Nikolay Davydenko just beat one of the best tennis players in the world, Rafael Nadal, to take home the Shanghai Masters title. It is also the fourth one for Davydenko for this year and eighteenth by the time he became pro. He attributed his win to the angles and flat ground strokes. He also believed that he was in his element.
Nevertheless, Nadal is not upset with his loss. It’s already a lucky break for him, after he didn’t play for more than a month because of a pulled muscle in the stomach. This was during the U.S. Open. He also didn’t go to court for two months after French Open because of tendinitis he suffered in both of his knees.
Despite the positive outlook of Nadal, the game didn’t finish without drama. The forehand of Nadal got a late outcall from the linesperson. He challenged it, disappointing Davydenko who was already thinking that he was winning. It was only during replay that he saw that it was actually a long land for Nadal’s ball, sealing Davydenko’s victory. The first thing he did was to run to his wife, Irina, and kiss her.
Besides his win in Shanghai, the Russian also took home winnings during the tennis tournaments held in Umag and Hamburg for this year.