FOR a man with an aversion to publicity, Nikolay Davydenko sure has a turn of phrase that ensures the contrary.
The Russian, who has opened the Australian Open in the same sizzling fashion that has led to a string of wins over Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal, has a problem.
Ask him a question and he will give you a headline.
Bernard Tomic has a similar affliction, although his answers of late tend to induce a cringe whereas the world No 6 often elicits a laugh, regardless of intent.
Consider this pearl early in the week when asked how his Masters Cup victory in London in November had affected his life.
"I am not Paris Hilton," Davydenko said.
"I don't want to be like this. I don't want to be like Rafa Nadal, Roger Federer. These guys I never see by breakfast. They stay in the room and take room service. For me better go downstairs take breakfast, or dinner to go somewhere, not to be so much famous."
It followed a line to a British journalist in the lead-in to the Open when asked how he differed from Federer and Nadal.
"I have a good life," he said. "These guys mostly think about tennis, for them it's only tennis, winning tournaments, winning a grand slam, dreaming maybe every day about it. I am not that guy, I am different. I don't cry like Federer at winning a grand slam."
It is this type of answer that seems to have elevated Davydenko to cult-hero status at the Open.
Davydenko, despite never winning a grand slam title, is a seemingly permanent fixture of the world's top 10 players.
And it is not as if he has not been scrutinised before, for he was the subject of the first real investigation into gambling in tennis as a result of a surprise loss in 2007 to a lowly ranked player who was heavily backed.
Davydenko was cleared. Yet in Melbourne, Davydenko, 28, is this year's poster boy and even he seems surprised.
"It's interesting," he said.
"We're not talking about tennis. We're talking about my life. This is my first experience like this."
After a 6-3 6-3 6-0 win over Ukrainian Illya Marchenko, Davydenko was pressed on his vodka-drinking habits, his love of money, why he had not yet had kids, what he will tell these non-existent children about his life and the advice he receives from his wife after a match.
Oh, and whether he plans to write a book.
"Write a book? You mean a humour book? Tennis book? Action book? I don't know," he said.
But the talk about tennis will come, particularly if he beats 30th seed Juan Monaco, of Argentina, who needed five sets to beat France's Michael Llodra yesterday. His success would set up a likely match with Spain's Fernando Verdasco, who reached the semi-finals last Australian Open, and a match with Federer could follow.
Davydenko was not the only major chance to progress at Melbourne Park yesterday.
Serbian Novak Djokovic, who won the title in 2008, began slowly against Marco Chiundinelli before winning 3-6 6-1 6-1 6-3.
He admitted he struggled early, given his opponent's ferocious opening, but soon felt he had the match under control.
"Definitely I was frustrated, especially at start of the match, because he was really giving it to me," Djokovic said.
"So automatically I just became too defensive and didn't really make too much. I was waiting for his mistakes. That was a little issue there, but I managed to make that transition from being defensive to being offensive and changing pace and holding the game in control in the second and third set."
Djokovic is to meet 20th seed Russian Mikhail Youzhny, who progressed with a 6-2 6-1 6-1 win over Czech Jan Hajek, in the round of 16 if both win tomorrow.
