Nikolay Davydenko

Nikolay Davydenko

Nikolay Davydenko hit the ball earlier than anyone else on tour, flat and through the shot, with a compact swing that left no time for opponents to read direction. No extreme grips, no loops, just footspeed that got him there a fraction sooner and technique that made returning it look simple. It carried a Russian who reached world No. 3 in November 2006 to four Grand Slam semi-finals and 21 career titles, most of them ground out against players who hit harder but rarely cleaner.

His finest week came late, at the 2009 ATP World Tour Finals in London, where he beat Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer, his first win over Federer in thirteen tries, before closing out Juan Martin del Potro in the final, 6-3, 6-4. A match-fixing inquiry opened after suspicious betting on his 2007 retirement against Martin Vassallo Arguello in Sopot; the ATP cleared him a year later. Chronic foot and wrist trouble wore him down, and he retired in October 2014 at 33.