Monday, November 30, 2009 10:44 AM
Wacky week in London
The year-end ATP World Tour Finals are over but the bitter end of the tennis season does not officially come until after this weekend’s Davis Cup final between Spain and the Czech Republic in Barcelona.
You can’t read too much into Nikolai Davydenko’s win at the World Tour Finals, capped by a 6-3, 6-4 victory on Sunday over Juan Martin del Potro. The outcome was almost predictable after Saturday’s semi-finals when the rangy, six-foot-six Argentine was on court until midnight in defeating Robin Soderling 6-7(1), 6-3, 7-6(3) and didn’t get to bed until 3 a.m. before facing Davydenko at 2:30 p.m. later the same day.
Davydenko finished his afternoon semi-final win over Roger Federer about six hours earlier.
The $5-million (U.S.) event had a number of wacky plot turns, none greater than Andy Murray getting beat out by a single game in the round-robin tiebreak formula with a 44-43 total games differential to del Potro’s 45-43.
Here are quick takes on the big five and how they fared at London’s O2 Arena:
FEDERER: Never quite back into the swing following a post-US Open six-week break to spend quality time with his infant twin daughters, he lost for the first time in 13 matches to a remarkably resolved and resilient Davydenko 6-2, 4-6, 7-5 in the semi-finals. A worrisome sign: he dropped the first set in every match – wins over Murray and Fernando Verdasco and losses to del Potro and Davydenko.
NADAL: The struggling Spaniard lost all three round-robin matches – to Soderling, Davydenko and Djokovic. He looked alarmingly vulnerable and faces a gut check this weekend in the Davis Cup final on his beloved red clay against Tom Berdych and Radek Stepanek.
DJOKOVIC: The hottest player entering the finals, he hit the wall physically after a tough 3-6, 6-4, 7-5 win over Davydenko in his first match, paying the price for back-to-back wins in Basel and Paris two weeks earlier.
MURRAY: Having just split with his girlfriend (Kim Sears) of four years, with a bit of a groin/leg injury and feeling the weight of expectation playing at home, Murray never looked the part of the winner.
DEL POTRO: Back on track for the first time since his U.S. Open triumph, his power rating was off the charts, especially in winning the second set 6-3 against Murray and the first 6-2 over Federer. He would have overtaken Murray for the No. 4 ranking had he won the final.
But – kudos to Davydenko. His serve is dramatically improved and his magically-timed ground strokes remain one of the wonders of the tennis world.
While it was the greatest victory of his career, it is not likely a portent of Grand Slam success. At age 28, he has four semi-finals (two at Roland Garros and two at the U.S. Open) in 34 Grand Slam appearances.
He almost admitted as much after winning on Sunday. Asked about taking the next step at the biggest events in the game, he answered in his somewhat sketchy English, “If Grand Slams coming best‑of‑three sets, yes. I enjoy, you know to winning Grand Slam, maybe every one, because in three sets winning matches is much easy.”
Worth noting, according to stats maven Robert Waltz, here are the ATP ranking points earned by the top players since Wimbledon in July:
Novak Djokovic, 4,260
Nikolai Davyenko, 4,110
Juan Martin del Potro, 4,090
Roger Federer, 3,100
Andy Murray, 2,540
Rafael Nadal, 2,400
AD-IN
The latest variation on the Billie Jean King – Bobby Riggs male vs. female theme took place in Salzburg on Saturday when Thomas Muster, 42, played an all-Austrian match against Sybille Bammer, 29 and No. 55 in the WTA Tour rankings.
Muster, the 1995 French Open champion and former world No. 1, ballooned more than 50 pounds over his playing weight when he first retired but he is now back in shape. He beat Bammer 6-3, 6-2 to win a reported $100,000 (U.S.).
Anyone interested in following this weekend’s Davis Cup final between Spain and the Czech Republic via live streaming at 11 a.m. Friday, 11 a.m. Saturday and 7 a.m. Sunday (all times ET) can sign up for a small fee at.
