Nikolai Davydenko

Jan 16 (Reuters) - Court 19 was a lonely and unfamiliar old place for Nikolay Davydenko on Monday.

Playing in the shadows of the cavernous Melbourne Cricket Ground and with rumbling cross-city trams drowning out the pips and squeaks of muted noise from a tiny crowd, Russia's former world number three crashed and burned in the opening round of the Australian Open on a woebegone court he had only ever used for practice sessions.

A timid atmosphere. No video referrals. A pay cheque that left a sour taste in his mouth.

How the mighty had fallen in two short years.

Back in 2010, Davydenko arrived at Melbourne Park with the world at his feet.

He had won the season-ending 2009 ATP Tour Finals. Beaten Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal in consecutive matches to win the Australian Open warm-up event at Doha.

He was among the top flight of favourites for the Open and joked, having won a million dollars at the ATP Finals, that he needed to keep winning so his wife, Irina, could afford to continue shopping in the manner she had become accustomed.

As if driven by the fear of his wife's flashing gold card, he motored to the quarter-finals at Melbourne Park before losing in four high-quality sets to Federer.

Then, disaster. Davydenko injured his wrist at Rotterdam in March and the walls came crashing down.

The marathon man of the tour played just 49 matches in 2010.

His year-ending ranking slipped to 22, the lowest it had been in six years.

In 2011, he won his 21st career title on clay in Munich, but again he played just 50 matches and failed to advance past the third round at any of the four grand slam tournaments.

He started the Australian Open at 52, still falling.

Cue to Monday. Lonely old court 19.

Such a barren scene that all it lacked was tumbleweed rolling across the baseline.

Davydenko played as if he was suitably disoriented.

What was he doing out here? Didn't the organisers know who he was? He was so far from the main show court on Rod Laver Arena he should have booked a taxi to get to his match against unheralded Italian Flavio Cipolla.

Davydenko mumbled and bumbled his way to a 6-4 4-6 3-6 6-2 6-1 defeat in three hours and 21 minutes.

It will not be remembered as one of his finest performances.

"I am used to show courts," he said. "I feel weird on court 19."

Davydenko had barely wiped the sweat from his furrowed brow when he joined the growing number of players speaking about getting a more equitable split of prize money at grand slam events -- particularly those lower ranked players who rarely advanced past the early rounds.

Players, these days, like him.

"We (the players) need to get more money in grand slam," Davydenko said. "What can we do? More talking."

Or winning.

(Editing by Greg Stutchbury; To comment on this story email sportsfeedback@thomsonreuters.com)