David Nalbandian (January 1, 1982, Unquillo, Córdoba, Argentina) is a professional tennis player from Argentina of Armenian descent. The last name 'Nalbandian' means 'one who makes horse shoes' in Persian.
He 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 he won the Tennis Masters Cup. 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. In the final he beat hot favourite, World No. 1 Roger Federer.
At the beginning of 2006, Nalbandian defeated Fabrice Santoro of France in the quater-finals of the Australian Open, becoming only the third active player to have reached the semi-finals of each Grand Slam tournament. Andre Agassi and Roger Federer also accomplished that feat. 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. Results such as this, as well as a tendency to capitulate in important matches has garnered Nalbandian a reputation for being a choker although his reputation for being one of the more talented players is undoubted.
Titles (4)
Singles (4)
| Legend |
| Grand Slam (0) |
| Tennis Masters Cup (1) |
| ATP Masters Series (0) |
| ATP Tour (3) |
| No. | Date | Tournament | Surface | Opponent in the final | Score |
| 1. | 8 April 2002 | Estoril, Portugal | Clay | Jarkko Nieminen (Finland) | 6-4 7-6(5) |
| 2. | 21 October 2002 | Basel, Switzerland | Carpet | Fernando González (Chile) | 6-4 6-3 6-2 |
| 3. | 1 May 2005 | Munich, Germany | Clay | Andrei Pavel (Romania) | 6-4 6-1 |
| 4. | 20 November 2005 | Tennis Masters Cup, Shanghai, China | Carpet | Roger Federer (Switzerland) | 6-7(4) 6-7(11) 6-2 6-1 7-6(3) |
Singles Finalist (8)
- 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 Jiri Novak)
Grand Slam timeline
| Tournament | 2006 | 2005 | 2004 | 2003 | 2002 | 2001 | Titles |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Australian Open | SF | QF | QF | QF | 2r | - | 0 |
| French Open | 4r | SF | 2r | 3r | - | 0 | |
| Wimbledon | QF | - | 4r | F | - | 0 | |
| U.S. Open | QF | 2r | SF | 1r | 3r | 0 | |
| Tennis Masters Cup | W | - | RR | - | - | 1 |
Doubles (0)
Doubles Finalist (1)
- 2003 Buenos Aires w/Lucas Arnold (ARG) (lost to Mariano Hood (ARG)& Sebastián Prieto (ARG) )
External link
- Profile on www.atptennis.com
- Match history at Yahoo
- Fans' Site (English/Spanish)