TENNIS WORLD TOUR FINALS: IT IS rare for the winner of the ATP World Tour Finals not to have won a grand slam title. The tournament, which began in 1970 as simply The Masters, is restricted to the world's leading players, and the great names have won it.
Before the victory yesterday by Russia’s Nikolay Davydenko, only Spain’s Alex Corretja and Argentina’s David Nalbandian had claimed the title without a major to their name, though at least both had reached a grand slam final before. Davydenko, who beat Argentina’s Juan Martin del Potro 6-3, 6-4, had done neither.
The 28-year-old Russian is obviously rather more than a journeyman, having played in four major semi-finals, two on the clay of Roland Garros and two at the US Open, but he has never registered on the radar in London before, having won only six matches in his eight visits to the All England Club. In fact his name is arguably better known among the betting fraternity than the tennis clubs of Britain.
Davydenko hit the headlines when he was involved in the longest inquiry into alleged match-fixing in tennis. Yesterday he was in the spotlight for the right reasons with victory adding €1.1 million to his bank account.
Even when he finished runner-up in this tournament to Serbia’s Novak Djokovic last year, he was given little credit or kudos.
“Oh, he’s very strong. I never beat him on hard courts or indoors. He’s very fast. He plays like PlayStation,” said Del Potro, who himself performed with all the energy of a man who had walked across the Argentinian pampas and back the night before.
In the pre-tournament publicity event, barely anybody wanted to speak to the Russian. All eyes were on Rafa Nadal, Roger Federer, Djokovic and Andy Murray. In fact, none of these top four players made it to the final and only Federer, who fell to Davydenko, was in the semi-finals.
In this respect it was a disappointing denouement to the tournament that attracted more than a quarter of a million spectators, with nine of the 15 sessions sold out. Had the 21-year-old Argentinian won, he would have displaced Murray as the world number four. His victory over Federer had knocked the Scot out of the competition at the round-robin stage, albeit by the margin of a single game, and there are clear signs the 6ft 6in Del Potro is already developing at a faster rate.
He has rattled Federer in successive matches now, and has the sort of power game Murray so often has difficulty coping with.
He also clearly has the mental edge now and, although there were only glimpses of his championship form against Davydenko, he is surely going to pose a huge threat to everybody next year.
As for Davydenko, he will continue to go about his business, with the hope that this title may help to launch him to a grand slam win, although it does not seem altogether likely.
On this occasion Del Potro did not have the energy to make his physical advantages count in what was only the fifth straight-sets win of tournament. So Davydenko became the first Russian to win this title and perhaps the least known. How many autographs had he signed over the last 10 days? “Not one,” came the answer.
Guardian Service
