London : Russia's Nikolay Davydenko is the World No 6, and as of now he does not even have a sponsor while on tour.
Sometime in 2005, the fast-rising star had been crowned the "head-to-toe Prince" after the sports manufacturer launched its O3 technology.
Davydenko did not fail his new sponsors as he started using the O3 Tour technology from the Hamburg Masters in May 2005 to reach the semifinals there.
A week later, he won the St Polten event in Austria and then went on to make his semifinal debut at the French Open. Everyone put this success down to the use of Prince by Davydenko.
Four years down the line, Davydenko now plays without any endorsement. "Maybe because Prince has no money due to the [economic] crisis," Davydenko explained after winning against Rafael Nadal on Wednesday night.
The Russian, whose career earnings have exceeded $12 million (Dh44.08 million), is quite happy to be in the situation he is in at the moment.
"We'll see for the next season if I continue with Prince or some other company. But my four years with Prince have been good. Maybe I will keep the racquets, but I still don't have any new contract," Davydenko said.
