Most "Under the Radar" Players

This will be an award that goes to a player who is a top player, but doesn't get the recognition they deserve.  A player who is not in the media all that much, but keeps winning tournaments and playing at an elite level.  I guess it could be a player who is underappreciated.

 Nikolay Davydenko has been on the ATP tour since 2001, and has been a mainstay in the Top 10 the past 5 years.  Many of them years he was a top 5 player, but he never seems to get the recognition for his top play. The Russian isn't going to overpower anyone on the court, or overpower a press conference with crazy quotes, but would rather to just goes about playing the game well, and being humble about it.  Instead he just grinds away on the courts with a style that isn't the most flashy.  Davydenko is a smaller guy who is more of a "counter-puncher" and his playing style has been compared to like playing against a wall.  Basically whatever you hit at him, he'll more than likely return it back at you.  This type of play has made him into a tough opponent and a top level player on the court, but hasn't really endeared him to a lot of fans or journalists around the world.  Davydenko isn't going to have meltdowns on the court where he throws fits and breaks rackets, nor will you see Davydenko getting overly boisterous when things are going his way.  Ths lack of charisma probably doesn't help in gaining popularity of the fans, nor does having the lack of a Grand Slam title to call his own help his cause for gaining a lot of recognition.  Davydenko who had to battle injuries in the first part of 2009, came back strong to finish the year with a ATP World Tour Championship.  Hopefully this will set up Nikolay for a great 2010 and attain that elusive Grand Slam championship and recognition he deserves.

In the world of women's tennis you get noticed for 2 things.  Being extremely attractive, or playing great tennis, if not both.  And then there is Agnieszka Radwanska the 20 year old from Poland.  Radwanska has not won a major tournament, nor does ESPN find the need to put her matches on TV so the men at home can drool while watching her.  Now don't get the wrong idea that I am saying Radwanska doesn't get attention because she is ugly.  That is not the case at all.  Lets just say I've seen a lot more scarier women than Agnieszka Radwanska on my television playing tennis.  But that is not important.  This isn't about how attractive, or unattractive she is.  This is about a good player who should be getting more recognition for her play than what she really does.  Radwanska is the 10th ranked womens player in the world, and yet her name is hardly ever put in the conversation as being one of the best, or a contender for a Grand Slam title.  Instead other players deemed more beautiful or are falsely believed to be better players are talked about and given more credit than what they rightly deserve, get undeserved attention.  Radwanska's best at a Grand Slam is making it to the quarterfinals a few times, so that isn't going to get her lots of recognition.  Instead she has earned her to a top 10 ranking by being a grinder and playing in lots of tennis and playing well in the smaller tournaments.  She is out on the court fighting, and earning points in tournaments many of the other players stick their nose up at, and believe they are too good to be playing in.  Instead she keeps plugging away in hope of getting better and winning a major tournament sometime in her career.  Hopefully next year she will noticed for the hard work she puts in.....until then, keep working on that 2nd serve.