Top draw withdraws

Its only the second round but the Chennai Open is already without its two top-20 players in the singles draw.

Its only the second round but the Chennai Open is already without its two top-20 players in the singles draw. While second seed Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland was clueless during his defeat to unknown Italian Flavio Cipolla on Tuesday night,top seed Nikolay Davydenko chose a day completely washed out by rain to announce his withdrawal from the tournament.

The Russian,who was due to play wild card Lukas Dlouhy from the Czech Republic in his second-round match on Wednesday,said it was an injury to his left heel that was the problem. He will not be part of the first Slam of the year the Australian Open which begins on January 19 either.

The foot injury has been troubling the current world No 5 for a couple of years now,and interestingly,it was the same reason he had given while retiring against Martin Vassallo Arguello in Sopot in 2007 a decision which prompted an inquiry into alleged match-fixing,of which he was later cleared. It was bothering me in Shanghai as well,at the last tournament of 2008,and I think now I have to get it treated properly. After the first match yesterday,I woke up this morning and realised I cant run,I cant do anything. I cant play or practice,its quite painful, said Davydenko,addressing the media on Wednesday.

I will definitely miss the Australian Open as well,but luckily Im not defending too many points there. If I force myself to play in Melbourne,Ill never recover. If I dont play for a few days,the pain goes away,but it comes back when I play again. I consulted a few doctors in Chennai over the last few days,we tried therapy and other ways to relieve the pain,but nothing really worked. I dont know exactly what the problem is right now,maybe next week I will know for sure.

Davydenko has always been said to play far more tournaments in a year than any of the other top-ranked players on the circuit,but he said that wasnt the reason for his injury problems. Some say the season is too long,others say its too short,but really,its all up to you. Its your choice how many you want to play. Its important to be fit. If I like to play 30 tournaments a year,then why not? It depends on how I feel and how fit I am. If I feel fresh,I can play a lot of matches in one year.

Davydenko added he hoped to be back for tour events in Rotterdam and Dubai,which will be played in February.

Rain,no play

Meanwhile,no tennis was possible on Wednesday as the rain refused to relent. Hopes were raised briefly as Somdev Devvarman and Prakash Amritraj,who were to take on doubles top seeds Mahesh Bhupathi and Mark Knowles on centre court,took their places on court,but soon enough,they picked up their bags and returned inside. Vijay Amritraj and Charu Sharma did their bit to keep the crowd entertained with their repertoire of tennis and cricket shots sent all over the stadium,but play was called off after a slight drizzle began again.