from si wertheim : a little interview and a mail bag about nikolai
sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2007/writers/jon_wertheim/02/21/davydenko.bag/index.htmlNo one like NikolayMeet Davydenko, underrated No. 3 player in the world
Posted: Wednesday February 21, 2007
He's the third-ranked tennis player in the world and yet he could walk around your town for days without being recognized. In fact, he could probably walk around his town for days without being recognized. But that's about to change.
As promised, this week's mailbag (some of it, anyway) will be devoted to Nikolay Davydenko, or Ni-Da, as he's known in hipster circles. To consolidate so many of your questions, we interviewed the guy and tried to get a sense of the man behind the mystique.
The concept "lost in translation" echoes throughout this conversation. But I think you'll agree that this is a man with a q-rating waiting to explode. Nike, Coke, Microsoft, Google, unfurl those endorsement contracts while there's still patch space on the guy's sleeve. The world is on notice: It's Davydenko Time.
SI.com: What would you like people to know about you?
Davydenko: I'm from Russia. I live in Germany most of the time because my brother lives there. I buy a house there, too.
SI.com: You can do better than that.
Davydenko: I like fishing. I was just in Mauritius. I got married last year.
SI.com: You mentioned fishing before your wedding --
Davydenko: I caught a tuna and barracuda, but no marlin. I was fishing every day for three weeks.
SI.com: So congrats on the endorsement with Aimess.
Davydenko: Yes, it's a new company. A new sponsorship for me.
SI.com: This isn't just free gear, right? You're going to make some cash here.
Davydenko: Yeah, I'm gonna make some money! For three years! I still have Prince rackets.
SI.com: When will we be able to buy an Air Davydenko?
Davydenko: What you mean?
SI.com: Is there a shoe endorsement, too?
Davydenko: I can play in whatever I want because [Aimess] doesn't make shoes. I get some shoes from different company. But I have to like the shoes, you know. I can't move in Nikes! The new models, what I get, I don't like them. In Adidas, same. So I try some Filas Dmitry Tursunov gave me. Diadora too. I try different ones.
SI.com: So the No. 3 player in the world isn't buying his own shoes.
Davydenko: I buy if I like them. Normally, every company gives me shoes, I don't have to buy. But sometimes I like the old models and I buy those. Why not? My foot is more important than [free shoes] for me. I don't care. It's important that my feet are comfortable.
SI.com: Who's your best friend out here?
Davydenko: Nobody. I'm with my brother and my wife. That's my team. In tennis, if you're a singles player there are no friends.
SI.com: Are we going to see you play 30-some events this year?
Davydenko: I'm starting not so bad! But we'll see how I feel in the middle, how I finish the clay-court season. If I make big results at Monte Carlo or Hamburg, maybe I rest, play less tournaments. [Pause.] But maybe not.
SI.com: Seriously, what do you think it is? All the players want to shorten the schedule and you want to work overtime. Is it your body, your game?
Davydenko: I like to play. I like to spend time at tournaments. I have no kids. My wife comes with me. This is what I need to do: play tournaments. Why not all those weeks? Especially if my wife is with me, why go home?
SI.com: Does she work with you at all on a professional basis?
Davydenko: She's a psychologist.
SI.com: Right. Do you ever say, "Here's what I was thinking at 5-5 in the fifth set"?
Davydenko: No. Never professionally.
SI.com: You're No. 3 in the world. What do you make of your profile?
Davydenko: Maybe making this interview will help!
MAILBAG
Is Davydenko a purist? The man [has few endorsements] and is likable for all his misfired English comment about a tournament that supposedly no one cared about. He is so shortchanged in the tour for years now. For one, during the Australian Open, he got no exposure. Was that a punishment for that one bad tournament comment? I root for him most of the time. He deserves so much better for his dedication.
-- Grace, U.S.I absolutely agree. At a time when most stars want to play fewer events, here's a guy who plays every opportunity he can. He's completely devoted to his craft. He trains as hard as anyone. He's upgraded his game. If his ranking is perhaps inflated by his sheer industriousness, so be it. The guy works hard and he gets ahead. He's not tanking matches or gaming the system. How do you begrudge him?
As for his exposure, I think there are several forces working against him. First, he's a late bloomer and most companies want Next Big Things, not overachieving veterans. Second, he is, in essence, a man without a country. Third, he has the audacity to speak imperfect English. Fourth, his game isn't particularly sexy, the way, say, Fernando Gonzalez's is. (Still, the guy is the No. 3 friggin' player in the world!)
This would be a good time to mention, too, that the above interview was conducted perhaps 20 minutes after he lost a heartbreaking five-setter to Tommy Haas in the Australian Open quarterfinals. Players aren't good guys and bad guys based on how they respond to media requests, but I think Davydenko's willingness to cooperate and his self-deprecating answers were revealing.
If talent and work ethic are the two primary factors that account for a tennis player's ranking, what percentage of each of those factors would you ascribe to account for Davydenko's ascension to No. 3 in the rankings? What players currently outside the top 20, who have never reached the top three, could attain that ranking if they had Davydenko's work ethic?
-- Scott Humphrey, Austin, TexasObviously, work ethic is trumping talent in this case. But I would add "physique" as another factor in Davydenko's success. I don't care about his listed weight, the guy can't possibly tip the scales at more than 160 pounds. We're talking Petr Korda on Atkins. This might compromise his power but he's very light on his feet and, if not immune to injury, at least well-positioned to avoid wear and tear on his body.
Is it true that Davydenko stole Marcos Baghdatis' girlfriend last year?
-- Chris Davis, BostonThat rumor had been floating around last year -- the source has been traced to a dashing British tennis scribe -- and it's completely not true. Maybe it stemmed from this article by Ian Katz of the Sun-Sentinel during last year's Nasdaq:
"When you see Nikolay Davydenko you think, 'This guy's No. 5?' With his fair complexion, triangular face and thinning blond hair, he looks like a computer hacker who gets caught sending viruses from his parents' house. ... That's probably why he was upstaged by Camille Neviere, the girlfriend of Australian Open finalist Marcos Baghdatis, during the first day of practice. ...
"On the court next to Davydenko's, Baghdatis is hitting with 18th-ranked Dominik Hrbaty. Of the 40 or so people sitting in the stands, only one -- Neviere -- is wearing a black dress. Anyone who watched this year's Australian Open on TV would recall ESPN2's love affair with the French model. As Baghdatis and Hrbaty are hitting, some fans are watching the ball move east and west. Other fans, mainly young men, are watching Neviere. Even fewer are watching Davydenko, the fifth-best player on the planet. Davydenko, however, won sweet ironic justice: In a third-round match Sunday, he beat Baghdatis 7-5 in the deciding set."
My girlfriend thinks maybe Nikolay is an unreconstructed Marxist, and he has eschewed the excessive profits of clothing endorsements for political reasons. What do you think? Surely he could have a contract if he wanted one, but he chooses to keep his bankbook in the manageable seven figures.
-- Aaron G. St. Peter, Minn.First, if you found a girl so into tennis that she's devoting gray matter to Davydenko's political and philosophical leanings, marry her immediately. But if Davydenko is a Marxist, Kafelnikov is a socialist. No one who plays 40 weeks a year and has the attitude, "I need to make my kizz-ash while I can," (we paraphrase) can be accused of being a Marxist. ("We have nothing to lose but our best-of-18 result Dusseldorf.")
Did you know that the name Davydenko is an anagram of "Deny Vodka?" Perhaps this has something to do with Nikolay's training regimen.
-- Matthew, Pretoria, South AfricaNice. But there goes the likelihood of a Stoli endorsement. And here I thought Martina Hingis' anagram -- I am tarnishing -- was as good as it got.
Kolechka, time to wake up and start playing some tennis 
Meets Y. El Aynaoui in the first round. Udachi Kolya!!!! But wait..there is MORE 