Mondays With Bob Greene: Davydenko Takes London

STARS

Nikolay Davydenko beat Juan Martin del Potro 6-3 6-4 to win the ATP World Tour Finals in London, England

Kimiko Date-Krumm beat Bojana Jovanovski 7-5 6-2 to win the Dunlop World Challenge in Toyota, Japan

Michal Przysiezny beat Stephane Bohli 4-6 6-4 6-1 to win the IPP Open in Helsinki, Finland

SAYING

“Everybody concentrates on (Rafael) Nadal and (Roger) Federer. Everybody’s looking this way, not on me. Maybe now, after London, I’ll be just a small part famous here in London. And I hope that I will become famous in Russia. For me it’s really important. It was always disappointing when I played against Marat and it was 80 percent support for him. I hope now Marat is finished everybody supports me.” – Nikolay Davydenko, after winning the ATP World Tour Finals.

“He’s very fast. He plays like PlayStation. He runs to everywhere. It’s very difficult to make winners.” – Juan Martin del Potro, after losing to Nikolay Davydenko in the season-ending event in London.

“I knew before the tournament that it was going to be really tough, difficult, but I tried. Every day I tried my best, nobody can say I didn’t. But that’s tennis. I’m playing against the best players in the world. It wasn’t enough on this surface.” – Rafael Nadal.

“It means a lot to have returned to number one and to finish the year again at number one. It was an incredible year for me both on the court and off the court and to be able to break the all-time Grand Slam record and finish the year on top is amazing.” – Roger Federer.

“I’m not saying I’m dead tired, I’m saying I’m exhausted from the season. And I think you don’t need confirmation from my face to see that. I think it’s obvious on the court that I’m not moving and I’m not that energetic as I was maybe in Paris or Basel. Still, I managed to get two out of three wins. If I finish the season now, I will be very happy to finish in this way and just hope to rest well for 2010.” – Novak Djokovic, who failed to reach the semifinals in his bid to repeat as champion of the season-ending tournament.

“I wouldn’t say it’s been a great year. It’s actually been a really bad first six months, and a really good last six months.” – Robin Soderling, who finished the year in the top 10 in the world.

“It means so much. It’s pretty much what we play for now. I mean, that’s the goal. Play well in the slams, but the ultimate goal is to finish number one.” – Bob Bryan, after he and twin Mike won the ATP World Tour Finals doubles and finished the year as the top-ranked team.

“It’s not enough to play good tennis to beat these guys. You need to play good tennis and also play very good in the very important moments.” – Fernando Verdasco.

STANDING ALONE

In the end, after a year of circumnavigating the globe, it was Nikolay Davydenko who stood alone on top of the tennis world. The Russian won the biggest title of his career when he captured the ATP World Tour Finals in London, England, besting US Open champion Juan Martin del Potro 6-3 6-4 in the final. Davydenko ousted top-ranked Roger Federer, the reigning French Open and Wimbledon champion, in the semifinals. And in the round-robin portion of the season-ending tournament, he beat Australian Open winner Rafael Nadal. It was the second straight year Davydenko has reached the final of the year-ending event. Last year, in Shanghai, China, he lost to Novak Djokovic. In 2009, Davydenko was perfect in finals, winning all five times he reached the championship match.

STEADY LIGHT

Just three days into the season-ending ATP World Tour Finals, Roger Federer had wrapped up the year-ending number one ranking for a fifth time. The Swiss superstar was assured of the top ranking when he rallied to beat Andy Murray 3-6 6-3 6-1. Pete Sampras and Jimmy Connors are the only other men to finish the year as the top-ranked player at least five times since the rankings started in 1973. Sampras has the most with six. “Obviously, that was one of my big goals for this season. And it’s one of the greatest performances I think I’ve achieved,” said Federer, who this year reached all four Grand Slam tournament finals, got married and had twin girls. “Playing so well at the most important moments, it’s been the key this year. And staying healthy.”

SO SWEDE IT IS

Robin Soderling wasn’t even supposed to be playing in the season-ending ATP World Tour Finals. But when Andy Roddick pulled out with an injury, Soderling made the most of his chance, convincing many that his run to the French Open final earlier in the year wasn’t a fluke. The Swede beat Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic in straight sets in the round-robin phase to win Group B. He then lost to US Open champion Juan Martin del Potro in the semifinals, ending his remarkable run. “I’ve played against the very, very best and I won two matches and lost two,” said Soderling, who fell to eventual champion Nikolay Davydenko in three sets in his final group match. “I think I’ve showed that I can compete with these guys without playing my best tennis.” Soderling’s biggest upset of the year came at the French Open when he ousted four-time champion Nadal in the fourth round. “I want to get stronger. I want to get faster. I want to move better,” the Swede said. “I want to return better and I want to volley better. If I can do that, things will turn out well.”

STOPPED

It just wasn’t to be as Daniel Nestor and Nenad Zimonjic were unable to successfully defend their ATP World Tour Finals doubles title. “We had high hopes coming in here,” Nestor said. “We were playing well, we were the number one team.” The Canadian-Serbian duo won the crown in Shanghai, China, last year. And they captured Wimbledon in July. But they lost their first two round-robin matches in London and failed to reach the semifinals. “It’s frustrating to lose to teams that we’ve been beating, but that’s part of life,” Nestor said.

SUPER SENIORS

Marina Erakovic must have felt like a baby when she took the court for a semifinal doubles match at the Dunlop World Challenge in Toyota, Japan. The 21-year-old from New Zealand teamed with 32-year-old Tamarine Tanasugarn of Thailand to beat two really old-timers, Japan’s Kimiko Date-Krumm and Indonesia’s Yayuk Basuki. Date-Krumm turned 39 in September; Basuki turned 39 on November 30. Although she lost in doubles, Date-Krumm won the singles title, beating Serbia’s Bojana Jovanovski 7-5 6-2. Jovanovski doesn’t turn 18 until December 31.

SPOTLIGHT, PLEASE

Now that he’s captured the season-ending ATP World Tour Finals, Nikolay Davydenko is looking for respect – and space in the spotlight. Although he has been ranked in the top 10 in the world for the last five years, Davydenko has remained almost anonymous, especially at home in Moscow where fellow player Marat Safin has been a tremendous fan favorite. “I hope that I will become famous in Russia. For me it’s really important. It was always disappointing when I played against Marat and it was 80 percent support for him,” Davydenko said. “I hope now Marat is finished everybody supports me.”

STAYING HOME?

Japan’s top player on the men’s tour, Kei Nishikori, says he may miss the Australian Open because of an elbow injury. “I can’t make a schedule for the tour until my elbow is completely healed,” the 19-year-old Nishikori said. “I still need one or two months to be back to 100 percent. I want to take part (in the Australian Open), but probably I can’t.” Nishikori, who turns 20 in late December, has been sidelined since injuring his right elbow in March. He underwent surgery in August and resumed training at the end of October. “I think my condition is about 70 percent now,” Nishikori said.

SCHEDULES SET

Jelena Dokic will play at the Hobart International as she prepares for next month’s Australian Open. The 26-year-old Dokic, once ranked number four in the world, beat three seeded players on her way to the quarterfinals of the 2009 Australian Open. “She captured the hearts of all tennis fans at the Australian Open in January and hopefully she can continue her form in the main draw here and get her 2010 season off to a winning start,” Hobart tournament director Michael Roberts said. The Hobart tournament begins January 8.

American James Blake will begin his 2010 season by playing at the Brisbane International, one of the key warm-up events to the Australian Open. Others in the field include fellow American Davis Cupper Andy Roddick, US Open champion Kim Clijsters and fellow Belgian Justine Henin.

SPLITSVILLE

In what was their last match together, Mahesh Bhupathi of India and Mark Knowles of the Bahamas lost to American twins Bob and Mike Bryan in the semifinals of the ATP World Tour Finals. Next year Bhupathi will team with Max Mirnyi of Belarus, while Knowles will join up with American Mardy Fish. During their two years together, Bhupathi and Knowles reached two Grand Slam finals, at the Australian Open and US Open.

SWITCHING NATIONALITIES

Jarmila Groth is now an Australian. A native of the Slovak Republic, Jarmila Gajdosova fell in love with Australia on her first visit Down Under as a 14-year-old. She established residency in the country in 2004 and became a member of the Australian Institute of Sport Pro Tour program in late 2007. Earlier this year, she married fellow tennis professional Sam Groth. Now she has become a naturalized citizen and can finally represent Australia in Fed Cup. A member of the Slovak Fed Cup team in 2003, Groth has been sidelined since the US Open where she suffered an ankle injury. She is scheduled to return at the Brisbane International in January.

SWITCHING SITES

After a 65-year run, the Austrian Open is no more. The clay-court tournament has been dropped from the ATP World Tour calendar after a legal dispute with local authorities over the tennis stadium in Kitzbuehel, Austria. The tournament rights have been moved to Nice, France, for at least the next five seasons. Austrian Open tournament director Ronnie Leitgeb said the Kitzbuehel city council refused to sign an agreement on the terms of use of the stadium. It is the second straight year that an Austrian tournament has been dropped from the ATP calendar. The tournament is Poertschach, Austria, ended its run a year ago.

SPEAKING UP

Michael Chang says Asian men just need better coaching if they are to match the success of Asian female players. There currently are eight Asian women ranked in the top 100 in the world, led by China’s Li Na at number 15. The highest-ranked man is Taiwan’s Lu Yen-hsun at number 96. The 1989 French Open champion and once ranked second in the world, Chang said the disparity between the sexes is due to coaching. Thailand’s Paradorn Srichaphan reached a career-high ranking of number nine in the world before being sidelined with a wrist injury. “It’s not that easy for some of these players in China to get the coaching they need,” said Chang, a Chinese-American who grew up in Encinitas, California. “Nearly all of these Chinese girls that have had success have had coaching from foreign coaches. You can work really hard, but if you’re not training in the right way you’re not going to improve and get to the level that you want to.”

STELLAR MIX

Michael Chang, Stefan Edberg and Marat Safin will compete in the Hong Kong Tennis Classic, an exhibition that will mix retired male players and active female players. Others in the field include Venus Williams, Maria Sharapova, Caroline Wozniacki, Victoria Azarenka and Vera Zvonareva. The competition begins January 6.

SWINGING AWAY

Andy Murray wants umpires to get tough on players who delay a match. The 22-year-old British star seemed to be agitated during his three-set loss to Fernando Verdasco at the ATP World Tour Finals, having to wait for his Spanish opponent after changeovers. “For me, if it’s 25 seconds that you get between the points, I think some of the tournaments it’s 20 seconds, and if you’re over a couple of times, there has to be a warning,” Murray said. “There’s no excuse for that. And when the umpire calls time, you should be out of your chair. That’s it. That’s the reason why they have those time limits. If the umpire calls time and your opponent is allowed to sit there for an extra 15 seconds, then I just don’t think you should be allowed to do that.”

SWINGING FOR $$$$

Lindsay Davenport will join twins Bob and Mike Bryan, along with US Open surprises Melanie Oudin and John Isner for the BCF Tennis Challenge to be played December 9 in Baltimore, Maryland, USA. The event, presented by The Baltimore Sun Media Group, is the longest running annual charity event in the world. Since 1986, more than USD $4 million has been raised and distributed to area charities through Pam Shriver’s partnership with the Baltimore Community Foundation. Davenport has won three Grand Slam tournament singles titles and is one of six players to reach the number one world ranking in both singles and doubles. She finished in the Top 20 in singles for 13 consecutive years. “Lindsay is a future Hall of Famer. She ranks along side of Steffi Graf, Martina Navratilova and Chris Evert as one of only four players who have been ranked year-end number one on four (different) occasions,” said Shriver, the tournament chairperson.

STELLAR DRAW

Sweden’s Daniel Berta, currently the top-ranked junior in the world, and France’s Gianni Mina, who lost to Berta in the French Open Junior Boys final, are top-seeded at the 63^rd Dunlop Orange Bowl International Tennis Championships, which begins December 6 in Key Biscayne, Florida, USA. The tournament features singles and doubles competition for boys and girls in 18-and-under and 16-and-under divisions. The Girls’ 18s field includes Kristina Mladenovic of France, who won the girls singles at Roland Garros, and Heather Watson of Great Britain, the US Open junior girls singles champion. The American contingent will be led by Denis Kudla of Arlington, Virginia, and Raymond Sarmiento of Fontana, California, in the Boys’ 18s, and Beatrice Capra of Ellicott City, Maryland, and Ester Goldfield of Brooklyn, New York, in the Girls’ 18s. Past winners of the Orange Bowl 18-and-under singles include Chris Evert, Bjorn Borg, John McEnroe, Ivan Lendl, Gabriela Sabatini, Jim Courier, Anna Kournikova and Andy Roddick.

SPONSOR RETAINED

Smarting from being forced to miss the year-ending ATP World Tour Finals because of an injury, Andy Roddick is looking forward to 2010. The American has begun training and announced a renewed four-year sponsorship deal with Lacoste. Financial details of the deal with the French apparel maker were not announced. Roddick had one of his best years in 2009, reaching the semifinals of the Australian Open and losing to Roger Federer 16-14 in the fifth set of an epic Wimbledon final. Roddick is planning to start in Brisbane, Australia, in January, then move on to the Australian Open.

SITE SWITCH

The Indianapolis Tennis Championships will be leaving the Indiana capital. Tournament director Kevin Martin said the sanctioning rights to the ATP event will be sold. “We’ve had no offers from anyone in Indianapolis to buy it, so I anticipate it will be moving,” Martin said. The event was voted Tournament of the Year by the players a record 11 times, including 10 consecutive years from 1988-97. The last honor came in 2001. Part of the US Open Series, the tournament has struggled financially since RCA pulled out as title sponsor after the 2006 event. From 1969 to 1986, the men’s and women’s tournament was called the US Open Clay Court Championships. It was a men’s only clay event in 1987 and has been a men’s hard court tournament since 1988. “For a multitude of economic reasons, we decided the best decision was the sell the sanction rights,” Martin said.

SAD NEWS

Mike Penner, a longtime Los Angeles Times sportswriter who made headlines in 2007 when he announced that he was transsexual, is dead at the age of 52. The cause of death was not immediately determined but was believed to be suicide. Penner covered tennis, the Olympics, the Angels, World Cup soccer, sports media and a variety of other assignments. In April 2007, he surprised colleagues and readers when he announced that he was “a transsexual sportswriter.” Writing as Christine Daniels, Penner started a column for the paper’s website in May 2007 and a blog about the transition. In October 2008, he returned to using the Mike Penner byline. He is survived by his brother, John, a copy editor at The Times, and his former wife, Times staff writer Lisa Dillman.

SHARED PERFORMANCES

London: Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan beat Max Mirnyi and Andy Ram 7-6 (3) 6-3

Toyota: Marina Erakovic and Tanasugarn Tamarine beat Akari Inoue and Akiko Yonemura 6-1 6-4

Helsinki: Rohan Bopanna and Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi beat Jarkko Nieminen and Henri Kontinen 6-2 7-6 (7)

SITES TO SURF

Davis Cup: www.daviscup.com

ITF: www.itftennis.com/

Salzburg: http://tennis.wettpoint.com/en/challenger-atp/salzburg-indoors.html

London: www.aegonmasterstennis.com

TOURNAMENTS THIS WEEK

(All money in USD)

ATP