Nikolai Vladimirovich Dawydenko

Nikolai Davydenko
Dawydenko 2008 in Hamburg
Nation:	Russia
Birthday:	June 2nd 1981
Size:	178 cm
Weight:	70 kg
1st professional season:	1999
Resignation:	2014
Playing hand:	Right, two-handed backhand
Trainer:	Eduard Dawydenko
Prize money:	$ 16,186,480
singles
Career record:	482: 329
Career title:	21st
Highest ranking:	3 (November 6, 2006)
Grand Slam record
Double
Career record:	61:67
Career title:	2
Highest ranking:	31 (June 13, 2005)
Grand Slam record
Sources: official player profiles at the ATP / WTA and ITF (see web links )

Nikolai Wladimirowitsch Dawydenko ( Russian: Николай Владимирович Давыденко ; born June 2, 1981 in Sjewjerodonezk , Ukrainian SSR ) is a former Russian tennis player .

Career

Dawydenko, who lives in Volgograd , Monte Carlo and Salmtal , has won 21 individual ATP tournaments in his career : in 2003 he won in Adelaide and Estoril , in 2004 in Moscow and Munich , in 2005 in St. Pölten , and in 2006 in Pörtschach , Sopot , New Haven , Moscow and Paris , 2007 in Moscow and 2008 in Miami , Pörtschach and Warsaw . In 2009 he won the ATP tournaments in Hamburg , Umag (Croatia) and Kuala Lumpur as well as the Shanghai Masters and the ATP World Tour Finals . In 2010 he won his twentieth title in Doha , and in 2011 another was added at the tournament in Munich .

His greatest successes in Grand Slam tournaments were his entry into the semi-finals of the French Open in 2005 , which he lost to Mariano Puerta (3: 6, 7: 5, 6: 2, 4: 6, 4: 6), and the semi-finals in 2006 at the US Open , where he lost to Roger Federer (1: 6, 5: 7, 4: 6), and the renewed semi-finals at the French Open in 2007, where he failed again to Roger Federer (5: 7 , 6: 7, 6: 7). Also in 2007 he lost to Federer in the semifinals of the US Open (5-7, 1-6, 5-7). In June 2005 he made it into the top ten of the tennis world rankings .

At the beginning of 2008 Dawydenko was in the semifinals in Doha. At the Australian Open he reached the round of 16, which he lost against his compatriot Michail Juschny 6: 7 ² , 3: 6, 1: 6. Another highlight was his entry into the semi-finals in Dubai at the beginning of March, which he lost to Feliciano López 4: 6, 6: 4, 5: 7. In April 2008 he succeeded at the Masters in Miami with a final victory over Rafael Nadal, the second win of a tournament in this category. On May 24, 2008 he won the preparatory tournament for the French Open in Pörtschach , in the final he defeated Juan Mónaco 6: 2, 2: 6, 6: 2. The last highlight of the season was reaching the Tennis Masters Cup final in Shanghai, in which he lost to Novak Djokovic 1: 6 and 5: 7.

Because of a foot injury, he had to cancel his participation in the Australian Open 2009 . But already in July 2009 he proved his form at the German Open by winning the tournament with a 6: 4, 6: 2 final victory over the French Paul-Henri Mathieu . As a result, he climbed back to ninth place in the ATP world rankings. Dawydenko continued his winning streak and won his 16th title when he became the first Russian to win the Croatia Open in early August . In the final he defeated the former French Open winner and former number one, Juan Carlos Ferrero , 6-3 and 6-0. He improved to eighth place in the world rankings. In October 2009, Dawydenko won in Kuala Lumpur, before winning the Masters tournament in Shanghai just two weeks later by defeating world number two Nadal in the final, as he did in his last Masters triumph in Miami.

Dawydenko celebrated his greatest career success in November 2009 when he won the ATP World Tour Finals . There he prevailed in the final 6: 3 and 6: 4 against Juan Martín del Potro . Previously, he had eliminated world number one Roger Federer in the semifinals.

The year 2010 started very successfully for Dawydenko, already in January he won the ATP tournament in Doha . In the semifinals he defeated number one, Federer, and in the final, number two, Nadal with 0: 6, 7: 6, ⁸ and 6: 4. At the Australian Open , Dawydenko failed in the quarter-finals to Federer, shortly afterwards in Rotterdam in the semifinals to Robin Söderling . This tournament continued to play despite a broken wrist. After the Masters in Indian Wells , Dawydenko had to undergo surgery on his wrist and therefore missed the entire clay court season, he could only play again shortly before Wimbledon . However, he was no longer able to build on the good form he had at the beginning of the year and only rarely made it past the third round. Only at the Masters tournaments in Cincinnati and Paris did he reach the quarter-finals. Therefore, Dawydenko could not qualify for the ATP World Tour Finals and also not defend his title from the previous year. He lost important world ranking points and at the end of the season was outside the top 20 for the first time in almost six years.

At the beginning of the 2011 season, Dawydenko played again much more successfully. In Doha he reached the final and on the way beat the world number one Nadal in two straight sets; in the final, however, he had to admit defeat to Roger Federer. He won his 21st and finally last ATP title in Munich against Florian Mayer . In the 2012 and 2013 seasons he remained without a title win, although he reached the final in Doha again in 2013. In 2014 he won his second doubles title at the side of Denis Istomin in Montpellier .

On October 16, 2014, he announced the end of his career.

Style of play

Dawydenko is considered a solid player who, unlike other top players such as Roger Federer or Rafael Nadal, does not have an outstanding parade shot, but has a very variable baseline game. His other strengths, in addition to his excellent footwork, are his high level of consistency and almost perfect condition, which is particularly useful in longer, strenuous games. He's also one of the best return players.

However, critics repeatedly criticized weaknesses in volleyball. As a result, Dawydenko felt most comfortable on clay and hard courts, while he reluctantly played on grass. His calm style of play also meant that he was long referred to by many experts as one of the most underrated players on the tour. A problem with his monotonous baseline game was that it was very exhausting for him in the long run, which could be a disadvantage at the end of a tournament.

Others

In May 2007 he submitted an application for naturalization to the Austrian government.

Betting fraud allegations

Since 2003 there have been several noticeable results in games by Dawydenko, in which high stakes were made. In 2005 there were two documented irregularities on the betting market. In the quarter-finals of the Australian Open 2005 Dawydenko gave up against the American Andy Roddick with a score of 3: 6, 5: 7, 1: 4. Many betting shops were paying extraordinarily high sums of money for a Dawydenko victory, which seemed unusual at the time. Those in the know of the tennis scene expected a victory for Roddick, who also won the game. In terms of betting, Dawydenko's task at many betting shops resulted in a refund of the stakes. Even a WDR report by Fred Kowasch could not clearly clarify the matter.

In the same year Dawydenko gave up at the ATP tournament in Gstaad in the first round match against the Armenian Sargis Sargsian because of an alleged hand injury when the score was 6: 1 and 1: 0 in the lead. The bookmaker Sportingbet placed high stakes on an outsider victory in this game. Sportingbet's spokesman was very negative about the incident and announced that an investigation had been launched. A person was identified who had bet 20,000 euros on a Sargsian win shortly before the start of the game and who is said to have been near the venue. A few days later, Dawydenko presented himself in a strong physical condition and won two Best of 5 matches in the Davis Cup against France.

Another incident that caused a worldwide sensation occurred on August 2, 2007 at the ATP tournament in Sopot . In the game between Dawydenko against Martín Vassallo Argüello , various bookmakers placed very high stakes on the outsider's victory. The Polish bookmaker STS was one of the first to remove the game from its program. As a result of high stakes, many other bookmakers had to adjust the odds in the meantime or also take the game out of the program. The betting provider Bet365 interrupted its live betting offer during the match because the bookmaker saw no point in placing odds live. Both before and during the game, the online betting exchange Betfair recorded an exceptionally high turnover on a Guilless win. The course of the game was atypical. Argüello took an injury break after a few minutes to have his nosebleed treated, but then continued playing. In the further course Dawydenko had to be treated on the foot and later gave up the match, during the third set, while in the lead because of a foot injury. Betfair, which has been committed to reporting unusual developments in the betting market to the responsible associations for years, notified the ATP because it contradicted the logic of betting large sums on the Argüello, which had been a long way off. The ATP decided to initiate an investigation, which initially had no concrete result. In the later course of the tournament there were other noticeable game courses between Agustín Calleri and Stefan Koubek as well as Argüello and Albert Montañés . Dawydenko himself always vehemently denied the fraud allegations. In addition to an investigation that was also initiated, the management of Betfair decided, until further notice, to offer all games with Dawydenko's participation limited or not at all. In addition, all bets on the game on August 2, 2007 were retrospectively canceled and given the odds of 1.0. The ATP concluded its investigation unsuccessfully, Dawydenko and Argüello were acquitted of suspected fraud in their game in Sopot.

Another incident occurred on October 25, 2007 at the ATP tournament in Saint Petersburg . Despite a 6: 1 lead against Marin Čilić , the Russian lost his game 6: 1, 5: 7 and 1: 6. After several double faults , Dawydenko was cautioned by referee Jean-Philippe Dercq to play properly. Here, too, as in the games already mentioned, stakes were above average on the supposed outsider. Dawydenko was fined $ 2,000 by the tournament supervisor on the grounds that he had not done anything to counter the impending defeat. The player successfully protested against this, so the penalty was withdrawn. A week later, the Russian lost 6-2, 6-2 to Marcos Baghdatis at the Paris Masters . After a series of unforced errors and several double errors, Dawydenko was asked by the referee to play properly.

In 2008, games with Dawydenko's participation were again fully included in the repertoire of Betfair's betting offer. Dawydenko reached the semi-finals in Doha and the second round at the Australian Open. An official statement for the resumption was not published.

successes

Legend (number of victories) Grand Slam Tennis Masters Cup ATP World Tour Finals (1) ATP Masters Series ATP World Tour Masters 1000 (3) ATP International Series Gold ATP World Tour 500 Series (1) ATP International Series ATP World Tour 250 Series (18)

ATP title by topping Hard Court (9) Sand (10) Lawn (0) Carpet (4)

singles

Tournament victories

No.	date	competition	Topping	Final opponent	Result
1.	December 30, 2002	Adelaide	Hard court	Kristof Viegen	6: 2, 7: 6 3
2.	April 7, 2003	Estoril	sand	Agustín Calleri	6: 4, 6: 3
3.	April 26, 2004	Munich	sand	Martin Verkerk	6: 4, 7: 5
4th	October 11, 2004	Moscow	Carpet (i)	Greg Rusedski	3: 6, 6: 3, 7: 5
5.	May 16, 2005	St. Polten	sand	Jürgen Melzer	6: 3, 2: 6, 6: 4
6th	May 22, 2006	Portschach (1)	sand	Andrei Pavel	6: 0, 6: 3
7th	July 31, 2006	Sopot	sand	Florian Mayer	7: 6 6 , 5: 7, 6: 4
8th.	August 21, 2006	New Haven	Hard court	Agustín Calleri	6: 4, 6: 3
9.	October 9, 2006	Moscow	Carpet (i)	Marat Safin	6: 4, 5: 7, 6: 4
10.	October 30, 2006	Paris	Carpet (i)	Dominik Hrbatý	6: 1, 6: 2, 6: 2
11.	October 5, 2007	Moscow	Hard court (i)	Paul-Henri Mathieu	7: 5, 7: 6 9
12.	March 27, 2008	Miami	Hard court	Rafael Nadal	6: 4, 6: 2
13.	May 18, 2008	Portschach (2)	sand	Juan Mónaco	6: 2, 2: 6, 6: 2
14th	June 9, 2008	Warsaw	sand	Tommy Robredo	6: 3, 6: 3
15th	July 19, 2009	Hamburg	sand	Paul-Henri Mathieu	6: 4, 6: 2
16.	July 27, 2009	Umag	sand	Juan Carlos Ferrero	6: 3, 6: 0
17th	September 28, 2009	Kuala Lumpur	Hard court (i)	Fernando Verdasco	6: 4, 7: 5
18th	October 11, 2009	Shanghai	Hard court	Rafael Nadal	7: 6 3 , 6: 3
19th	November 29, 2009	London	Hard court (i)	Juan Martín del Potro	6: 3, 6: 4
20th	January 9, 2010	Doha	Hard court	Rafael Nadal	0: 6, 7: 6 8 , 6: 4
21st	May 1, 2011	Munich	sand	Florian Mayer	6: 3, 3: 6, 6: 1

Final participation

No.	date	competition	Topping	Final opponent	Result
1.	May 26, 2003	St. Polten	sand	Andy Roddick	3: 6, 2: 6
2.	May 8, 2006	Estoril	sand	David Nalbandian	3: 6, 4: 6
3.	July 17, 2006	Båstad	sand	Tommy Robredo	2: 6, 1: 6
4th	April 20, 2008	Estoril (2)	sand	Roger Federer	6: 7 5 , 1: 2 problem
5.	November 16, 2008	Shanghai	Hard court (i)	Novak Đoković	1: 6, 5: 7
6th	January 8, 2011	Doha (1)	Hard court	Roger Federer	3: 6, 4: 6
7th	5th January 2013	Doha (2)	Hard court	Richard Gasquet	6: 3, 6: 7 4 , 3: 6

Double

Tournament victories

No.	date	competition	Topping	partner	Final opponent	Result
1.	October 11, 2004	Moscow	Carpet (i)	Igor Andreyev	Mahesh Bhupathi Jonas Bjorkman	3: 6, 6: 3, 6: 4
2.	February 9, 2014	Montpellier	Hard court (i)	Denis Istomin	Marc Gicquel Nicolas Mahut	3: 6, 6: 4, [10: 2]

Final participation

No.	date	competition	Topping	partner	Final opponent	Result
1.	October 17, 2005	Moscow	Carpet (i)	Igor Andreyev	Max Mirny Michail Juschny	1: 6, 1: 6
2.	June 9, 2008	Warsaw	sand	Yuri Shchukin	Mariusz Fyrstenberg Marcin Matkowski	0: 6, 6: 3, [4:10]

Balance sheet

singles

Tournament 1	2014	2013	2012	2011	2010	2009	2008	2007	2006	2005	2004	2003	2002	2001	total
Australian Open	2R	2R	1R	1R	VF	-	AF	VF	VF	VF	2R	1R	1R	2R	VF
French Open	1R	3R	1R	2R	-	VF	VF	HF	VF	HF	1R	2R	2R	2R	HF
Wimbledon	-	-	1R	1R	2R	3R	1R	AF	1R	2R	1R	1R	1R	-	AF
US Open	-	2R	2R	3R	2R	AF	AF	HF	HF	2R	3R	2R	2R	1R	HF
Individual titles won	0	0	0	1	1	5	3	1	5	1	2	1	1	0	21st
Overall wins / defeats 2	6:10	22:22	24:23	25:25	30:19	57:17	56:21	53:31	69:29	56:30	33:29	30:33	12:24	6:15	482: 329
Year-end position	251	53	44	41	22nd	6th	5	4th	3	5	28	44	85	79	N / A

Explanation of symbols: S = tournament victory; F, HF, VF, AF = entry into the final / semi-finals / quarter-finals / round of 16; 1R, 2R, 3R = elimination in the 1st / 2nd / 3rd main round or Q1, Q2, Q3 = elimination in the 1st / 2nd / 3rd qualifying round

¹ tournament result in brackets means that the player has not yet finished the tournament; it shows its current tournament status. After the player finishes the tournament, the bracket is removed.
² Status: end of career

Articles / reports

• Ben Gunn, Jeff Rees: Environmental Review of Integrity in professional tennis. (PDF; 639 kB) ITF , May 2008, accessed on January 13, 2009 (English). 

• "Something like this has never happened to me". ORF , October 26, 2007, accessed on January 13, 2009 (St. Petersburg 2007). 

• Harvey Araton: Free Market Comes With a Dark Side. The New York Times , August 7, 2007, accessed January 13, 2009 (Sopot, Poland 2007). 

• Micha Boeck, Fred Kowasch, Paul Weskam: How deep is “white sport” really in the swamp of betting fraud and manipulation? interpool.tv, January 14, 2008, accessed January 13, 2009 . 

• Robert Dunker: Fraud of the betting mafia in tennis is exposed. Die Welt Online, November 10, 2007, accessed January 13, 2009 . 

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Davydenko at the goal of his greatest dreams. In: kicker.de. November 19, 2009, accessed December 12, 2016 . 
2. ^ Davydenko Announces Retirement From Professional Tennis. In: atpworldtour.com. October 16, 2014, archived from the original on October 18, 2014 ; accessed on December 12, 2016 . 
3. ^ Davydenko facing new controversy. In: bbc.co.uk. November 1, 2007, accessed December 12, 2016 . 

Web links

Commons : Nikolay Davydenko  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• ATP profile of Nikolai Dawydenko (English)
• ITF profile of Nikolai Dawydenko (English)
• Davis Cup Stats Nikolay Davydenko (English)