PETE ZIEBRON
Nikolay Davydenko continued to play aggressive, inspired and impressive tennis as he defeated Juan Martin del Potro 6-3 6-4 in the Championship match of the 2009 Barclays ATP World Tour Final. Today’s Finals win over del Potro, the US Open Champ combined with a win earlier in the week in Group B round robin play over Australian Open Champ Rafael Nadal and yesterday’s semifinal win over Roland Garros and Wimbledon champ Roger Federer gives Davydenko a rare opportunity to boast about the fact that he defeated all of the holders of the 2009 Grand Slams in the same week.
Yesterday, Davydenko was two points from defeat against Roger Federer in the third set of the semifinals but managed to steady his game to win for the first time in 13 attempts against the world number one. Meanwhile, Juan Martin del Potro stormed back from a break down in the third set to rally and defeat Robin Soderling in a final set tiebreaker to advance to the Final against Davydenko.
The win today in the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals at the O2 Arena in London is the biggest in the career of Nikolay Davydenko and he improved to 5-0 in Finals in 2009 and to 19-5 in Finals in his career. The title will move Davydenko to #6 in the world, ahead of Andy Roddick who withdrew from the World Tour Finals due to an injury he sustained earlier this autumn in Asia. An injury (left heel) also impacted Davydenko’s play in the first quarter of 2009 and sidelined him from several tournaments, however he came roaring back to the tour and compiled a 50-12 record since May, winning five titles for the year.
Nikolay Davydenko’s best performances in Grand Slam competition have been 2 Roland Garros semifinals (2005 l. to Mariano Puerta and 2007 l. to Roger Federer) and 2 US Open semifinals (2006 l. to Federer and 2007 l. to Federer.) Following yesterday’s win over Federer, Davydenko is now brimming with poise:
- “But I know (I have) confidence, if I beat everyone, then I can play very well. Then (I feel), Why not?
Like if I come to the match, play against No. 1, No. 2, No. 3 in the world, I have chance. Is not like before match I feeling, Okay, I have 10% chance to win, and try to win. But now I was feeling, Yes, I can win match against these guys.
That's was really good confidence for sure for next year.”
Nikolay Davydenko and several other top ten players appear ready to most certainly challenge the stranglehold that Federer and Nadal have held for the last several years.
However, can the field defeat Federer and Nadal in a best-of-five format at the Grand Slams? The 2010 Australian Open gets underway exactly 7 weeks from today……….
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