Among the milestones of Nalbandian’s career are the 2002 Wimbledon final – where he lost to Lleyton Hewitt – and winning the now defunct 2005 Tennis Masters Cup after defeating Roger Federer in the final. He chained five consecutive seasons within the Top 10 and achieved a total of 35 victories against Top 10 rivals. However, the best week of his career came, without a doubt, at the 2007 Madrid Masters, overcoming one of the most difficult draws ever seen to lift the trophy.
“It was like his best moment, or practically the best moment of the three. You always played, at least with two, always. It was normal,” added the Argentine. “Well, I was lucky enough to be able to beat all three of them in a row in the same week. Of course, it was incredible and it won’t happen again. But yeah, in that era it was very tough. We were used to playing against them.”
Weeks later, at the 2007 Paris Masters, Nalbandian was crowned again, once again defeating Federer (No. 1) and Nadal (No. 2). In the span of a month, he beat Federer twice and Nadal twice. It was, perhaps, the best month of tennis that a mortal has ever played against the Big 3.
The draw that Nalbandian conquered at the Madrid Open 2007
- a]:text-primary dark:[&>a]:text-white [&>a]:underline md:text-lg text-base”>Round of 32: Nalbandian def. Tomas Berdych (No. 9): 4-6, 6-4, 7-6
- a]:text-primary dark:[&>a]:text-white [&>a]:underline md:text-lg text-base”>Quarter finals: The dampling of his doctrine. Rafael Nadal (No. 2): 6-1, 6-2
- a]:text-primary dark:[&>a]:text-white [&>a]:underline md:text-lg text-base”>Final: The dampling of his doctrine. Roger Federer (No. 1): 1-6, 6-3, 6-3
Fonseca and the future
Another topic addressed by the Argentine was the emergence of Brazilian Joao Fonseca on the circuit, which restores hope to South American tennis of having a leading player among the best. The 19-year-old Brazilian has already reached No. 23 in the world and has established himself as perhaps the most exciting name of the new generation of tennis players.
“He is a great player. There is no doubt about that. He is still very young, where I think everything he achieved is a lot. And he can continue to achieve many more things because he can still improve a lot,” commented the former World No. 3. “He has a lot of potential and can achieve a lot of things, without a doubt, because he has the potential and he is still a very young boy.”
“This is great, not only for Brazilian tennis but for South American tennis. It’s great. And I hope many other kids will be encouraged and imitate it,” added the Argentine. “Today they hit a little harder, they hit the ball harder in general. And maybe they don’t have as much tactical concept of the game or the play, or what they are going to do. I think that [Fonseca] He has a better right hand than me. Setback, maybe not so much. And it works very well. So I think he has many qualities to continue improving.”
