He's just been beaten rather comfortably by Nalbandian, who's a talented player, but is overweight and not been on good form for a while. What does it say about current men's tennis when this guy is ranked number 3?

First of all, Davydeno impressed me slightly on his easy win at Paris. Depleted field, absolutely, but I still thought he might choke. His game's not the best, but he's very effective at what he does.

However, when it really matters, this guy proves he's not talented enough or courageous enough to be worthy of the number 3 ranking. He'll often get to where he's expected to get in the Slams, before losing. Against Federer at the Australian Open this year he choked badly when it mattered. And he nearly always loses to someone generally considered to have more talent than him (like today).

Bearing in mind this evidence, it really does prove the current state of men's tennis is nothing to shout about. 'Solid and consistent' is the best way of describing Davydenko; attributes normally used to describe a journeyman. It's sad that all the consistent players lack talent, and all the talented players lack consistency.

What it says to me is that the top ten (and probably more) behind the top two is currently very homogeneous, which is indicated by the way the positions have been shifting around this year.

What it says to me about Davydenko is that he is still struggling to come to terms with being in that position. He has kind of snuck in - he put in an excellent and vastly improved performance, but he also benefitted from injuries by other players, and hasn't racked up many big scalps recently as far as I can remember.

He is obviously still vulnerable to mental pressure (few aren't, to some degree), and pressure doesn't come much bigger than in the DC final!

His game depends quite a bit on accuracy as well, imo. When he's on fire, he finds the lines consistently, and is very tough to beat (remember the first part of the Blake game in Shanghai?). But when he gets under pressure, he can start to miss. So I'd like to see him build up some more mental stamina, and consistently take down some big names. He's got the game to do it, I reckon.

Also, what do you mean Nalbandian hasn't been on good form for a while? I think his form on Friday was pretty impressive ...

It could say also that Nalby's flat pacy shots are simply too much on this fast surface for anybody bar maybe Federer. If you can hit with power and flat enough then, you might not need to move much but rather make the other guys to move. That has always been the case regardless of eras.

Medvedev was an excellent example of that. On a hot day, he would simply blast anybody out of court without him being particularly a good mover.

Davenport being probably the extreme case.

It's true that Nalbandian's flat shots can cause problems even when he doesn't move well, but today he didn't even play well. My original point though was that Davydenko lost to Nalbandian - surely a player in the style of the Russian should have been able to wear him down? What are your opinions on Davydenko Tenez? I'd say he has decent groundstrokes and good stamina (contrary to what jedi said) but no weapons. His defense is ok but not good enough in itself to be classed as a weapon. Players like this were rarely even seeded for a Slam in the Sampas era.

Davydenko had a bad match, pure and simple.

Just as Nalbandian had a bad match on Saturday in the doubles.

Just as all players do, now and again.


I think that you answered your own question tbh. Kolya's main weapons are his accurate groundstrokes, esp his backhand, and an excellent return of serve. He usually makes very few UE's, but today had a shocker. The person whose game he resembles the most is that of Agassi.

I agree Petalp. Davydenko had a bad match. But Nalby did not play badly either. I am convinced that the choice of surface was a risky one as it favoured Argentina's best player and therefore emphasised the importance of winning the double.

Wise - You know that I have argued a thousand times that a Davydenko in form would beat the best of Kafelnokov. Nokolai's returns, leg speed and flat and angled shots would be no match for his older compatriot. It might be due to new training methods, new alimentation, I don't know but the fact is Niko would beat kafel more often than not. Unfortunately, nowadays, it is not good enough for winning Slams. The problem Niko has also is this money grabbing attitude which makes him play the wrong tournament and neglect his slams runs (though he was twice beaten by the winner in this year's slams which just shows that he could have held 2 slams at least had Roger not been around).

It's all relative Wise and you know that.

Davydenko is a retriever, a counter puncher, a battler... Just because of his look, his style of play, some people don't like him because he doesn't serve and volley...

Thing is guys, when you play tennis in real life, do you serve and volley or do you often stay in baseline? :thinking:

Let's be honest here,I don't particulary find anything amazing about his play.Yes he does take the ball early,making him agassi like.He can work the ball from the back and construct his points well.As mentioned he is fast,and fit.32 tournaments he needs to be.

On the other hand unlike Agassi,he lacks the ball striking ability of Agassi.He used to hit much more through the ball,and his forehand sounded like a cracking whip.Agassi also had a flair for winners.Poor Davydenko is 5ft 10" and weighs only 154 pounds.His game lacks the heaviness of his fellow pro's although this isn't always applicable in striking a powerful ball.
Length of swing,leverage,height,timing are all factors involved.

The truth is he earned more than any other player the right to be no3.He's travelled across the world grinding out results.I would also hope that he's earning enough money so he doesn't have to play as much next season.I think I also read that he doesn't a major contract with any of the sports manafacturers.Could be the reason for his high level of activity.He's no poster boy like Roddick is he?

Like has been said,bad day at the office.

I thought the way he dominated Nadal at the YEC was pretty good display. At least for a set until he ran out of gas. The way also he flew through the Paris TMS was quite impressive. There was no big names there, but besides Federer, I think he would have had anybody else scalp.

I hope like you that he will play less next year and go for glory more instead of easy cash.

Hi Tenez,

Fully agree with you..the key point for Davydenko is really to reduce the number of events in his 2007 calendar. Less events which implies a great focus on the majors. About the majors IMO Davy is another Blake type of player: They do not believe enough on their Tennis. Both of them they have enough weapons to generate a lot of troubles to the usual two suspects at the top of the ranking...Besides Blake was able to do that regularly on Master events against Nadal so he should be able to do that even in a GS event and Davy was very close to eliminate FED at the AO this year...Let's hope that both of them will do this additional mental step and reduce the outside activities so to focus more on the majors. :P

Good to read you again TV. Nothing to add to your spot on post.

Tenez - Not so sure about your assertions that Davydenko would beat Kafelnikov. I'd agree that Nikolai's returns and foot speed were superior, but Yevgeny had more power, aggression and mental strength. If a firing Kafelnikov met Davydenko, I'd give the former the edge on every surface (although their match on grass probably wouldn't be a classic!)

I'm really not happy about the comparisons to Agassi either. I guess their styles aren't that different, but Agassi was much more aggressive and won 8 Slams, and one on each surface. Like Dr_Sincere pointed out, their only real similarity is that they both have bald heads.

Having said that, I agree to an extent about his appearance being one of the reasons for his lack of recognition. You really can't put a very large percentage down to this though, Agassi was actually loved for his curious looks, as well as his exciting tennis. If Davydenko had a bigger game, he'd be loved even if he looked like the love child of a tyrannosaurus rex and a queen bee.

I haven't on this thread - I think - made a parallel between Agassi and Davydenko.

For information Kafel and Davydenko H2H stand at 1-1 and though Kafel was 27 and Davydenko really far from the level he is now. But discuss this further would be only speculation, I agree with you on that.

I am sure some appreciated Agassi's electric game but my understanding is that his look and charisma had much more to do with his popularity. Shave Nadal, lower his body figures and let's see whether he gets the same cheerful welcome from the teens.

hi tenez,a very true appreciation of Agassi and Nadals' popularity in my opinion,although don't want to be 'troll-like' :D

‘I am sure some appreciated Agassi's electric game but my understanding is that his look and charisma had much more to do with his popularity.’

Hi Tenez, I think it was a combination of the two, to be honest. I freely admit to being thoroughly biased where Agassi is concerned but even as a fan it’s easy to buy into the whole myth surrounding his persona and occasionally overlook the fact that he was one of the cleanest strikers of the ball off the ground that the game has ever seen.

Every time I saw him live I was astounded again at the pace of his shots and at how he could step up the court and rely on his hand-eye coordination and immaculate timing to take the ball so early that he kept opponents on the back foot. Great stuff.

I seem to remember a post on the BBC board(yours possibly?) where someone described how at a tournament all the kids were wearing Nadal-style outfits and mimicking his leaping and fist pumping gestures.I guess there will always be players who appeal to young players.I always liked Agassi actually BTW.

First welcome here SportRep!!

Fedrules, TV, myself and many others were afraid to have lost you on our way to here. We are glad you made it. ;)

I perfectly know what you mean regarding Agassi. I wasn't particularly a fan of his (I am too old for that) but could definitely appreciate his amazing natural talent and also saw the charisma that enlightened the crowds. His game relied mostly on sheer eye hand coordination that only a player with special talent could play. In a way he was the new McEnroe who could take the ball early and place it with incredible angle with alsmost no margin for error. This style was really new (could not have been played or even been developed with a small wooden racket) and eye catching for a large number of people who could not bother perfecting the technics of a Federer for instance.


So indeed hats off to the guy. A real talent. My point, however, is that someone today would come with a similar game could never re-create the same effect as it would automatically be associated to "canned or processed food" in comparison with the "real stuff" from Agassi. Now add to that an uncharismatic character, no fun tennis gear a la Nadal, actually not even a sponsor and you have .....a Davydenko. Tennis wise however, not many can look at him with a detached, objective mind. And I won't blame them. The guy is playing way too much and sacrifices his preparation for slams and potential historical glory for invitation fees from the most ridiculous tournaments of which he loses without fighting once the fee pocketed.

Indeed how can he be compared to the emotional, legend that Agassi has become? tennis wise, however, Davydenko is much closer to Agassi that people, especially his fans, might think. if we compare them both to the benchmark that Federer is, they both lost 8 times in a row against him and maybe both causing the same difficulty to Federer at times. I will be curious to see whether Davydenko maintains and even improves his form next year but over the last 12 months he really has improved and I really now can appreciate his flat hitting, angled game and wish he can build confidence on this. (his DC perf still concerns me though).