
David Pablo Nalbandian (; born 1 January 1982) is an Argentine former professional
tennis
Tennis is a List of racket sports, racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles (tennis), singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles (tennis), doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket st ...
player. He reached his highest ranking in singles of world No. 3 in March 2006, during a career that spanned from 2000 to 2013. Nalbandian was runner-up in the singles event at the
2002 Wimbledon Championships. During his career, he won 11 singles titles, including the
Tennis Masters Cup in 2005 and two
Masters 1000 tournaments. Nalbandian is the only Argentine man in history to reach the semifinals or better at all four
major
Major most commonly refers to:
* Major (rank), a military rank
* Academic major, an academic discipline to which an undergraduate student formally commits
* People named Major, including given names, surnames, nicknames
* Major and minor in musi ...
s and to reach the Wimbledon final. He was a member of the
Argentinian Davis Cup team who reached the finals of the World Group in 2006, 2008 and 2011. Nalbandian played right-handed with a two-handed backhand, regarded at the time to be one of the best on tour. Nalbandian was considered one of the greatest players to have never won a Grand Slam title. Since his retirement, Nalbandian has taken up the sport of rally racing and has competed in
Rally Argentina.
Biography
Of
Armenian
Armenian may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to Armenia, a country in the South Caucasus region of Eurasia
* Armenians, the national people of Armenia, or people of Armenian descent
** Armenian diaspora, Armenian communities around the ...
and
Italian descent, David Nalbandian was born in the small city of
Unquillo in
Córdoba Province, Argentina. He became a professional tennis player at the age of 18.
Career on the ATP
Junior career
As a junior, Nalbandian reached as high as No. 3 in the world in December 1998 (and No. 5 in doubles in 2000), soon after winning the US Open boys' singles final over fellow junior
Roger Federer
Roger Federer ( , ; born 8 August 1981) is a Swiss former professional tennis player. He was ranked as the List of ATP number 1 ranked singles tennis players, world No. 1 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) for 3 ...
.
2000–2002
He turned professional in 2000. In 2001, he finished in the
ATP top 50 for the first time. He finished 2002 as the No. 1 Argentine and South American for the first time in his career, winning two
ATP titles and reaching the
Wimbledon final, where he beat
David Sánchez,
Paul-Henri Mathieu,
George Bastl,
Wayne Arthurs,
Nicolás Lapentti and
Xavier Malisse
Xavier Malisse (born 19 July 1980) is a Belgian tennis coach and a former professional player. Born in the north-western Flemish Region, Flemish city of Kortrijk and nicknamed ''X-Man'', he is one of only two Belgian men (the other being David G ...
before losing to
Lleyton Hewitt
Lleyton Glynn Hewitt (born 24 February 1981) is an Australian former professional tennis player. He was ranked as the List of ATP number 1 ranked singles players, world No. 1 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) fo ...
.
2003–2004
Nalbandian did not reach another major final in 2003. At Wimbledon he lost to
Tim Henman, following a stomach injury during his previous match against
Karol Kucera. In 2004, Nalbandian achieved his best result at the French Open reaching the semifinals, losing to eventual champion
Gastón Gaudio. Although he did not win any titles in 2004, he did finish runner-up at both the
Rome Masters and the
Madrid Masters, by
Carlos Moyá and
Marat Safin
Marat Mubinovich Safin ( rus, Мара́т Муби́нович Са́фин, , mɐˈrat ˈsafʲɪn, Ru-Marat-Safin.ogg; ; born 27 January 1980) is a Russian former professional tennis player and former politician. He was ranked as the List of ...
respectively. He broke into the top 5 for the first time in his career in August and finished 2004 ranked as the World No. 9 player.
2005
In 2005, Nalbandian advanced to the quarterfinals of the Australian Open, Wimbledon, and the U.S. Open. At
Wimbledon, Nalbandian came from two sets down to defeat
Andy Murray
Sir Andrew Barron Murray (born 15 May 1987) is a British former professional tennis player and coach. He was ranked as the List of ATP number 1 ranked singles tennis players, world No. 1 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professio ...
in the third round, in what was Murray's first Major tournament. He wound up being the only player to ever defeat Murray from two sets down. He also won the
Tennis Masters Cup, becoming only the second Argentine tennis player in history (after
Guillermo Vilas in 1974) to win the year-end tournament. Having replaced
Andy Roddick, he won two of his three group matches (to Federer,
Ivan Ljubičić, and
Guillermo Coria). In the semifinals, he defeated Russian
Nikolay Davydenko, and in the final, he beat World No. 1
Roger Federer
Roger Federer ( , ; born 8 August 1981) is a Swiss former professional tennis player. He was ranked as the List of ATP number 1 ranked singles tennis players, world No. 1 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) for 3 ...
in a fifth-set tiebreak after coming from two sets down, with Federer succumbing to a right ankle injury after laboring out the first two sets in tiebreaks. Nalbandian became the first player to win the cup without previously attaining a Grand Slam or Masters Series title.
2006
In January 2006, Nalbandian beat
Fabrice Santoro in the quarterfinals of the Australian Open, becoming, at the time, only the second active player (along with Roger Federer) to have reached the semifinals of each Grand Slam tournament. He lost in the semifinals to
Marcos Baghdatis
Marcos Baghdatis (Greek language, Greek: Μάρκος Παγδατής, Arabic language, Arabic: ماركوس بغداتيس); born 17 June 1985 is a Greek Cypriot former professional tennis player and coach. He was the runner-up at the 2006 Aus ...
in a hard-fought five-set match, despite holding a two-set-to-love advantage and four games to two in the final set. In May, he won the Estoril Open Tournament in Portugal for the second time, being one of only three 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 semifinal. It was the only time in his career that he reached two Grand Slam semifinals in one calendar year. He played Federer and started strongly, winning the first set and going 3–0 up in the second set. At 5–2 down in the third set, Nalbandian decided to retire from the match due to stomach injury. At Wimbledon, Nalbandian was beaten in the third round, where he lost to
Fernando Verdasco in straight sets. At the US Open, Nalbandian was beaten in the second round by
Marat Safin
Marat Mubinovich Safin ( rus, Мара́т Муби́нович Са́фин, , mɐˈrat ˈsafʲɪn, Ru-Marat-Safin.ogg; ; born 27 January 1980) is a Russian former professional tennis player and former politician. He was ranked as the List of ...
.
Nalbandian then competed in the
Davis Cup semifinal tie against
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...
. David easily won against
Mark Philippoussis
Mark Anthony Philippoussis (born 7 November 1976) is an Australian tennis coach, commentator and former professional tennis player of Greek and Italian descent. Philippoussis' greatest achievements are winning two Davis Cup titles with Austra ...
to give Argentina a 1–0 lead. Argentina went on to win 5–0 to reach the Davis Cup final. Later in the year, Nalbandian reached semifinals at the Masters Series Madrid and the Masters Cup, where he lost to
Roger Federer
Roger Federer ( , ; born 8 August 1981) is a Swiss former professional tennis player. He was ranked as the List of ATP number 1 ranked singles tennis players, world No. 1 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) for 3 ...
and
James Blake, respectively. Despite winning both of his singles rubbers in the Davis Cup final against Safin and
Nikolay Davydenko, Nalbandian could not stop the Russian Davis Cup team. Argentina went on to lose 3–2.
2007
2007 saw Nalbandian drop out of the world's top 20 for the first time since 2003, after losing in the fourth round of the
2007 French Open to
Nikolay Davydenko. Nalbandian suffered various abdominal injuries, a back injury, and a leg injury during the year.
He fell to no. 26 in the world until his season changed after winning the
2007 Madrid Masters. He won the tournament by defeating second seed
Rafael Nadal
Rafael Nadal Parera (born 3 June 1986) is a Spanish former professional tennis player. He was ranked as the List of ATP number 1 ranked singles tennis players, world No. 1 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) for ...
, third seed
Novak Djokovic
Novak Djokovic ( sr-Cyrl-Latn, Новак Ђоковић, Novak Đoković, separator=" / ", ; born 22 May 1987) is a Serbian professional tennis player. He has been ranked as the List of ATP number 1 ranked singles tennis players#Weeks at N ...
, and top seed Federer in consecutive rounds, becoming the third player after
Boris Becker
Boris Franz Becker (; born 22 November 1967) is a German former professional tennis player. He was ranked as the List of ATP number 1 ranked players, world No. 1 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP). Becker won 49 c ...
and Djoković to defeat the world's top three players in a single tournament. He defeated Nadal in the quarterfinals. His good form carried him to his second top-3 win of the tournament, defeating Djoković in the semifinals. He stunned Federer in the final and reached the doubles semifinals with
Guillermo Cañas in the tournament, before losing to top-seeded brothers
Bob and Mike Bryan in the semifinals. After the tournament, his singles ranking moved up from no. 25 on the tour to No. 18. Nalbandian was the only player ever to defeat all 3 members of the
big three at the same tournament.
He played at the
2007 Paris Masters and again defeated Federer, in the third round. He beat
David Ferrer in the quarterfinals in a closely fought match. After beating
Richard Gasquet
Richard Gabriel Cyr Gasquet (; born 18 June 1986) is a French former professional tennis player. He was ranked as high as world No. 7 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals, ATP, attained in July 2007. Gasquet won 16 singles ...
in the semifinals, Nalbandian won his second straight
ATP Masters Series
The ATP 1000 events, also known as ATP Masters 1000 tournaments, are an annual series of nine tennis tournaments featuring the top-ranked players on the ATP Tour since its inception in 1990. The ATP 1000 tournaments, sitting below the Grand ...
title over
Rafael Nadal
Rafael Nadal Parera (born 3 June 1986) is a Spanish former professional tennis player. He was ranked as the List of ATP number 1 ranked singles tennis players, world No. 1 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) for ...
, thus, becoming the first player to win the Madrid and Paris Masters back to back since former world no. 1,
Marat Safin
Marat Mubinovich Safin ( rus, Мара́т Муби́нович Са́фин, , mɐˈrat ˈsafʲɪn, Ru-Marat-Safin.ogg; ; born 27 January 1980) is a Russian former professional tennis player and former politician. He was ranked as the List of ...
in 2004. This win allowed him to move back into the world's top 10 at No. 9. After the Paris Masters, Nalbandian became the first player to defeat No. 1 and No. 2 players in consecutive tournaments and win them.
2008

Nalbandian began his 2008 season back in the top 10. However, at the Australian Open, he failed to reach the quarterfinals, suffering a straight sets loss to the 22nd seed
Juan Carlos Ferrero in the third round. On 24 February 2008, he won the Copa Telmex in Buenos Aires, beating
José Acasuso
José Javier "Chucho" Acasuso (; born 20 October 1982) is a tennis coach and a former professional player from Argentina. Like many of his fellow countrymen, he favoured clay. He was known for his strong serve and his hard groundstrokes off bot ...
in the final. With that win, he moved to World No. 8. The following week, He arrived at the
Abierto Mexicano Telcel in
Acapulco
Acapulco de Juárez (), commonly called Acapulco ( , ; ), is a city and Port of Acapulco, major seaport in the Political divisions of Mexico, state of Guerrero on the Pacific Coast of Mexico, south of Mexico City. Located on a deep, semicirc ...
, Mexico and cruised all the way to the finals, along the way defeating
Boris Pašanski,
Santiago Ventura,
Potito Starace, and
Luis Horna, beating them all in straight sets, but then lost in the final, to Spaniard
Nicolás Almagro
Nicolás Almagro Sánchez (; born 21 August 1985 in Murcia, Spain) is a Spanish former professional tennis player of Latin American descent. He reached the quarterfinals of the French Open in 2008 French Open – Men's singles, 2008, 201 ...
.
He entered his first ATP Masters Series tournament of the year at the
2008 Pacific Life Open, and defeated
Ernests Gulbis,
Radek Štěpánek
Radek Štěpánek (; born 27 November 1978) is a Czech former professional tennis player. His career-high singles ranking was world No. 8 and best doubles ranking was world No. 4. Štěpánek's biggest achievements are reaching two Masters 1000 ...
and
Juan Carlos Ferrero, to whom he lost earlier in the year at the Australian Open. He lost, however, in the quarterfinals against
Mardy Fish in a very close match. He lost at the
Monte Carlo Masters to eventual finalist Federer. In Barcelona, he was the third seed but was eliminated by
Stanislas Wawrinka
Stanislas "Stan" Wawrinka (; born 28 March 1985) is a Swiss professional tennis player. He has been ranked world No. 3 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), first achieved on 27 January 2014. Wawrinka has won 16 ATP T ...
in the third round. At the
2008 Rome Masters, he fell in his opening match to Almagro.
At the French Open, Nalbandian suffered a shock loss in the second round to Frenchman
Jérémy Chardy
Jérémy Chardy (; born 12 February 1987) is a French tennis coach and a former professional player. He has won one ATP Tour singles title, in Stuttgart in 2009. His best major performance in singles was reaching the quarterfinals of the 2013 ...
. After being two sets up and seemingly in control, he lost the next three to hand Chardy the win. He also suffered early exits from both
Wimbledon and the
US Open, losing in the second round and third round, respectively. His indoor season, however, was a success, as he won his ninth career title at the
2008 Stockholm Open, defeating
Robin Söderling
Robin Bo Carl Söderling (; born 14 August 1984) is a Swedish former professional tennis player. He was ranked world No. 4 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) in November 2010. Söderling won ten singles titles on th ...
in the final. He was defending champion at the
Madrid Masters but was quickly eliminated by fellow Argentine
Juan Martín del Potro in the third round. He then entered both the
Davidoff Swiss Indoors and the
BNP Paribas Masters, where he was once again the defending champion. He did not win either of these tournaments but found himself in the finals of both.
To end the year, he participated in the
2008 Davis Cup and was up on an opening match against
David Ferrer. Despite a victory, he ended up on the losing team against Spain in the
Davis Cup finals in Argentina (The Argentine team lost 1–3). He made some offensive comments in the press against Spain, the Spanish tennis team, and
Rafael Nadal
Rafael Nadal Parera (born 3 June 1986) is a Spanish former professional tennis player. He was ranked as the List of ATP number 1 ranked singles tennis players, world No. 1 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) for ...
. It was rumoured that he and
Agustín Calleri were involved in a fight after they lost their doubles rubber. Nalbandian denied this. He was fined $10,000 for leaving the stadium after his and Calleri's defeat in doubles to Spaniards
Fernando Verdasco and
Feliciano López
Feliciano López Díaz-Guerra (; born 20 September 1981) is a Spanish former professional tennis player. He achieved his career-high singles ATP rankings, ranking of world No. 12 in March 2015 and doubles ranking of world No. 9 in November 2016. ...
, and for his refusal to appear at a subsequent press conference to comment on the Argentine team's setback.
2009
Nalbandian started his 2009 tour by winning his tenth career ATP title at the
Medibank International in Sydney, Australia, after defeating Finland's
Jarkko Nieminen
Jarkko Kalervo Nieminen (born 23 July 1981) is a Finnish former professional tennis player. His highest ranking of world No. 13, achieved in July 2006, is a Finnish record. He has won two ATP singles titles and five doubles titles in his caree ...
in the final. At the Australian Open, he defeated
Marc Gicquel in the first round, in four sets before being upset by unseeded Taiwanese player
Lu Yen-Hsun in five sets in the second round. At the
2009 BNP Paribas Open in
Indian Wells, California
Indian Wells is a city in Riverside County, California, United States, in the Coachella Valley. Incorporated in 1967, it lies in between the cities of Palm Desert and La Quinta, California, La Quinta. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 c ...
, he lost to World No. 1
Rafael Nadal
Rafael Nadal Parera (born 3 June 1986) is a Spanish former professional tennis player. He was ranked as the List of ATP number 1 ranked singles tennis players, world No. 1 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) for ...
in the fourth round for the first time, failing to convert on five match points in the second set. In May, he announced that he would have to undergo hip surgery, resulting in not being able to compete in the remaining Grand Slams and the Davis Cup. In August, he announced that he would return to practice and eventually to competitive tennis at the Australian Open in January. A few days before the beginning of the tournament, he was forced to withdraw from the event due to an abdominal injury.
2010
Because of several knee injuries in the early part of the 2010 season, he finally made a return, beginning at the
2010 Copa Telmex, his hometown tournament. He beat
Potito Starace in the first round over a period of two days due to a rain delay. In the second round, he beat
Daniel Gimeno-Traver. However, he pulled out of his quarterfinals match against fifth seed
Albert Montañés
Albert Montañés Roca (, ; born 26 November 1980) is a Spanish former professional tennis player. He first entered the top 100 in 2001, achieved a career-high singles ranking of world No. 22 in 2010, and has won six singles titles and two doubl ...
due to a right leg injury. He made a return to tennis by playing doubles for Argentina in the Davis Cup against Sweden in Stockholm, which he won in straight sets. He played the deciding singles rubber, defeating Vinciguerra and helped Argentina reach the quarterfinals.
Playing in his first Masters Series event since Monte Carlo the previous year, he appeared at the
2010 BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells. There, he won his first-round match against
Stefan Koubek. In his next-round match, he played 22nd seed
Jürgen Melzer
Jürgen Melzer (born 22 May 1981) is an Austrian tennis coach and former professional tennis player. Melzer reached a career-high singles ranking of world No. 8 in April 2011, and a doubles ranking of world No. 6 in September 2010. He has a youn ...
and lost. He then entered the
2010 Sony Ericsson Open in Miami as a wildcard entrant. He beat
Łukasz Kubot and
Viktor Troicki before falling to
Rafael Nadal
Rafael Nadal Parera (born 3 June 1986) is a Spanish former professional tennis player. He was ranked as the List of ATP number 1 ranked singles tennis players, world No. 1 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) for ...
in three sets. He entered the
2010 Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters in Monaco, ranked No. 151 in the world, beating
Andreas Beck in straight sets, before coming through against World No. 13
Mikhail Youzhny
Mikhail Mikhailovich Youzhny (born 25 June 1982), nicknamed "Misha" and "Colonel" by his fans, is a Russian former professional tennis player who was ranked inside the top 10 and was the Russian No. 1. He achieved a top-10 ranking by the Associ ...
of Russia in the second round. Nalbandian beat
Tommy Robredo, before losing in the quarterfinals to the second-ranked
Novak Djokovic
Novak Djokovic ( sr-Cyrl-Latn, Новак Ђоковић, Novak Đoković, separator=" / ", ; born 22 May 1987) is a Serbian professional tennis player. He has been ranked as the List of ATP number 1 ranked singles tennis players#Weeks at N ...
. Nalbandian withdrew from the
2010 Internazionali BNL d'Italia with a right leg injury. The injury persisted, and he withdrew from the
2010 Mutua Madrileña Madrid Open, the
2010 Roland Garros and the
2010 Wimbledon Championships.
In July, he played two singles matches for Argentina against Russia in the Davis Cup at the Olympic Stadium in Moscow. He defeated
Nikolay Davydenko in the first rubber and
Mikhail Youzhny
Mikhail Mikhailovich Youzhny (born 25 June 1982), nicknamed "Misha" and "Colonel" by his fans, is a Russian former professional tennis player who was ranked inside the top 10 and was the Russian No. 1. He achieved a top-10 ranking by the Associ ...
in the fifth and final rubber, giving Argentina a victory of 3–2 to qualify for the semifinals. He made his return in the
2010 Legg Mason Tennis Classic, where he won the title, his first since
2009 Medibank International Sydney after wins over
Rajeev Ram,
Stanislas Wawrinka
Stanislas "Stan" Wawrinka (; born 28 March 1985) is a Swiss professional tennis player. He has been ranked world No. 3 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), first achieved on 27 January 2014. Wawrinka has won 16 ATP T ...
,
Marco Chiudinelli
Marco Chiudinelli (born 10 September 1981) is a retired tennis player from Switzerland. A member of Switzerland's winning 2014 Davis Cup squad, he reached his highest singles ranking of 52 in February 2010 during a career that was often hindered ...
,
Gilles Simon and
Marin Čilić
Marin Čilić (; born 28 September 1988) is a Croatian professional tennis player. He has been ranked world No. 3 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), achieved on 28 January 2018. Čilić has won 21 ATP Tour-level si ...
. He defeated
Marcos Baghdatis
Marcos Baghdatis (Greek language, Greek: Μάρκος Παγδατής, Arabic language, Arabic: ماركوس بغداتيس); born 17 June 1985 is a Greek Cypriot former professional tennis player and coach. He was the runner-up at the 2006 Aus ...
in the finals, guaranteeing a jump in the rankings up to the vicinity of world no. 45. The following week, he had a successful run to the quarterfinals in the Roger's Masters Series in Toronto, defeating
David Ferrer,
Tommy Robredo, and
Robin Söderling
Robin Bo Carl Söderling (; born 14 August 1984) is a Swedish former professional tennis player. He was ranked world No. 4 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) in November 2010. Söderling won ten singles titles on th ...
, before losing to World No. 4
Andy Murray
Sir Andrew Barron Murray (born 15 May 1987) is a British former professional tennis player and coach. He was ranked as the List of ATP number 1 ranked singles tennis players, world No. 1 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professio ...
after this 11-match winning streak. This run took his rank up to world No. 37. He competed at the
2010 BNP Paribas Masters, where he lost again to Murray in the second round.
In November he was granted the Platinum
Konex Award as the best tennis player of the last decade in Argentina.
2011
Nalbandian began the year ranked No. 27 in the world. As sixth seed in the Auckland Open, Nalbandian beat
Fabio Fognini
Fabio Fognini (; born 24 May 1987) is an Italian professional tennis player. He has a career-high Association of Tennis Professionals, ATP ranking of world No. 9 achieved on 15 July 2019. Fognini's most successful surface is Clay court#Red clay, ...
,
Philipp Kohlschreiber,
John Isner
John Robert Isner (born April 26, 1985) is an American former professional tennis player. He was ranked as high as world No. 8 in singles and No. 14 in doubles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP). Considered one of the best servers ...
, and
Nicolás Almagro
Nicolás Almagro Sánchez (; born 21 August 1985 in Murcia, Spain) is a Spanish former professional tennis player of Latin American descent. He reached the quarterfinals of the French Open in 2008 French Open – Men's singles, 2008, 201 ...
, without losing a set. However, he lost in the final against
David Ferrer. His performance propelled him to the rank of No. 21 in the world, while also achieving the no. 1 Argentina position at the expense of
Juan Martín del Potro, who was also injured. He faced
Lleyton Hewitt
Lleyton Glynn Hewitt (born 24 February 1981) is an Australian former professional tennis player. He was ranked as the List of ATP number 1 ranked singles players, world No. 1 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) fo ...
again. The match, dubbed the "Clash of the Titans", went in the fifth set as in 2005, but this time for Nalbandian, after 57 games. He saved two match points, but in the second round was forced to retire due to cramps and fatigue, 1–6, 0–6, 0–2, to
Ričardas Berankis
Ričardas Berankis (; born June 21, 1990) is a Lithuanian professional tennis player. He is the first and only Lithuanian to enter the Association of Tennis Professionals, ATP top 50 rankings, making him the highest ranked Lithuanian tennis play ...
. After the Australian Open, he played in the
Movistar Open.
He began his tour on clay by beating his compatriot
Carlos Berlocq, before losing against
Horacio Zeballos
Horacio Zeballos Jr. (, ; born 27 April 1985) is an Argentine professional tennis player. He reached a career-high doubles ranking of world No. 1 on 6 May 2024, becoming the first Argentinian man to achieve the feat. He is a Grand Slam champion ...
. In Buenos Aires, he lost in the quarterfinals to
Tommy Robredo. He played a Davis Cup match, winning in four sets against Romanian
Adrian Ungur. Due to a torn hamstring and a hernia, he missed many tournaments including Indian Wells, Miami, Monte Carlo, Madrid and Rome Masters. He lost to
Roger Federer
Roger Federer ( , ; born 8 August 1981) is a Swiss former professional tennis player. He was ranked as the List of ATP number 1 ranked singles tennis players, world No. 1 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) for 3 ...
in the third round of Wimbledon.
2012
In the Australian Open, Nalbandian had a five-set loss to Isner and was fined $8,000 for unsportsmanlike conduct following the match. On February, David participated in two
Davis Cup matches for Argentina against the German team, defeating
Florian Mayer
Florian Mayer (; born 5 October 1983) is a German former professional tennis player.
Mayer reached his career-high singles ranking of world No. 18 in June 2011. Also in 2011, Mayer won his first ATP Tour title after four previous defeats in AT ...
in a singles match and then partnering with
Eduardo Schwank to win a doubles match against
Tommy Haas and
Philipp Petzschner to help the Argentinian team advance to the quarterfinals. Afterward, Nalbandian played a string of clay tournaments, reaching the quarterfinals in the
Brasil Open, semifinals in
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires, controlled by the government of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Argentina. It is located on the southwest of the Río de la Plata. Buenos Aires is classified as an Alpha− glob ...
and a first-round exit at the
Mexican Open. He then entered the first
ATP Masters 1000 tournament of the year, the
2012 BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, losing in the quarterfinals to
Rafael Nadal
Rafael Nadal Parera (born 3 June 1986) is a Spanish former professional tennis player. He was ranked as the List of ATP number 1 ranked singles tennis players, world No. 1 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) for ...
. After the tournament, Nalbandian reached No. 40 in the
ATP rankings but failed to progress past the first round in the
2012 French Open as he was beaten by the Romanian,
Adrian Ungur in four sets.
Queen's Club Championships incident
In June, Nalbandian reached the final of the
Aegon Championships at the Queen's Club in England for the first time. He led his opponent
Marin Čilić
Marin Čilić (; born 28 September 1988) is a Croatian professional tennis player. He has been ranked world No. 3 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), achieved on 28 January 2018. Čilić has won 21 ATP Tour-level si ...
by a set but, having been broken to trail 3–4 in the second, was
disqualified when he violently kicked a wooden partition in front of a seated line judge, injuring the linesman and drawing blood from his shin.
[Matt Brooks, "Nalbandian kicked out of Queen's Club final for injuring line judge"](_blank)
''Washington Post'', 18 June 2012; accessed 19 June 2012.
The kick was broadcast live on the BBC television coverage of the event, and a clip showing the incident was widely viewed on YouTube.
[Simon Cambers, "David Nalbandian's kick to be investigated by the police and ATP"](_blank)
''The Guardian'', 18 June 2012; accessed 18 June 2012. A complaint alleging assault was made to the
Metropolitan Police, who commenced investigations.
[UKPA (United Kingdom Press Association), "Nalbandian fined £8,000 over kick,"](_blank)
18 June 2012; accessed 19 June 2012. An
ATP spokesman stated that:
Nalbandian automatically forfeited his prize money and ranking points due to his conduct default. A maximum £8,000 (10,000 euro) fine was issued on site by the ATP Supervisor for unsportsmanlike conduct.
In forfeiting his potential prize money of £36,114
57,350plus the £8,000
12,560conduct fine, he incurred a total loss over the weekend of £44,114
69,910 He was additionally docked 150 ranking points by the ATP.
[Tim Lewis, "David Nalbandian's anger management works...almost"](_blank)
''Guardian'', 25 June 2012; accessed 27 June 2012.
Nalbandian was unseeded at the
Wimbledon championships
The Wimbledon Championships, commonly called Wimbledon, is a tennis tournament organised by the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in collaboration with the Lawn Tennis Association annually in Wimbledon, London. It is chronologically the ...
, which followed soon after, and was defeated in straight sets by
Janko Tipsarević in the first round. He lost again to Tipsarević in the first round at the
London Olympics.
US Open withdrawal
Nalbandian withdrew from the
2012 US Open due to a strained muscle in his chest, one day before his scheduled first-round match against compatriot and
2009
2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...
champion
Juan Martín del Potro.
2013
He played the last final of his career at the
2013 Brasil Open, where he lost to
Rafael Nadal
Rafael Nadal Parera (born 3 June 1986) is a Spanish former professional tennis player. He was ranked as the List of ATP number 1 ranked singles tennis players, world No. 1 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) for ...
. After the quarterfinal win over France in the
Davis Cup, where he played doubles, he was forced to undergo an operation on his right shoulder, sidelining him for much of the 2013 season. On 1 October, he announced his retirement.
After tennis
Nalbandian has sought to continue a sporting career and has taken up
Rallying
Rallying is a wide-ranging form of motorsport with various competitive motoring elements such as speed tests (sometimes called "rally racing" in United States), navigation tests, or the ability to reach waypoints or a destination at a prescribed ...
in the
Argentine Rally Championship. Since then his career has progressed to appearances in the
Codasur South American Rally Championship and one appearance in the
World Rally Championship
The World Rally Championship (abbreviated as WRC) is an international rallying series owned and governed by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile, FIA. Inaugurated in 1973, it is the oldest FIA world championship after Formula One. E ...
. Mostly he races an Argentine specification
Chevrolet Agile.
In February 2021, he has been hired as a coach by
Miomir Kecmanović.
Playing style
Nalbandian was an all-court player and a clean ball-striker, hitting powerful groundstrokes. He had a decent, but not particularly dominating service game compared to top 20 players. His signature play was the wide drive that swings out of court on both sides, low and spinning. He could return high balls on both wings with acute angles and low trajectories, using these skills with great tactical intelligence.
His ground game was complemented by his anticipation, speed and ability to end points at the net. Nalbandian's trademark shot is his double-handed backhand down-the-line, which was often regarded as one of the best double-handed backhands of all time. He often used it to set up a point, by either hitting a clean winner or forcing a weak return from the opponent. Nalbandian is also known to be one of the game's best returners. He was consistently able to knock balls back deep on the baseline to effectively set up the point or hit return winners off second serves, but he also had the ability to block it back deep when returning a more effective serve. He also used a "chip-and-charge" technique against the opponents' serves to surprise them.
Early in his career, Nalbandian was considered one of the most talented young players on tour, and touted as a future star of the game, alongside the likes of
Roger Federer
Roger Federer ( , ; born 8 August 1981) is a Swiss former professional tennis player. He was ranked as the List of ATP number 1 ranked singles tennis players, world No. 1 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) for 3 ...
,
Marat Safin
Marat Mubinovich Safin ( rus, Мара́т Муби́нович Са́фин, , mɐˈrat ˈsafʲɪn, Ru-Marat-Safin.ogg; ; born 27 January 1980) is a Russian former professional tennis player and former politician. He was ranked as the List of ...
and
Andy Roddick. Early in his career, he was cited as a rival of Federer, having beaten him five times consecutively between 2002 and 2003. However, injuries, lack of consistency, and poor mental temperament have been cited as his biggest weaknesses that prevented him from achieving his full potential. Nalbandian has been considered by a lot of commentators and fans as one of the biggest underachievers in the game.
Career statistics
Grand Slam performance timeline
Finals: 1 (1 runner-up)
Year-end championship performance timeline
Year–end Championship finals: 1 (1 title)
References
External links
Official website
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Nalbandian, David
1982 births
Living people
Argentine male tennis players
Argentine sportspeople of Armenian descent
Argentine sportspeople of Italian descent
Olympic tennis players for Argentina
Tennis players from Córdoba Province, Argentina
Tennis players at the 1999 Pan American Games
Tennis players at the 2008 Summer Olympics
Tennis players at the 2012 Summer Olympics
Wimbledon junior champions
US Open (tennis) junior champions
Pan American Games bronze medalists for Argentina
Pan American Games bronze medalists in tennis
Argentine rally drivers
World Rally Championship drivers
Grand Slam (tennis) champions in boys' singles
Grand Slam (tennis) champions in boys' doubles
Ethnic Armenian sportspeople
Medalists at the 1999 Pan American Games
Argentine tennis coaches
21st-century Argentine sportsmen
20th-century Argentine sportsmen