Davydenko in the spotlight again

Very much akin to Cristiano Ronaldo, Robert Pires et al becoming known as exponents of 'simulation' in football, so it has finally come to pass that Nikolay Davydenko is now being viewed suspiciously by umpires as well as tennis fans.

After hitting the headlines recently for his part in the match fixing allegations in the Sopot event in Poland, it has now been reported that Davydenko was yesterday accused of 'not trying' by the umpire in the Russian's second round encounter with Marin Cilic in St Petersburg.

The BBC report that match umpire Jean-Philippe Dercq warned Davydenko after the world number four had double faulted in the third set to lose a game in a set that he eventually lost 6-1 and with it the match, despite strolling through the opener by the same margin.

Davydenko is quoted as saying "I double-faulted to lose a game in the third set and he gave me a warning saying I was trying to lose on purpose. I was simply shocked to hear him say that. This is just outrageous. How does he know what I was trying to do? I was so upset with the whole thing I started crying."

The phrase "crocodile tears" comes immediately to mind for a man whose extremely questionable record in suspicious matches is under investigation by the ATP and who after winning the first set of yesterday's match, recorded 10 double faults in the remaining two. The betting exchange Betfair no longer offer Davydenko matches to gamble on, which suggests that their evidence in the Sopot incident may be damning.

I watched the now infamous Davydenko v Vassallo Arguello encounter on live stream and am completely convinced beyond the slightest doubt that the match was fixed, along with many others, including several involving both Vassallo Arguello and Davydenko.

The US Open semi-finalist's excuse yesterday was that, "I started feeling tired. My legs were just dead by the third set. Maybe my problems are psychological, maybe it's in my head."

I have my own views as to where his problems lie and hopefully the evidence will come to light sooner rather than later, in order to rid the sport of matches such as the one in Sopot, which sadly is much more common that is generally thought.

Everyone who is involved with tennis knows that it happens, but do the ATP care enough or possess the evidence to be able to stamp it out? The answer apparently is negative to both.