In 2007, Davydenko was linked to a gambling scandal where he was accused of fixing a match in Poland. And although the ATP ultimately cleared him, the incident set off a gambling scandal where more than 10 ranked players admitted that they had been approached to fix matches or had heard others admit to similar incidents.

Nonetheless, Davydenko remained a quiet professional who would win his last tour title in 2011 at the BMW Open in Munich. He would reach his last final in January 2013, where he fell to Richard Gasquet in Qatar.

Nikolay Davydenko

Davydenko will leave a legacy of a competitor who certainly left everything on the court, using his quickness to run down shots many were not capable of reaching. He consistently worked to gain a competitive edge. An example of this work came earlier in his career. Realizing that he needed a more potent serve to accent his net game, Davydenko worked to change and improve it. With the result, he became much more polished at mixing volleys with his solid baseline game. His hard work led to 482 match wins on tour, with 38 of those against top-10 competitors.

He now looks forward to his life after tennis. “I now have set new goals. I can say I will work in business and finance. I will work not only on a national, but also on an international level. I have been playing throughout the world. Time will tell. For me, these are new technologies and I have a lot of friends whom I can work with.”

Davydenko will go down as one of the greatest men’s tennis players from Russia, likely just behind Yevgeny Kafelnikov and Safin. Not bad company to keep.