‘I Have Beaten Him in All Our Matches’- Nikolay Davydenko Takes a Dig at Rafael Nadal’s Skills on Hard Courts

Rafael Nadal, the Spanish tennis professional, is undoubtedly one of the most prominent players of this generation. He has won 22 Grand Slams, 36 major titles and has held the ranking of World No.1 five times. Also, there are several records under his name that will take decades to break. Even so, there are few who still question his prowess.

Recently, the Russian tennis ace Nikolay Davydenko, who achieved the career highest ranking of World No.3 in 2006 and retired in 2014, shared his thoughts about Nadal’s skill set.

Davydenko doesn’t think Rafael Nadal is any good on hard courts

Davydenko, while speaking to the Clay magazine, commented about the Spaniards’ skills on the hard courts. He said, “For me, playing against Nadal on hard felt like playing against just another opponent. I have beaten him in all our matches on hard court.”

Nadal has locked horns with the Russian 11 times and trails behind with a score of 5-6. Further, speaking of the events of hard courts, they have met seven times on the surface and Nadal came out victorious only once.

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The former World No.1 was able to get the better of Davydenko in 2006 at Tennis Masters Cup in sets of 5-7, 6-4, 6-4. Apart from that, he was always thrown out by Davydenko in crucial rounds of major ATP tournaments such as the Shanghai and the Madrid Masters. In fact, in 2008, the Russian slipped the Miami Open title out of his hands.

Nadal’s Wimbledon situation

Nadal suffers from a rare degenerative disorder that causes deformation in the middle region of the foot. Thus resulting in tremendous pain in the middle and hind region of the foot. Earlier, after winning his 14th French Open title, he opened up about his persistent injury. And admitted that this injury might cause a halt in his career.

The left-handed tennis ace’s acceptance fueled the fire about his absence from this year’s Wimbledon Championship. As he mentioned that looking for a permanent cure will be his priority. Though now after going through the first session of his treatment, Nadal has returned to the courts.

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The 36-year-old was spotted practicing in the grass courts of Mallorca. Further, Nike’s recent update about Nadal’s outfit for the coming grass-based Grand Slam has strengthened the chances of him playing for his third title this year.