Tennis : harassing Davydenko.

Since he is under investigation for a suspicious loss in the second round of the Sopot tournament last July, Nikolay Davidenko has a hard time convincing that his court attitude is naturally erratic, and in no way influenced by the heavy betting of clairvoyant but dubious gamblers on surprise defeats of his.

Unfortunately, his pathetic efforts only earn him additional problems. In Saint-Petersbourg, he was fined 2,000$ for showing a lack of ardour in his straight sets loss against Marin Cilic.

In Paris, he came close to a similar sentence in his 6-2, 6-2 defeat to Marcos Baghdatis but, after a long discussion with the chair umpire, was eventually allowed to lose without having to pay additional price for it.

This is an intriguing situation. Should a minimal quality of play be expected on a daily basis from a professional athlete ? Should hockey players who do not show up for a game soon be fined ? By whom ? The NHL ? Their team ?

Shall a soccer player risk to be also yellow- or red-carded and fined for scoring a self-goal ?

But back to tennis. Players are not allowed to communicate with their coach during games. Is it the umpire’s role to stand-in for the coach and force a player, who has lost his concentration and is about to throw the game away, to return to his senses and his usual level of play ?

What if, further to his long discussion with the umpire, a reborn Davydenko had suddenly recovered and badly beaten Marcos Baghdatis ?

Would the Cyprus player have been allowed to file a complaint against the umpire for interfering with the game ?