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My Biofile Interview with Nikolay Davydenko
4 Comments · Posted by Scoop Malinowski in Articles, Scoop
By Scoop Malinowski
We did this Biofile in 2005 at US Open when Davydenko had just entered the ATP top five. What a great player Daveydenko was, so machine like, technically perfect and smooth too. He just always seemed to run into Federer deep in the majors. Four times Davydenko reached a Grand Slam semifinal (2 US, 2 FO). Davydenko’s pinnacle came in 2009 when he won the World Tour Finals in London (def. Del Potro) but he also had some spectacularly impressive wins over Nadal, he even leads the head to head with Rafa 6-5. Overall, the Ukrainian born Russian won twenty one ATP singles titles…
Childhood Heroes: “Maybe movie heroes. Batman, Superman I guess [smiles]. (Tennis?) I don’t know. Who was good before? Ivan Lendl. Yannick Noah.”
Early Tennis Memory: “My memory was starting after the Futures, my first qualifying of ATP Tour in Amsterdam and I make semis (2000). I lost to Sluiter in semis.”
Pre-Match Feeling: “Anything. Nothing. Just more important to come to the court and do the best tennis that I can do.”
Favorite Meal: “Russian, Japanese, Italian.”
Favorite Ice Cream Flavor: “Vanilla and I think strawberry.”
Greatest Sports Moment: “Maybe semis Paris Roland Garros (2005).”
Most Painful Moment: “Not yet.”
First Job: “My job – I got no job. Just tennis my job [smiles].”
First Car: “Was now I win Z4 BMW silver. (Where?) Munich 2004. (Beat?) Verkerk in final. It was my first car because I won this one. Now I get more [laughs].”
Closest Tennis Friends: “Not yet. Just…I have no friends. Just family.”
Funniest Players: “For players? I don’t think. So funny…it’s nobody like, normal people everywhere.”
Toughest Competitors: “I think it’s Federer. Because I lose already five times against him [smiles].”
Favorite Tournaments: “It’s no tournaments. I like to play in Miami. I like to play in Cincinnati. It’s like few tournaments in America, few tournaments in Europe.”
Favorite Players To Watch: “Nobody. It’s not important for me, I don’t like to see tennis, only to play.”
Funny Tennis Memory: “It was for me, my shoe broke inside. And I just finished the match. I can’t do anything. I lose this match. I had no second pair, I have only one. I think it was against Agassi in Dubai.”
Favorite Athletes To Watch: “I know Khabibulin from NHL. I meet him in Scottsdale two years ago.”
Embarrassing Tennis Memory: “I don’t have no before.”
Favorite Vacation Spot: “I like to go to Thailand on holiday in Pattaya, it’s very nice.”
People Qualities Most Admired: “Like how we say in English…stand up people. Classic, normal gentleman. So for me it’s a little bit funny. I like to go speak with everybody but not some crazies. Some guys come up – I don’t know who is it – coming up, Hey Nikolay, what’s up? Who are you? I don’t know you? Not my friend. Why you just come to me like this? It’s just like crazy.”
You can read more Biofile interviews like this at Scoop’s site www.mrbiofile.com
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Andrew Miller · October 18, 2014 at 5:40 pm
Davydenko is as frank as he usually is. I remember when a few young U.S. players (Sweeting and Kuznetsov) were asked during the Davydenko-DY match in New Haven, I think in 06 or 07, who they were watching and they said “for sure Davydenko” given his footwork, prep (and probably a snub against the younger DY). But when they asked Davydenko about DY, and Davydenko being the frank tell it like it is no shame about his opinion kind of player, Davydenko said: DY has best strokes, forehand/backhand, of any U.S. player, period.
Period.
I think these days the best strokes nod goes more to players like Kudla and Kozlov. I don’t think Isner has bad strokes, or even Querrey. But the best I think that’s Kudla and Kozlov. Donaldson has a nice looking backhand. And I’d say DY’s strokes are less stable than Kudla or Kozlov but flashier, more interesting when he’s on a roll.
Nice tribute to Davydenko here at TP, and from Steve Tignor at Tennis.com. Dan is mentioned!
“Asked by my colleague Dan Markowitz in 2007 if he thought Andy Roddick would win another Grand Slam, Davydenko looked at him and said, simply, “No.”‘
Davydenko wasn’t just good – he was great. We’ll always remember the flair with which players like Baghdatis and Nalbandian play/played the game, but I’m pretty sure you have to put Daveydenko ahead of him as well as Ferrer (despite Ferrer’s slam performance(s) being ahead of Davydenko’s).
http://www.tennis.com/pro-game/2014/10/avatar/53054/#.VELXPitZ10k
Scoop Malinowski · October 18, 2014 at 7:16 pm
That’s interesting that Davydenko had high regard for DY’s strokes. I remember that match, one of the best he’s ever played. A lot of coaches don’t like DY’s bh so the fact Davydenko sees something good in it speaks well for it. I think Davydenko is actually a better player than several players who won majors. He just had the hard luck to have his prime in the same era as 3 of the GOAT. Like I say Davydenko is a better player than Gaudio, Johansson, A Costa, maybe even Rafter Roddick or Ferrero too. Davydenko, was top 5 for 5 years, he was great player.
Andrew Miller · October 18, 2014 at 11:08 pm
Pretty much agree. I think Rafter, Roddick had better careers , but in terms of completeness , davy ahead of them and better than jcf . When jcf came back, gets a lot of credit for that, just wasnt the same player. Not just that his peers passed him by, also jcf was comparitively a worse player.
Scoop Malinowski · October 19, 2014 at 9:35 am
Career ATP singles titles: Gaudio 8, T Johansson 9, Rafter – eleven, W Ferreira – fifteen, Safin – fifteen, Todd Martin 8, Ljubicic – ten, Ferrero – sixteen.