During a rich interview granted to Clay Tennis, Nikolay Davydenko evoked with a certain self-confidence his confrontations against Rafael Nadal. The Russian is one of the few players to show a positive record (6-5) against the man with 22 Grand Slam titles.
“For me, facing Nadal on hard court was like playing against another opponent. I beat him in all our matches on hard courts (or almost, Rafa beat him once on hard courts, editor’s note), but I lost all my matches on clay, which is normal, he always wins Roland Garros . In tennis, it’s all about confrontations, my game matched Nadal’s well on the hard courts, I had no problems with him. Against clay specialists, Spaniards and Argentinians, these were the easiest matches for me on hard courts, because they play long rallies and hit with a lot of spin. I struggled against North Americans who hit hard and flat and wanted short runs”explained the former world number 3.
Published on Monday, June 20, 2022 at 6:17 PM
