"Maybe it was his last one so he went all out" - Davydenko on Nadal

In an interview with CLAY, Davydenko spoke about the Spaniard capturing his 14th French Open title and his 22nd Grand Slam at Roland Garros earlier this month.

Nikolay Davydenko is one of the few players who embraced going up against the Spaniard and holds a superior head-to-head record against the 22-time Grand Slam champion. On Nadal, he said:

"Usually, the bigger chance to beat [Rafael] Nadal in Paris is in the early rounds, because he is still not playing his best. It is amazing what he has done. I think it was risky health-wise what he has done with the foot, but he is absolutely allowed to do it. Maybe his mentality was that it might be his last Roland Garros, so he went all-in not minding the consequences."

On playing Nadal, Davydenko said:

"For me, playing against Nadal on hard felt like playing against just another opponent. I have beaten him in all our matches on hardcourt, but I lost every match on clay, which is expected, he is still winning Roland Garros. There were many matches that I remember fondly."

Davydenko concluded:

"In tennis, it is about matchups – my game matched up well with Nadal’s on hardcourts, I had no problems with him. On the other hand, I could never beat James Blake on hard because he was hitting hard and he was looking to finish off points in two or three shots."