David Nalbandian

David Nalbandian
Nalbandian after the 2012 AEGON Championships Final at Queen's Club in London
Nation:	Argentina
Birthday:	January 1, 1982
Size:	180 cm
Weight:	79 kg
1st professional season:	2000
Resignation:	2013
Playing hand:	Right, two-handed backhand
Trainer:	Luis Lobo
Prize money:	$ 11,123,125
singles
Career record:	383: 192
Career title:	11
Highest ranking:	3 (March 20, 2006)
Grand Slam record
Double
Career record:	49:53
Highest ranking:	105 (October 5, 2009)
Grand Slam record
Sources: official player profiles at the ATP / WTA and ITF (see web links )

David Pablo Nalbandian (born January 1, 1982 in Unquillo , a suburb of Córdoba ) is a retired Argentinian tennis player . Nalbandian won eleven tournaments in his career, including the Tennis Masters Cup 2005 in Shanghai. The years 2003 to 2007 he finished among the top ten players in the world rankings , his personal best he reached in March 2006 with 3rd place.

Life

Nalbandian is the son of an Armenian father and an Italian mother. He is married and has had a daughter since the end of May 2013.

Tennis career

1998-2002

Nalbandian was one of the most successful junior players in 1998 and 1999. In 1998, he won the US Open junior title and other prestigious junior titles in singles and doubles. In the following year, the junior title in Wimbledon in doubles and the semi-finals in singles followed, which he missed due to a misunderstanding of the schedule. In both years Nalbandian had already appeared on the Challenger and Future tournament series before he took the leap on the professional tour in 2000. He finished his first season as a professional after two semi-finals on the Challenger Tour among the top 300 players in the world rankings. In 2001 he made the leap to the top 50 players in the world, largely driven by two Challenger tournament victories, his first ATP final in Palermo and two other semi-finals in tournaments in this category. In Estoril he won the first ATP title the following year and at the Grand Slam tournament in Wimbledon he reached the final on his professional debut on the "holy lawn", in which he was clearly inferior to Lleyton Hewitt . His second tournament victory followed in Basel later.

2003-2004

In 2003, Nalbandian reached the quarter-finals at the Australian Open and played his way into the top ten of the world rankings thanks to constant results over the course of the season. At the US Open he reached the semi-finals, where he could not use a match point against Andy Roddick and still lost the match. Due to some injuries, he could only play a few tournaments at the end of the season, but qualified for the final Tennis Masters Cup for the first time. In 2004 Nalbandian again reached the quarter-finals of the Australian Open and the semi-finals of the French Open. He reached a total of three finals this season (two of them in the Masters Series ), but he had to admit defeat in all finals. Also due to several injuries, Nalbandian slipped to position 9 in the world rankings compared to the previous year.

2005

In 2005, the Argentinean achieved tournament success for the first time in around two and a half years in Munich. In three of the four Grand Slam tournaments Nalbandian reached the quarter-finals and several injuries-related cancellations of better placed players enabled him to participate in the Masters Cup. He won two preliminary round games and moved into the final, in which he defeated the two-time defending champion and world number one Roger Federer after a 2-0 set deficit and was able to achieve the greatest success of his career to date. At the end of 2005 he won the Olimpia de Oro as Argentina's Sportsman of the Year .

David Nalbandian serving

2006

The 2006 season began for Nalbandian with the semi-finals at the Australian Open, where he missed the second Grand Slam final of his career despite a clear lead. Along with Federer, Rafael Nadal , Novak Đoković and Andy Murray, Nalbandian was one of five active players who were able to reach the semifinals at least once in all four Grand Slam tournaments. After jumping to number 3 in the world rankings in the following months, Nalbandian won his first tournament victory of the season against Nikolai Dawydenko in Estoril in early May. In June 2006 another semifinal participation followed in a Grand Slam tournament, but the Argentine had to give up his game at the French Open against Roger Federer when the score was 6: 3, 4: 6, 2: 5 because of an abdominal muscle strain. In the following weeks and months Nalbandian did not find his way back to the form at the beginning of the season due to his health problems; after the French Open he could only show a match record of 11 wins and 8 losses, including a third round defeat against Fernando Verdasco at Wimbledon and the second round against Marat Safin at the US Open. In the ATP Champions Race, a seventh place was enough for the renewed participation in the Tennis Masters Cup, where he again reached the semifinals despite two defeats in the preliminary round, but was clearly defeated by the American James Blake . He finished the season in 8th place in the world rankings.

2007

The season began for Nalbandian with a round of 16 at the Australian Open; However, he lost relatively significantly in four sets against Tommy Haas . In the further course of the season he reached the round of 16 at the Masters Series tournament in Indian Wells and the quarter-finals in Barcelona. At the French Open he was eliminated from Nikolai Dawydenko in four sets. After that, Nalbandian recorded a form low and he did not achieve a significant result until October. In Wimbledon and at the US Open he failed each in the third round. In October he was able to surprisingly win the Masters tournament in Madrid with a 1: 6, 6: 3, 6: 3 final victory over Roger Federer. On the way there he defeated the numbers 2 and 3 in the world rankings, Rafael Nadal and Novak Đoković. Two weeks later, he reached the final again at the Masters in Paris, in which he defeated Nadal again, just like the world number one Federer. With the two tournament victories (in which he beat a total of six top ten players) Nalbandian ended a season in the top ten in the world rankings for the fifth time in a row, after having only been ranked 25th before the start of the Masters in Madrid.

2008

In Melbourne, Nalbandian was eliminated in the third round, in Buenos Aires in February he won his eighth career title. At the Indian Wells hard court tournament, he was able to reach the semifinals after several close games. After a rather below average clay court season, he surprisingly lost at the French Open in the second round after a 2-0 set lead against Jeremy Chardy. After this severe setback, he reached the semi-finals at the preparatory tournament for Wimbledon in London's Queen's Club, in which he had no chance against Novak Đoković. Despite the defeat, Wimbledon was excited because it had been very successful on similarly fast surfaces the year before. But the finalist from 2002 had no chance against the little-known Canadian Frank Dancevic. It was the first time that Nalbandian went off the field as a loser in round one of Wimbledon. After that he had to take a break due to an injury, he could only compete in the Olympic Games again. He therefore missed the two Masters Series tournaments in Toronto and Cincinnati and therefore entered Beijing without preparation. After victories against the unknown Chinese Zeng Shaoxuan and against the Chilean defending champion Nicolás Massú , Nalbandian lost 4-6, 4-6 in the round of 16 against the French shooting star Gaël Monfils . His performance at the US Open was no more successful than in his last Grand Slam tournaments. This time he reached the third round, in which he again failed to Gael Monfils with 3: 6, 4: 6, 2: 6. In October, as in the previous year, Nalbandian got in shape and was able to show with the victory of the ATP tournament in Stockholm (6: 2, 5: 7, 6: 3 final victory against Robin Söderling ). At the subsequent Masters Series tournament in Madrid, he was unable to defend his title because he lost to his compatriot Juan Martin Del Potro in the round of 16. Nalbandian took revenge a week later when he defeated Del Potro in the semifinals of the ATP tournament in Basel and made it to the final, which he lost to Roger Federer, who was outstanding that day. With his strong results in October, Nalbandian still had the chance to qualify for the Masters Cup in Shanghai at the Masters in Paris Bercy. However, he should have won the tournament, which he failed; in the final he had to admit defeat to Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 3: 6, 6: 4, 4: 6. This defeat meant that Nalbandian was classified outside the top ten for the first time since 2003 at the end of the season.

2009

After a disappointing 2008, the new year started very promising for Nalbandian. Right at the beginning he won the ATP tournament (250 series) in Sydney, where he defeated Jarkko Nieminen in the final . Since the tournament took place just a week before Melbourne and on the same hard court surface (Plexicushion), Nalbandian's expectations for the Australian Open were high. However, his misery at Grand Slam tournaments continued. He lost in round two to the little-known Taiwanese Lu Yen-hsun 4: 6, 7: 5, 6: 4, 4: 6, 2: 6, after the third set actually looked like Nalbandian would Control opponents. After his first round defeat against Chilean Paul Capdeville in Estoril on May 3, 2009, he decided to undergo hip surgery and did not return to the tour until February 2010.

2010

In the 2010 season he reached the quarter-finals of the tournament in Buenos Aires on his comeback as well as later in the season at the Masters tournament in Monte Carlo. At the 500 tournament in Washington in August 2010, he celebrated his first tournament victory in around a year and a half. He defeated Marcos Baghdatis in the final and made a jump of more than 70 positions to 45th place with his 11th career title in the world rankings.

2012

At the final of the AEGON Championships 2012 at the Queen's Club against the Croatian Marin Čilić , Nalbandian kicked an advertising band after a lost rally at a score of 7: 6 (7: 3) and 3: 4 and injured the linesman Andrew McDougall behind him so badly, that he had to be treated in hospital for a bleeding wound on his shin. The chair referee then broke off the game with a reference to the ATP rules and declared Čilić the winner. Nalbandian, who also lost the prize money of 36,500 pounds and 150 world ranking points, was sentenced to the maximum penalty for unsportsmanlike conduct, namely the payment of 10,000 euros; he was also charged with assault. At the 2012 Olympic Games in London , Nalbandian competed in both singles and doubles. There he was defeated in the opening round by the Serb Janko Tipsarević in two sets; in doubles he lost alongside Eduardo Schwank against the French Michaël Llodra and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga with 3: 6 and 5: 7.

2013

In the first half of the 2013 season, Nalbandian only played in the South American tournaments in São Paulo , Buenos Aires and Acapulco , as well as in the Masters tournaments in Indian Wells and Miami in the United States. In São Paulo he reached the final against Rafael Nadal , to which he was defeated in two sets.

Due to injuries he had to do without further tournament participation. He played his last match at the end of March 2013 as part of the Miami Masters against Jarkko Nieminen . Nalbandian announced in a press release on August 7, 2013 that his shoulder and hip surgery, which he underwent in May, had been successful and that he was slowly starting to exercise again. On October 1, 2013, he announced his retirement due to ongoing injury problems.

Davis Cup

Nalbandian was a regular member of the Argentine Davis Cup team and can show a record of 20: 6 wins from a total of 12 games. The first of three individual defeats resulted from his Davis Cup debut in the 2002 season , when Argentina lost to the Russian team in the semi-finals of the competition. Since the 2003 season he was a permanent fixture of the team and he was nominated for every game in his country; only twice he could not compete in the Davis Cup due to injuries. He had to cancel the 2003 semi-final against the Spanish team (Argentina lost 3-2) after leading his country with a 4-0 record until this phase of the competition. In 2004 he had to cancel due to injury when Argentina lost 5-0 to Belarus in the quarterfinals . In 2005 , Nalbandian finally became the team's leader after scoring all three points on grass in Australia, leading his country to the semi-finals of the competition for the third time in four years. The team then missed the final against Slovakia , Nalbandian scored the only point for his country in his individual.

In 2006 Argentina won the first round of the season 5-0 against Sweden . In the quarter-finals against defending champions Croatia , Nalbandian suffered the second single defeat of his career, but still led the team to the semi-finals with his victories in the first singles and doubles. There he defeated Mark Philippoussis and in doubles with his compatriot Agustín Calleri the Australian doubles with Wayne Arthurs and Paul Hanley . Argentina defeated Australia 5-0, drawing the team from Russia into the final of the competition for the first time since 1981. In the final, Nalbandian won both of his individual games against Marat Safin and Nikolai Dawydenko, but the match went to Russia 2: 3 overall. In the 2007 season Nalbandian only took part in the quarter-finals against Sweden; he lost his first individual against Thomas Johansson and Argentina lost in the end clearly 1: 4. In 2008 the team reached the world group final, which Argentina lost 3-1. Nalbandian won a singles against David Ferrer , but lost in doubles at the side of Agustín Calleri against Feliciano López and Fernando Verdasco . In 2010 , Nalbandian won in Argentina 3-2 against Sweden both the singles against Andreas Vinciguerra and the doubles alongside Horacio Zeballos against Robert Lindstedt and Robin Söderling. In 2011 he played a single in the first round and in the semifinals, which he could also win; in the final he won doubles with Eduardo Schwank - the only victory in the final that Spain could clearly win. In 2012 , Nalbandian played doubles with Eduardo Schwank and a single in the first and second round; he won the doubles and the singles in the first round.

Tournament successes

Legend (number of wins in brackets) Grand Slam Tennis Masters Cup / ATP World Tour Finals (1) ATP Masters Series / ATP World Tour Masters 1000 (2) ATP International Series Gold / ATP World Tour 500 Series (1) ATP International Series / ATP World Tour 250 Series (7)

Title after covering Hard Court (5) Sand (4) Lawn (0) Carpet (2)

singles

Tournament victories

No.	date	competition	Topping	Final opponent	Result
1.	April 8, 2002	Estoril (1)	sand	Jarkko Nieminen	6: 4, 7: 6 5
2.	October 21, 2002	Basel	Carpet (i)	Fernando González	6: 4, 6: 3, 6: 2
3.	May 1, 2005	Munich	sand	Andrei Pavel	6: 4, 6: 1
4th	November 20, 2005	Shanghai	Carpet (i)	Roger Federer	6: 7 4 , 6: 7 11 , 6: 2, 6: 1, 7: 6 3
5.	May 7, 2006	Estoril (2)	sand	Nikolai Davydenko	6: 3, 6: 4
6th	October 21, 2007	Madrid	Hard court (i)	Roger Federer	1: 6, 6: 3, 6: 3
7th	November 4, 2007	Paris	Hard court (i)	Rafael Nadal	6: 4, 6: 0
8th.	February 24, 2008	Buenos Aires	sand	José Acasuso	3: 6, 7: 6 5 , 6: 4
9.	October 5, 2008	Stockholm	Hard court (i)	Robin Soderling	6: 2, 5: 7, 6: 3
10.	January 17, 2009	Sydney	Hard court (i)	Jarkko Nieminen	6: 3, 6: 7 9 , 6: 2
11.	August 8, 2010	Washington, DC	Hard court	Marcos Baghdatis	6: 2, 7: 6 4

Final participation

No.	date	competition	Topping	Final opponent	Result
1.	September 24, 2001	Palermo	sand	Félix Mantilla	6: 7 2 , 4: 6
2.	June 24, 2002	Wimbledon	race	Lleyton Hewitt	1: 6, 3: 6, 2: 6
3.	August 4, 2003	Montréal	Hard court	Andy Roddick	1: 6, 3: 6
4th	October 20, 2003	Basel	carpet	Guillermo Coria	without a fight
5.	May 3, 2004	Rome	sand	Carlos Moyá	3: 6, 3: 6, 1: 6
6th	October 18, 2004	Madrid	Hard court	Marat Safin	2: 6, 4: 6, 3: 6
7th	October 25, 2004	Basel	carpet	Jiří Novák	7: 5, 3: 6, 4: 6, 6: 1, 2: 6
8th.	March 2, 2008	Acapulco	sand	Nicolás Almagro	1: 6, 6: 7 1
9.	October 26, 2008	Basel	Hard court	Roger Federer	3: 6, 4: 6
10.	November 2, 2008	Paris	Hard court (i)	Jo-Wilfried Tsonga	3: 6, 6: 4, 4: 6
11.	January 16, 2011	Auckland	Hard court	David Ferrer	3: 6, 2: 6
12.	17th June 2012	London	race	Marin Čilić	7: 6 3 , 3: 4 disq.
13.	17th February 2013	São Paulo	sand	Rafael Nadal	2: 6, 3: 6

Double

Final participation

No.	date	competition	Topping	partner	Final opponent	Result
1.	February 23, 2003	Buenos Aires	sand	Lucas Arnold Ker	Mariano Hood Sebastián Prieto	2: 6, 2: 6

Web links

Commons : David Nalbandian  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• ATP profile of David Nalbandian (English)
• ITF profile of David Nalbandian (English)
• Davis Cup stats by David Nalbandian (English)
• Official Homepage (Spanish)
• News about David Nalbandian (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Emil Sanamyan: David Nalbandian: I really enjoy being back on the court. In: armenianreporter.am. August 10, 2010, archived from the original on October 26, 2014 ; accessed on December 12, 2016 . 
2. ↑ Tennis - David Nalbandian becomes a father. In: tennisworldusa.org. June 1, 2013, accessed October 10, 2016 . 
3. ↑ Olimpias de oro www.cpd.com.ar. Retrieved September 4, 2019.
4. ↑ Nalbandian kicks referee in the leg bloody. In: spiegel.de. June 17, 2012, accessed December 12, 2016 . 
5. ↑ David Nalbandian Disqualified After Injuring Linesman At AEGON Championship. In: youtube.com. June 17, 2012, accessed December 12, 2016 . 
6. ↑ Kick attack: Police are investigating Nalbandian. In: sport.de. June 18, 2012, accessed December 12, 2016 . 
7. ↑ Nalbandian Volvió hoy a entrenar en cancha. In: davidnalbandian.com. August 7, 2013, archived from the original on October 4, 2013 ; Retrieved December 12, 2016 (Spanish). 
8. ↑ David Nalbandian ends his career. In: tagesspiegel.de. October 1, 2013, accessed December 12, 2016 .