Last year, Nikolay Davydenko looked to be on his way out of the inaugural 2009 Malaysian Open, Kuala Lumpur when his semifinal opponent, Robin Soderling was on fire and heading for a straight set win.

But like many of Davydenko's matches, the Russian turned it around and after two hours and three minutes he had secured a birth against Fernando Verdasco in the final.

Asked if luck had anything to do with the win, the world number eight said it had nothing to do with that, but instead the fact that he "fought well and concentrated well."

Symbolic of Davydenko's style and match play he is never one to walk away from a contest.

He has a one-size-fits-all approach to the game. Aggressive, early ball-striking based on the idea that if you attack your opponent first, they can't attack you. He uses hard, penetrating ground strokes on both wings and has tremendous foot speed and footwork to support this.

His anticipation enables him to hit the ball early which catches opponents out of position and allows him to dictate the play. He can hit his backhand down the line, cross court or with extreme angles and is known for his running shots which he takes early and often turns into winners, which makes him a good player on any surface.

This style of play and his personality has seen the Russian given many nicknames. "Mr Invisible" for having a low public profile, "The Machine" or "The Ball-Machine" due to his aggressive, consistent style of play and "Iron Man", because he plays in more tournaments per year than any other top player, just like fellow Russian and former World No.1 Yevgeny Kafelnikov.

It was even suspected that this year, Davydenko may have been playing and winning matches with a broken left wrist, before he had to withdraw from Indian Wells and was forced to take two months of rest.

His style and determination is what has seen him become a force on the ATP World Tour.

Despite struggling early in the 2009 season due to a left heel injury which forced him to withdraw in Chennai before his second round match, the Australian Open and the 1000 Series tournaments in Indian Wells and Miami, the Russian came back after a two month absence, and then went on to compile 67-17 match winning record.

During this period Davydenko added five titles to his name; the International German Open, the ATP Studena Croatia Open, the Malaysian Open, Kuala Lumpur where he defeated Verdasco 6-4 7-5 in the Final, his third ATP World Tour Masters 1000 at the Shanghai and his biggest career victory, the year ending Barclays ATP World Tour Finals.

En route to winning the 2009 Barclays ATP World Tour Finals, the Russian defeated Nadal in the round-robin stage and earned his first win in 13 attempts over Federer in the semi-finals. He beat Juan Martin del Potro in the Final. Then earlier this year, he followed up by defeating the world's top two players again to triumph at the Qatar ExxonMobil Open in Doha, making him only the second player to defeat them during the same tournament on two different occasions.

Davydenko's performance in Doha was jaw-dropping. In the first set of his semi-final against Federer he put all 27 first serves into play to win 6-4, 6-4 and in the Final, he held two match points in the second-set tie-break before rallying to win 0-6, 7-6(8), 6-4.

The 29-year-old, who finished runner-up to Novak Djokovic at the season climax in Shanghai in 2008, earned a career-high US$3,659,160 last year, finished 2009 ranked No. 6 in the world and has been ranked in the top 10 for the fifth consecutive year.

After Doha he also became the 38th player in the Open Era (since 1968), and the fifth active player, to win at least 20 ATP World Tour titles. The Volgograd resident however isn't content to stop there.

"I feel I can beat everyone, because I've beaten everyone already," said Davydenko. "Maybe then I have better confidence for sure. I'm feeling like I can win and really play very good tennis."

"Five years in the Top 10 is not amazing, but it's good, it's really good. I have enjoyed all these years in the Top 10. I've had great results, I've won 20 titles. I hope that's not all, though. I will try to do more, I hope, if I can. I have memories of playing semi-finals in Grand Slams. But a semi-final is not like winning. You really enjoy it only if you win the tournament."

With his best results in four Grand Slam semi-final appearances, at the French Open in 2005 and 2007 and at the US Open in 2006 and 2007 and defeats coming at the hands of Federer on three of the four occasions, Davydenko has yet to reach that goal.

Although marred by a wrist injury which temporarily halted his momentum for a few months this year, the Russian returned to the Tour at Wimbledon and has already come out fighting harder than ever as he chases that elusive first Grand Slam title.

Having defeated all current champions over the last 12 months and with one of the only winning records against Rafael Nadal, the current World No.1., the Russian is very keen to break into the grand slam winners' circle.

With his hard-working and highly focused nature, determination and controlled emotions on court, Davydenko's fellow players will be watching him very closely, over the next few months, always with respect and never taking "Niko" for granted.