David Nalbandian

David Nalbandian

Country (sports)	Argentina
Residence	Córdoba, Argentina
Height	5 ft 11 in (180 cm) [1]
Turned pro	2000
Plays	Right; Two-handed backhand
Prize money	$7,174,894
Singles
Career record	217 - 108
Career titles	5
Highest ranking	No. 3 (March 20, 2006)
Grand Slam singles results
Australian Open	SF (2006)
French Open	SF (2004, 2006)
Wimbledon	F (2002)
US Open	SF (2003)
Doubles
Career record	26 - 36
Career titles	0
Highest ranking	No. 116 (July 21, 2003)

David Nalbandian (born January 1, 1982, Unquillo, Córdoba, Argentina) is a professional tennis player from Argentina. He is currently the World's No. 10 male tennis player. ^[2]

Nalbandian is of Armenian descent; his last name means "one who makes horse shoes" in Persian.

Tennis career

Nalbandian began playing tennis at age five. As a junior player, he won the 1998 Junior US Open singles against Roger Federer and the 1999 Junior Wimbledon doubles titles.

He turned professional in 2000. In 2001, he finished in the ATP top 50 for the first time. He finished 2002 as no. 1 Argentine and South American for the first time in his career, winning 2 ATP titles and reaching the Wimbledon final, where he set a record and stunned the tennis world by becoming the first man to reach the final on his senior debut, in 2002. Furthermore, his run to the 2002 Wimbledon final is even more remarkable, considering that it was his first ever pro tournament on grass.

Since then he has continued to climb his way up the ranks of professional tennis, and has finished each of the last two years ranked inside the year end top ten. In 2003 Nalbandian reached the semifinals of the US Open, where he lost to Andy Roddick, after holding a match point in the third set, after a few controversial calls. In 2004, Nalbandian reached the French Open semifinals losing to eventual champion Gastón Gaudio.

In 2005, Nalbandian won the Tennis Masters Cup, becoming only the second Argentine tennis player in history (after Guillermo Vilas in 1974) to win the end of year tournament. Having replaced American Andy Roddick, Nalbandian won two of his three group matches (l. to Roger Federer, d. Ivan Ljubičić and Guillermo Coria). In the semi-finals he defeated Russian Nikolay Davydenko and in the final, he beat World No. 1 Roger Federer in the fifth-set tiebreak. David also becomes the first player to win the cup without previously attaining a Grand Slam or Masters Series title.

File:Nalbandian Tennis.jpg

Nalbandian at the 2006 US Open.

In January of 2006, Nalbandian defeated Fabrice Santoro of France 7-5 6-0 6-0 in the quarter-finals of the Australian Open, becoming only the third active player (along with Andre Agassi and Roger Federer) to have reached the semi-finals of each Grand Slam tournament. He would lose the semifinals to Marcos Baghdatis in a hard fought five set match, despite holding a two-set-to-love advantage and then 4 games to 2 in the final set. In May, Nalbandian won the Estoril Open Tournament in Portugal for the second time, being one of three only men to achieve this accomplishment (Carlos Costa - 1992 and 1994, and Thomas Muster - 1995 and 1996). One month later, Nalbandian reached his second French Open semi-final. It was the first time in his career that he reached two Grand Slam semi-finals in one calendar year. He played Roger Federer and started very well, taking the first set 6-3 and going 3-0 up in the second set. At 5-2 down in the third set, Nalbandian decided to retire from the match, since he was suffering from abdominal injuries. At Wimbledon, Nalbandian was beaten in the third round - it was the first time he didn't reach the last 16. At the US Open, Nalbandian was beaten in the second round against former Grand Slam champion Marat Safin.

Nalbandian then competed in the Davis Cup Semi Final against Australia. David easily defeated Mark Philippoussis 6-4 6-3 6-3 to give Argentina a 1-0 lead. Nalbandian felt as if the crowd didn't get totally fired up because he was cruising through the match. When the draw for the Davis Cup semifinal was being made with Argentina vs. Australia, Nalbandian shook hands with Australian Mark Philippoussis and asked him to join the party on Saturday night, implying that Argentina would beat Australia 3-0 on Saturday. Nalbandian was indeed correct, and Argentina went on to thrash Australia 5-0. Nalbandian said the only thing he was disappointed that he didn't have the opportunity to beat Lleyton Hewitt, whom he thrashed in the Davis Cup quarterfinal in 2005 6-2 6-4 6-4 in Australia (Nalbandian's record against Hewitt is 1-3). Prior to the Davis Cup semifinal, Nalbandian said, "We beat them in Australia, and we're going to beat them again." Argentina went on to humiliate Australia, thrashing them 5-0. Nalbandian also fired up the clash with Australia by saying that Hewitt has no friends on the ATP Tour.

Nalbandian is a good friend of compatriot Guillermo Coria and keeps a good relationship with all Argentine players especially Agustin Calleri. He is a fan of the River Plate football team and has his own rally team called Tango Rally with Marcos Ligato as the main driver.

Playing Style

Nalbandian employs a very aggressive baseline game, although he is capable of playing an all-court style. His main strengths lie in his groundstrokes and return game, and are complemented by his deft accuracy and incredible foot speed. His groundstrokes are technically sound and solid from both wings, and because of their depth, pace, and consistency, opponents often have difficulty breaking down one particular side. Nalbandian's trademark shot is his two-handed backhand down the line, which he often uses to set up point, by either hitting a clean winner, or forcing a weak return from the opponent. Nalbandian is also a sound volley player, and if a situation calls for more aggressive play, he is often willing to finish points at the net.

Nalbandian's largest weakness is the inconsistency in his mental game. Nalbandian has proven his mental fortitude in countless matches, most recently during the 2005 Tennis Masters Cup final, when he beat Roger Federer in five tough sets, despite the latter leading two sets to love. He also, however, has a tendency to relax at times when he is leading in a match, sometimes even to the point of losing. During the 2006 Australian Open semi-finals, Nalbandian suffered such a fate against Marcos Baghdatis; Nalbandian dropped the final three sets of the match, after holding a two sets-to-none lead against the young Cypriot.

Equipment

David Nalbandian is sponsored by Yonex. His racquet of choice is the Yonex RDS 001, and also wears both Yonex clothing and shoes.

Funfare

Nalbandian is featured in Sega's new game, Virtua Tennis 3 along with other great players. The game offers platforms in arcade, Xbox 360 and Playstation 3.

Grand Slam singles finals

Runner-ups (1)

Year	Championship	Opponent in Final	Score in Final
2002	Wimbledon	Lleyton Hewitt	1-6, 3-6, 2-6

Tennis Masters Cup singles finals

Wins (1)

Year	Championship	Opponent in Final	Score in Final
2005	Shanghai	Roger Federer	6-7, 6-7, 6-2, 6-1, 7-6

ATP Masters Series singles finals

Runner-ups (3)

Year	Championship	Opponent in Final	Score in Final
2003	Montreal	Andy Roddick	1-6, 3-6
2004	Rome	Carlos Moya	3-6, 4-6, 0-6
2004	Madrid	Marat Safin	2-6, 4-6, 3-6

Titles (5)

Singles (5)

Legend

Grand Slam (0)

Tennis Masters Cup (1)

ATP Masters Series (0)

ATP Tour (4)

No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Opponent in the final	Score
1.	8 April 2002	Estoril, Portugal	Clay	Jarkko Nieminen	6-4 7-6(5)
2.	21 October 2002	Basel, Switzerland	Carpet	Fernando González	6-4 6-3 6-2
3.	1 May 2005	Munich, Germany	Clay	Andrei Pavel	6-4 6-1
4.	20 November 2005	Tennis Masters Cup, Shanghai, China	Carpet	Roger Federer	6-7(4) 6-7(11) 6-2 6-1 7-6(3)
5.	7 May 2006	Estoril, Portugal	Clay	Nikolay Davydenko	6-3 6-4

Singles Finalist (7)

• 2001
  • Palermo (lost to Félix Mantilla)
• 2002
  • Wimbledon (lost to Lleyton Hewitt)
• 2003
  • Montreal Masters (lost to Andy Roddick)
  • Basel (lost to Guillermo Coria)
• 2004
  • Rome Masters (lost to Carlos Moyá)
  • Madrid Masters (lost to Marat Safin)
  • Basel (lost to Jiří Novák)

Performance timeline

Tournament	2007	2006	2005	2004	2003	2002	2001	Titles
Australian Open	4r	SF	QF	QF	QF	2r	-	0
French Open		SF	4r	SF	2r	3r	-	0
Wimbledon		3r	QF	-	4r	F	-	0
U.S. Open		2r	QF	2r	SF	1r	3r	0
Tennis Masters Cup		SF	W	-	RR	-	-	1

Doubles (0)

Doubles Finalist (1)

• 2003 Buenos Aires w/Lucas Arnold (ARG) (lost to Mariano Hood & Sebastián Prieto (ARG))

External links

• David Nalbandian at the Association of Tennis Professionals
• Match history at Yahoo