Probe displeases Davydenko’s lawyer

LONDON -- The lawyer for embattled Russian tennis star Nikolay Davydenko on Friday lashed out at the ATP’s investigation of his client that is being conducted by two former Scotland Yard detectives -- calling them “helpless” -- and suggested his client is starting to buckle under the sustained stress.

Davydenko is at the center of a probe into match-fixing, which started after suspicious betting patterns emerged during the fourth-ranked Russian’s second-round match against journeyman Martin Vassallo Arguello of Argentina in Sopot, Poland, in August.

“This whole proceeding is weird, and the way they are treating my client is unbelievable,” said Professor Frank Immenga, of the international law firm Bird & Bird, in a telephone interview with The Times from his office in Frankfurt, Germany.

In particular, Immenga took issue with the timing of the ATP’s request for all of Davydenko’s telephone records, which came via e-mail during the U.S. Open in August.

“You don’t send him a legalized telephone request while he’s playing the U.S. Open,” Immenga said of the ATP, which governs men’s tennis. “That’s the only reason why we’re really [upset] ‘cause that’s not the way you work with somebody who is in your organization.

“Within seven business days, while he is playing? Excuse me?”

The ATP’s response in almost all Davydenko-related matters has been to issue a somewhat standardized statement, and officials, who are in Shanghai for the season-ending Masters Cup -- for which Davydenko has qualified -- did the same Friday:

“Honesty and integrity are critical in our sport. This is why we are engaged in a serious, comprehensive and thorough independent investigation to ascertain whether anything of concern took place in the match between Nikolay Davydenko and Martin Vassallo Arguello in August.”

It also said that “further public comment at this time would be inappropriate.”

Davydenko was first interviewed Sept. 25, and his wife and brother spoke to the investigative team, separately, Monday at the Sheraton Airport in Frankfurt. The three members of the group were former Scotland Yard detectives Albert Kirby and Dave Nutton and ATP official Gayle Bradshaw.

Immenga has asked for the investigation to be suspended until the end of the year.

“Yeah. That’s what I asked then, because if you look at what has happened so far, I feel the investigators are helpless and rather frustrated,” he said. “They have had for months the names on the betting accounts.”

The toll on Davydenko is becoming clear. On Oct. 25, he was warned by an umpire and then fined for “a lack of best effort” at an event in St. Petersburg, Russia, and last week in Paris was lectured about his serve by another umpire.

“You know yourself, he’s under mental, economic and whatever pressure,” Immenga said. “ . . . I want them to remember the stigma on the face of my client.”

Separately, the agent for Tommy Haas confirmed that the German player had additional medical tests Friday in New York in the aftermath of allegations he may have been poisoned in Moscow during the Davis Cup semifinal in September between Germany and Russia.

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Culpepper reported from London and Dillman from Los Angeles.

lisa.dillman@latimes.com