Gambling is a problem, but ATP's handling is bizarre

Nikolay Davydenko, already the center of a gambling investigation, was fined for a lack of 'best effort' in St. Petersburg last week. AP

MAILBAG Jon Wertheim will answer questions from SI.com users in his mailbag every Wednesday. Your name: Your e-mail address: Your home town: Enter your question:

So Nikolay Davydenko gets fined for not putting forth his best effort -- kudos again for the ATP and tennis for doing this and protecting the sport. I still remember Vince Carter telling people proudly that he did not put forth his best effort when playing for the Toronto Raptors -- I do not recall him getting fined. The question in Davydenko's case: Was it injury or truly lack of effort?
-- Jeff Hasham, Toronto

I can't tell if Jeff was being sarcastic. But we got a lot of Davydenko questions -- anyone else nostalgic for the days when no one knew the guy? -- so here's my riff.

Last week's fine for dubious effort was, even by tennis' vertigo-inducing standards, beyond bizarre. Here we have a player embroiled in match-fixing scandal, under fire for throwing a match pending an investigation. Rather than question him immediately, the ATP lets him play for weeks, as player after player emerges with tales of being asked to throw matches for bettors. (Arnaud Clement, is the latest, by the way.)

The ATP responded first with a defense: This was a media creation and the sport has no credibility problem. (Check out Etienne DeViliers' remarks at the U.S. Open.) Then it came with offense: Players offering a candid assessment of the landscape would be summoned to the principal's office. Then Davydenko, the player at the center of the scandal, double faults during a meaningless, schedule-padding fall indoor event and, without any hearing or review, is promptly hit with an unprecedented fine for lack of effort!

Who writes this stuff? This is akin to baseball executives denying the existence of a steroid problem and, a few weeks later, without a positive test, fining Barry Bonds for questionable nutritional practice.

Inasmuch as tennis poo-bahs want to ensure the sport is being played on the level, this is no way go about business. It is, at best, a slippery slope to try and determine which players are throwing matches and which are simply playing poorly. Even Roger Federer inexplicably double-faults. My ATP media guide makes no mention of professional mind-reader. Also, when you hold such a lengthy season, crammed with appearance events in autumn, it stands to reason that players might appear a bit fatigued.

It goes without saying that Davydenko is neither the most sympathetic player nor the locker room Mr. Popularity. But if I'm a colleague of his, I find this deeply disturbing. No hearing? No studied review? Just a knee-jerk fine. For a few double faults and errors? Against a player who -- advisably or not -- is notorious for overplaying at a time when tennis is scrambling to get the stars to commit to more events? If ever there were a workforce ripe for a real players' union, this is it.

Who is James Blake? I've been tuning into the semis of Grand Slams for the last 20 years and I've never seen this guy. Why is he so heavily marketed?
-- Gina Millet, New York City

This question is a little painful to answer, but I feel duty-bound to address it. There must have been 50 e-mails this week ripping "over-hyped American" Blake and -- while some of them were creepily hostile -- I think his disappointing year does, unfortunately, merit analysis/criticism.

Sports is a tough business and even a thoughtful, gracious gentleman doesn't get an exemption from performance-based scrutiny. And when you start the season a top-five player and ritually disappoint, failing to meet the moment, eventually you have to be held accountable. That's just the rules of engagement.

Blake's underperformance at the Slams and his wilting under pressure -- the two obviously go hand in hand -- are less a matter of opinion than fact. The record speaks for itself. I'm not going to join many of you and rip the guy to threads. Instead I offer this: If there's one player who should be immune to choking, it's Blake. Here's a guy who was never groomed to win majors, who came on tour without much hype, who is lucky to be playing after a run-in with a net post and who has a Harvard education upon which to fall back.

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