image: Zuma Press

Davydenko commented on the fact that the weather was difficult to play in:  “When I started to run, I felt I had no power.  (I hit) a couple of winners which helped me, but it was tough. I would like to play a night session in the second round.”

I can’t even imagine having to work so hard on those really hot days.  I can barely move around my house to get a cool drink, never mind grunt it out on a tennis court.

The official Croatia Open website has announced that fans will be able to chat with Davydenko on July 30, 2009.  That sounds like a lot of fun!  Check out the site for more details.

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Davydenko Advances at Croatia Open

Venus Williams made the first step in defending her title (I’d forgotten she won last year. Which may not be surprising considering the number of Wimblys she’s won and her somewhat streaky nature.), and squeaked out a close first set against British hopeful Naomi Cavaday at 7-6 before dominating a 6-1 second set.

Jelena Jankovic and Maria Sharapova both turned in convincing performances in the first round to move on, and Dinara Safina won her first set in a tiebreak before ousting Yung-Jan Chan with a 6-2 second set.

The expected names from the men’s side (except for our Slacker of the Day) moved on; Richard Gasquet, Rafael Nadal, Andy Roddick, Andy Murray and James Blake are all into the second round as well.

And tomorrow – who’s going to be our slacker of Wimbledon: Day 3?

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Davydenko Hasta la Pasta; Jankovic, Venus Move On

Monfils and Jurgen Melzer traded sets with Melzer winning the first and third with scores of 6-4 in each set, but Monfils won the second set 7-5 and then blanked Melzer in the fourth set before finishing him off with a 6-2 fifth set.

Fourth-ranked Nikolay Davydenko won the first two sets off Ljubicic 6-4, 6-2, but the 28th-ranked Croatian stormed back in the third set with a 6-3 flattening of Davydenko and followed it up with a 6-2 fourth set to level it at two sets apiece. The deciding set went in favor of Ljubicic when he earned the early break and then held at love when he served out the set at 6-4 to win the match.

Whew…exciting! I’m telling you, that’s what these Grand Slams are about – me sitting on the couch watching tip-top athletes completely expend themselves on a tennis court for several hours!

(Image: Newscom)
Gael Monfils stretches out for a return at the French Open…check out his arms, any takers for two tickets to the gun show?

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Five-set Matches: Monfils and Ljubicic Move On, Davydenko Out

However, Federer won his first title of 2008 at the Estoril Open after Nikolay Davydenko retired with a leg injury. Federer had won the first set 7-6 and the second set was at 1-2 when Davydenko cried uncle. Even though the title came by such a default move, I can’t imagine Federer is going to be too upset about it. It’s a title – something he’s been without since the Masters Cup in Shanghai last November.

Pete Sampras is backing Federer, though and I’m much more willing to take his word than a bunch of non-descript sports reporters who think they know tennis.

“He’s created this monster of winning so many tournaments and so many majors and doing it with ease. He hasn’t lost his edge. He’s lost a couple of matches and, if anything, that’ll do him good. It’ll get him going and fired up,” said Sampras.

I think that’s pretty close to the mark. Federer had a strangle-hold on the tennis game for four years (except for on clay where he fell just short of winning the French). That’s a long time – that’s a college-degree, three promotions or a wife and kid amount of time we’re talking about. Just because some of the other players have closed the gap means only one thing: some rockin’ tennis tournaments for us to watch!

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Federer Wins First Title of 2008

Actually, it was a clinic on Davydenko’s part. Nadal didn’t ever really get his feet under him, and he didn’t know what to do with Davydenko’s cross-court winners. They had a wicked slice and a lot of speed. I wouldn’t have known what to do either.

I always pull for Rafa, but he didn’t act like he cared a whole lot out there today. I think he’s ready for the clay court season, and that’s what he wants to focus on. He’s done more and been more successful on other surfaces than most of the tennis critics thought he would be capable of. I remember early on in his career, a lot of people pointed to him and said, “Here is a prolific clay player, but he’s not going to do a whole lot on hard courts or grass.”

Rafa obviously proved them wrong…speaking of proving wrong, does Davydenko’s title win put his naysayers to rest? I’ve never been a big fan but you certainly can’t trump up a he-didn’t-try-hard-enough charge this time because he’s hoisting the trophy.

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Davydenko wins Sony Ericsson

Davydenko had fallen in the last five meetings with Roddick, but he gave Roddick a dose of his own medicine and advanced to the final where Rafael Nadal awaits.

Remember when every tournament Roger played in there was only one spot in the final to fight for because the other was already his?

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Roddick fails to follow upset, Loses to Davydenko

I don’t know if you can trust a lawyer – I would seriously advise against it – but in this case, we’ll pretend like what Frank Immenga said is true.

So what’s the next step for Davydenko? Now that he is supposedly going to be free of all the baggage that comes with accusations of being a criminal, will it affect his game? Publicity – it can make ya or break ya.

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Innoncent Until Proven Guilty

Anyway, that long explanation shortens a very long article about the debacle on whether the ATP has jurisdiction over third party records, so on and so forth.

The point? Just don’t bet. Throw your money into some investment or something.

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Davydenko jumping into the fire

His words and proclamation that corruption was commonplace in tennis have done nothing but bring on more questions for Murray and his knowledge about corruption.

Nikolay Davydenko, who pulled out of the Madrid Masters because of an elbow injury, flung an accusation Murray’s way. Davydenko stated, “I think it’s a guy trying to be more famous than he is on the tour.” So says the guy ranked fourth in the world and safely secure in his spot at the Masters Cup in Shanghai.

Since Murray spouted his words of corruption, he has been trying to downplay them and pulling the “out of context” card. Murray will be questioned by the ATP but forgive me if I do not hold a lot of hope for this avenue of action to accomplish anything of substance.

Because Davydenko has a point. Regardless of whether Murray was aware of the effect his words would have, he is in the spotlight. He is getting attention. It may not be for something good but publicity is publicity. You get it where you can take it, right?

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Murray’s Words Coming Back to Haunt

Nikolay Davydenko won his second straight Kremlin Cup title in a 7-5, 7-6 (9) win over Paul-Henri Mathieu on Sunday. Davydenko was the top seed at the tournament and it was his first title of the season.

The bigger story, however, was Elena Dementieva’s comeback win over Serena Williams. Dementieva pulled off the 5-7, 6-1, 6-1 upset win over the fourth-seeded Williams. Dementieva was playing in front of a home crowd and was helped along by Williams’ 59 unforced errors.

The best two quotes from these two?

“I knew that if I did not beat Serena today, it would never happen again. I just stepped on the court and played my tennis.” – Dementieva

“Dementieva played really unbelievable. She should try to play like that more often.” – Williams

Dementieva talked about believing in herself, playing her game. Although she thought Sunday was her one shot at beating Serena, she knew she could do it.

Williams, while crediting Dementieva’s game, comes off rather – ah….condescending - in how she referred to Dementieva’s game. Insinuating that Dementieva  doesn’t give it her all or play her best tennis every time she steps on the court?

Ah, the intricacies at the top of the tennis world.

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Kremlin Cup