The Hindu : Sport : Injured heel lets down Nikolay Davydenko

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Injured heel lets down Nikolay Davydenko

Nandita Sridhar

Chennai Open top seed also pulls out of Australian Open

— Photo: R. Ragu

OUT OF ACTION: Nikolay Davydenko announces his withdrawal from the Chennai Open on Wednesday.

Chennai: Nikolay Davydenko’s persistent left heel injury forced him into pulling out of the Chennai Open and the Australian Open, on Wednesday. The top-seed made the announcement at the SDAT Nungambakkam Stadium a day after his first-round match. Davydenko was scheduled to play Lukas Dlouhy of the Czech Republic in the second round.

“I felt it before Abu Dhabi. It was actually there from last year, but I’ve been in quite a bit of pain mainly for the last two months. I had the same problem in Shanghai as well.

No exact details

“It was a lot more painful last week. I haven’t taken an MRI as yet, so I don’t have exact details. I played my first match yesterday, but when I woke up today morning, I couldn’t walk, and couldn’t play.

“It was painful. I will go home and check. There will be no chance of playing here or at the Australian Open,” said the Russian.

When asked if his packed schedule would suffer in the future, he said, “It’s not really about playing a lot of matches or less. If you are fit and are feeling fresh, why not play? If I travel to Australia, it might worsen. “I will first try and understand what’s happening and then decide when to make a comeback. I might try and make it for Rotterdam after the Australian Open. I will get a clearer picture next week.”

No affect on rankings

Davydenko was confident the break wouldn’t affect his rankings significantly.

“I don’t have too many points to defend so there is no danger of going out of the top-10. I’ll probably be six or seven or eight. There will still be three Grand Slams after this, and the Masters. I want to play them all. I will focus on my fitness and look for better results this year.”

The length of the season, he explained, wasn’t a subject of concern. “Some say it’s too long. Some say it’s too short. The player has to decide how much he wants to play.”

Meanwhile, rain disrupted Wednesday’s schedule, delaying the start of play to 8.45 p.m.

The results: Ivo Minar (Cze) bt Wayne Odesnik (USA) 6-3, 6-0; Janko Tipsarevic (Srb) bt Pablo Andujar (Esp) 6-3, 6-2; Marcel Granollers (Esp) bt Hyung Taik Lee (Kor) 6-4, 7-5; Flavio Cipolla (Ita) bt Stanislas Wawrinka (Sui) 6-4, 6-1;Carlos Moya (Esp) bt Danai Udomchoke 6-3, 7-6(4).

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