David Nalbandian

Nalbandian Remains Impressive Under the Radar

March 5, 2008

The finest player on the ATP circuit so far this season may be none other than David Nalbandian. The feisty Argentinean has been swinging a hot racquet since the Australian Open back in January and has shown no signs of slowing down yet.

His season has been magical thus far achieving a sparkling 12-2 match record, his first career title in his home country, a second appearance in a final, and a return to the world Top 10.

The sweetest moment was no doubt capturing the Copa Telmex on home soil in Buenos Aires two weeks ago. Nalbandian faced numerous challenges from his opponents but played his best when it mattered most to get to the championship round. In the all-Argentine final, he re-anointed himself as an ATP force by defeating Jose Acasuso in three sets for his first 2008 title and the eighth of his career.

Nalbandian continued his winning ways last week, reaching the Abierto Mexicano Telcel final, where he ultimately fell to young Spaniard Nicolas Almagro. Still, the run in Acapulco extended his season-high winning streak to 10, and he has now won 24 of his last 27 matches (dating back to last year).

His stellar start to 2008 comes on the heels of a fall season last year where he played out-of-this-world tennis to put an exclamation mark on what was otherwise a roller coaster of a season. Twelve months ago the 26-year old was sitting on the edge of the Top 10 and falling fast. A former world No. 3, he had reached only one quarter-final by October and was ranked outside the Top 20 on the South African Airways ATP rankings.

When he entered the Mutua Madrilena Masters, the year’s eighth Master Series event in Madrid, he was completely off the tennis radar. However, Nalbandian shocked the tennis world by producing his best tennis of the season to capture his first career Masters Shield. In the process, he crushed world No. 2 Rafael Nadal (Spain) 6-1, 6-2 in the quarter-finals, defeated world No. 3 Novak Djokovic (Serbia) in the semis and posted a thrilling three-set victory over No. 1 Roger Federer (Switzerland) in the final to become only the third player since 1994 to defeat the world’s top three players in consecutive matches.

He followed up that performance with an even more impressive showing at the BNP Paribas Masters in Paris, collecting his second consecutive Masters Shield with a 6-4, 6-0 thrashing of Nadal in the final and defeating three other Tennis Masters Cup qualifiers along the way: Federer, David Ferrer (Spain) and Richard Gasquet (France). Nalbandian became the first player to defeat the Mighty Fed and Rafa in the same tournament twice (he also did it in Madrid), and became the first man to defeat both in a final.

In the last five months, Nalbandian has proven that he deserves to be considered among the other greats in the upper echelon of the tennis world. When the men roll into Toronto’s Rexall Centre in July, he will surely be among the favourites for the title.

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