On the Road in China: Media meltdown 

Source: ReutersNikolay Davydenko reflects on his performance

It had to be the worst question ever posed at a sports press conference.

World number nine Nikolay Davydenko had just dumped defending champion Novak Djokovic out of the Shanghai Masters 1000 and was rightly basking in the glory.

Davydenko is a relaxed, likeable character and media sessions with the 28-year-old Russian are always unpredictable.

Tennis players are interviewed every day of a tournament and hear a lot of the same questions.

As a journalist it is always an aim to come up with a fresh different angle, at best something they had not heard before, but one Chinese reporter took it to extremes on Saturday.

"Nikolay & as you are not so good looking..."

What was this? All heads turned to the back of the room.

"...And you don't have to do a lot of things outside [off the court] do you think that makes you put more focus on your tennis?"

Nikolay's eyes rolled. Most were willing her to stop, but our questioner, who perhaps writes for the Chinese version of Women's Weekly, continued.

"And given a chance, would you like to be more good looking or keep your life going like this?"

Wow. Things can get mixed up when you are speaking your second language but surely this was very, very wrong.

Can you imagine a New Zealand netballer, cricketer or rugby player facing this question?

To his credit Davydenko remained calm.

"You know, if I don't have a wife maybe I can say 'Yeah I am disappointed' I'm not maybe good looking, but really I can have many girls in Russia."

The crowd was loving this as the Russian played his trump card.

"I don't know about China, but in Russia I still look good [and] I'm feeling comfortable."

"I mean, it's okay. I really don't think about this, yeah?"

Game, set and (love) match Nikolay Davydenko.

tvnz.co.nz's Michael Burgess is in China courtesy of the Asia New Zealand foundation and travelled there with Air New Zealand. He is aiming to investigate the impact and legacy of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games and will be writing about the sights and sounds of China along the way.