Davydenko: Slam is still a dream

Nikolay Davydenko admits an end to his grand slam duck could still be a long way off despite his brilliant victory at the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals yesterday.

The Russian claimed the biggest title of his career with a 6-3 6-4 win over US Open champion Juan Martin del Potro at London’s O2 Arena, capping a week in which he had also beaten Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer – for the first time in 13 meetings.

But despite being a stalwart of the top 10 for the last five years, Davydenko is often overlooked as a contender for the top honours, possibly because his best performances so far consist of two French Open and two US Open semi-finals.

And the 28-year-old conceded the format counts against him, saying: “If grand slams become best-of-three sets, yes (I can win). Because in three sets winning matches is much easier.

“I don’t know what I need to do for the next season. I need to have very good physical preparation for the five-set matches in Australia. You need to run not for two hours, you need to run for four hours.”