Nikolay Davydenko says he has no plans to retire soon – Tennis News
Former world number three, Nikolay Davydenko of Russia, has brushed off the talk of his retirement, saying that he is happy to be in the top 50 and he would not push his body at this age.
The 31-year-old is featuring at the Malaysia Open in Kuala Lumpur this week. The Russian star defeated India’s low ranked player, Sanam Singh, in straight sets 7-5, 6-4 in the first round of this ATP World Tour 250 hard court event.
Talking to the reporters after the match, Davydenko said, “I don’t want to push myself any more. I am happy to maintain my top 50 ranking and enjoy tennis. My wrist injury [suffered in 2010] has fully recovered, but at this age
it is not easy staying fit throughout the entire year.”
The former Russian number one added, “I had great winners at times (on Wednesday) but a couple of silly mistakes followed. If I play like how I did today, then I have no chance of beating Istomin.”
The Moscow, Russia resident was third to just Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal at one time. The biggest achievement of his career is winning the ATP World Tour Finals in 2009. Davydenko has made to the quarter-finals of Grand Slams
four times so far, reaching the last four-stage of French Open and US Open twice. The Russian is a winner of three ATP World Tour Masters 1000 events.
Davydenko entered the top 10 in June 2005 and attained his career best ranking of number three in November 2006. The Russian star stayed among the 10 best players of the world for almost four straight years, dropping to 11th
position in April 2009. The right-hander came back there three months later and remained in top 10 till October 2010 but his ranking started to drop continuously after that, going out of the best 50 in at the start of this year.
The 5ft 10in tall succeeded in defeating Uzbekistan’s Denis Istomin in straight sets 7-5, 6-4 in the second round of Malaysia Open. He will either face Albert Ramos of Spain or the third seed, Kei Nishikori, in the quarter-finals.
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