Do you believe Davydenko is guilty of tanking matches?

[tennisfanatic]

Two of his previous tournaments, he was accused of "not trying hard enough." Do you think he really did not try hard enough and that he was tanking a match?


For me I am undecided....

It may be true that he was tanking a match since we all know that we can intentionaly serve double faults..... but i cannot find a very good reason he would do so (unless he's crazy or something) when he is in middle of match fixing controversy.... we would expect instead otherwise....


It is possible also he just lost his serve during these matches....


m confused.... Tennis is in wayward scale this year... match fixing controversy... cocaine scandal... and Fed loosing to Nalby....

Here's a video of Davydenko's match where he was scolded for not trying hard enough in play....

http://tennisworld.typepad.com/backcourt_framed/2007/10/best-effort-cal.html

 

[Fee]

I think Davydenko is suffering from a horrible case of burnout. All of the tennis that he has played the last two years has caught up with him, in addition to the stress of the off-court issues. I also think that he might have an injury, possibly to his foot, that he is trying to hide for some reason. He came to Paris for the bonus money, but perhaps he really should have just taken the time off. I would hate for him to show up in Shanghai in this state, I really want to see some quality matches there this year.

 

[Moose Malloy]

newsflash: borg, mac, connors, lendl, edberg, wilander, sampras, agassi all tanked matches.

The unique demands of an individual sport make it almost impossible for top players to not tank occassionally. If you withdraw at the last minute you get fined or ripped by TD's, or are forced to miss a more important event the next week, etc. Sometimes its just easier to tank.

 

[MEAC_ALLAMERICAN]

I don't think Davydenko is tanking matches at all, I think in fact he is a little injured or tired. All of a sudden umpires are coaches?? I didn't see much fuss being made when Coria was throwing in double faults, I gues it's easy to pick on Davydenko. But whatever the case might be, I hope he comes through this and things get better.

 

[laurie]

Its' something we've been discussing for two years, Davydenko has played far too much and it might all be catching up with him - he could be burned out.

This is a clear warning to Jelena "Weird Al" Jankovic.

 

[anointedone]

I cant believe there are hardly any "yes" votes. Isnt all the various things that have happened in the last few months evidence enough.

 

[johnkidd]

I think he's burned out. The guy plays almost every week. If my math is right he's played 30 events this year. On the ATP website his record is listed as 51-28 w/o the Paris result being factored in. So that is his 29th loss, and one tournament victory would bring us to 30. Granted two of those are DC loses. The impressive thing is he has advanced to the 4th round or better of all the slams. He also seems to do well in the Masters Series events, but suffers the early round loss in the lesser events.

http://www.atptennis.com/3/en/players/playerprofiles/playeractivity.asp?player=D402


Seems he'd do well to skip a few of these smaller events and concentrate on the Slams and Masters.

 

[edberg505]

I cant believe there are hardly any "yes" votes. Isnt all the various things that have happened in the last few months evidence enough.

And are these things you have classified as evidence? Can Davydenko control how people are betting? What kinda bs is that? To be honest, it sounds like to me that these clowns didn't want to pay out the money that was due to the people who won.

 

[norcal]

newsflash: borg, mac, connors, lendl, edberg, wilander, sampras, agassi all tanked matches.

The unique demands of an individual sport make it almost impossible for top players to not tank occassionally. If you withdraw at the last minute you get fined or ripped by TD's, or are forced to miss a more important event the next week, etc. Sometimes its just easier to tank.

The man speaks the truth. Well types it anyway.

 

[Fee]

Its' something we've been discussing for two years, Davydenko has played far too much and it might all be catching up with him - he could be burned out.

This is a clear warning to Jelena "Weird Al" Jankovic.

Yeah good point. She's already said she will change her schedule next year. Djokovic the same.

 

[norcal]

And are these things you have classified as evidence? Can Davydenko control how people are betting? What kinda bs is that? To be honest, it sounds like to me that these clowns didn't want to pay out the money that was due to the people who won.

Edberg, there was 10X the amount of money bet on this match than normally would be. A lot of it came in late on Arguello after Davy had schooled him 6-2 in the first set. How do you explain this away?

Davy's explanation was 'well maybe someone I knew who knew I was injured told someone else.' But that makes no sense either - that would explain betting on Arguello before the match but not after Davy whooped him in the first.

Someone, anyone, explain how this happens without the player being involved.

 

[cuddles26]

He definitely is. He tanks all the tournaments that are the grand slams this year it seems.

 

[CAM178]

Edberg, there was 10X the amount of money bet on this match than normally would be. A lot of it came in late on Arguello after Davy had schooled him 6-2 in the first set. How do you explain this away?

Davy's explanation was 'well maybe someone I knew who knew I was injured told someone else.' But that makes no sense either - that would explain betting on Arguello before the match but not after Davy whooped him in the first.

Someone, anyone, explain how this happens without the player being involved.

Let it go, man. You don't want to fire up Edberg on the topic of Davydenko. Take it from someone who angered It.

 

[superstition]

Better start fining Safin. I haven't personally seen Davydenko "tank" matches. I've always see him give a huge effort. Safin on the other hand...

This fining is absolutely ridiculous. Players either win or lose. It's no one's right to try to get into a player's head and accuse them of thought crimes. If people can prove that there is a connection between a player and something illegal, like gambling, that's fine, as long as there is a real connection, not stupid assumptions about "not trying" on the court. I don't care if a player goes out there, serves underhand, and plays with their wrong hand. That's their business.

Tennis is heading down a dangerous socialist path with fines for injury pullouts and "not trying". Singles tennis is supposed to be an individual sport. Even the on-court coaching is an example of how this is being eroded. Tennis is becoming too dominated by political groupthink.

People talk nostalgically about the dominance of Tilden. He used to drop sets 0-6 and go down 0-5 in matches and then come back and win them. What would have happened if he had miscalculated and ended up losing? Would he have been fined? Is it OK to behave that way because he ended up with a record season winning percentage? He wanted to make things more exciting for the fans. Well, I don't care what the reason is, a player doesn't have to answer to anyone but him/herself, his/her coach, etc. If a player wants to lose a match, that's up to them. Punish the guys setting up the gambling deals and the people betting. There is just no good way to prove that someone isn't trying on the court, just as there's no good way to prove a person should be fined for "faking injury" when they pull out.

 

[claycourtextraordinaire]

that really is a terrible second serve in that video though...you'd be hard pushed to find footage of another pro hitting a serve 2 feet over for a down the line serve....even though it did hit the chord.

 

[@Sweet Cleopatra@]

no
there's people want to destroy him

 

[AndrewD]

Just looks like he's tired and doesn't have enough fight to get through a match where he isn't playing well, the ball isn't coming off the strings in the right way and he's just feeling a bit 'off'. Exactly the same way that millions of us feel on those days when our jobs become a chore.

Also, for the umpire to call him on it (not trying) means, without a shadow of a doubt, that he has been instructed to look for any irregularities in his matches. It's a call the umpire can make but it is such a controversial one he won't make it UNLESS he knows the referee will back him up on it. The only way to know that is to have had a discussion prior to the match.

 

[mcpon]

If he did tank a match for gambling purposes, what would make him do it? I thought that he makes a lot of money already.

 

[Tempest344]

I reckon its not true

Davydenko has played a lot more matches than anyone else

it also could be pyschologicaltoo
I mean already being Fined and then being told to "try your best"against Baghdatis It just lowers confidence and that could be a reason as to why he had difficulty serving consistently

 

[Deleted member 3771]

The match vs Vassello looks suss. There was supposedly a lot of bets placed on 87th ranked Vassello to win including DURING the match, even after Vassello had lost the first set 6-2:

"
The ATP is also investigating a match in Poland in August in which Davydenko won the first set 6-2 against Martin Vassallo before retiring with a foot injury, after irregular betting patterns were brought to its attention."

 

[WillAlwaysLoveYouTennis]

I just feel if they are going to pick on one because his name was in another occurence of possibility, then they need to be doing the same to EVERYONE because it seems they are directing just on one person. When a player admits they tanked a match....? They say nothing. They have called the match no problem. But now they are deciding so-and-so is not trying hard enough....I mean really, COME OFF!

Be fair, is all I say. If any one tanks, if anyone cheats by playing less or stopping because of faked injury or such definitively shown, then fine, but just doing it this way looks like they are really harassing one player and trying to suddenly get super tough about such things when they have been lacksidasical for too long.

 

[claycourtextraordinaire]

i am a HUGE believer of conspiracies.

 

[Tennis_Monk]

There is no way anyone can ever figure out if one tanked the match or not. So why make a big fuss about it.

 

[rosenstar]

I'm undecided on the issue, but in order to be convinced one way or the other, I'd like to see some hard evidence, not things that can be explained by a coincidence.

 

[HEAD/PRINCE RULE]

He not guilty but is one of the hardest workers on the ATP. He just play too many matches and should slow down.

 

[Jackie T. Stephens]

I'm undecided on the issue, but in order to be convinced one way or the other, I'd like to see some hard evidence, not things that can be explained by a coincidence.

I agree, I would need some type of proof myself.