Nikolay Davydenko: Broken Wrist, Broken Racquet Deal?

The ATP World Feed on the Tennis Channel just reported that Nikolay Davydenko has withdrawn from the Indian Wells BNP Paribas Open because of a broken left wrist. ADHEREL

That’s not a sprained, injured or ailing left wrist, but a broken one! Commentators Doug Adler and Robbie Koenig speculated that the injury may have dated back to earlier this year. And perhaps there was a misdiagnosis. So Nikolay may or may not have been playing and winning matches with a busted wrist. Quite an effort if that turns out to be the case.

Adler and Koenig also mentioned that the Russian could be out as long as three months which would definitely impact his participation at the French Open.

Nothing official has been reported from the tournament or the player press-wise, but the score results already have Davydenko withdrawing with the broken left wrist to Viktor Troicki (how about Troicki who’s played ONE game to reach the fourth round!).

And that’s not all. Earlier in the week Davydenko signed a deal with Dunlop to wear their clothing use their racquets. However, at Indian Wells Nikolay was using a blacked-out Prince racquet, not a Dunlop – or least the racquet didn’t have Dunlop on it.

To cloud matters, today, Prince issued a press release stating that Davydenko is under contract to play with their racquets for 2010.

From the release: “On January 18, 2010, Prince and Davydenko agreed to, and announced, a formal deal to have the 28 year-old Russian continue to use and promote Prince racquets and racquet bags exclusively throughout the year and to utilize him in marketing and promotional initiatives.”

And now from the March 12 Dunlop release: “Dunlop are delighted to announce their new partnership with Russian tennis ace, Nikolay Davydenko for rackets, clothing and accessories.”

So it looks like more controversy is heading Nikolay’s way. At least now with the injury he’ll have proper time to address it.