Davydenko likes being "not so famous"

MELBOURNE: Despite upsetting both Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal on his way to two titles in the last two months, Nikolay Davydenko said he is not a celebrity at home. And he prefers it that way.

“I am not Paris Hilton,” he said of the American celebrity after his first-round win at the Australian Open on Tuesday. “I don’t want to be like this. I don’t want to be like Nadal, Federer. These guys I never see at breakfast. They stay in the room and take room service. For me it’s better go downstairs, take breakfast or dinner somewhere, not to be so famous.”

But the 28-year-old Russian doesn’t mind earning the respect and attention of his competitors.

“Before, nobody was scared (of me). Now everyone is scared,” he said. “It’s an interesting feeling. Now I feel like I can beat everyone.”

Davydenko won the Qatar Open earlier this month at Doha and the London World Tour Finals in November. He picked up five titles in 2009 and has been a regular in the top 10 since 2005, but has never reached the final of a Grand Slam event.

Serena auctions clothes

Serena Williams has turned her punishment into a charitable opportunity by launching an online auction of her personal clothing and memorabilia in order to raise $92,000 for Haiti earthquake victims, as well as schools and charities.

The target equals Williams’s total fine for her profanity-laced outburst at a lineswoman during her semifinal loss to Kim Clijsters at the U.S. Open in September.

“The purpose of the mission is to turn a negative into a positive by educating and helping women, men and children so that they have a fighting chance,” Williams writes on the Web site of her charity, the Serena Williams Foundation.

Williams’s eBay auction began on Monday with items including an autographed pair of sneakers that she wore in her championship run at the Australian Open last year, her 2008 Olympic team dress and a Phoenix Suns jersey signed by Steve Nash.

She announced the auction in December, shortly after she was fined a record $82,500 by the Grand Slam tournament for her profanity-laced outburst at a lineswoman during her semifinal loss to Kim Clijsters at the U.S. Open in September. She also paid a $10,000 penalty to the U.S. Tennis Association.

Williams said the idea for the auction came after the International Tennis Federation denied her request to donate some of her fine to charity.

The auction will run for 92 days, with new items up for sale each week. — AP