1st January 2011: Tennis Birthdays on New Year’s Day
David Nalbandian turns 29
Argentine tennis pro David Nalbandian turned 29 today, and looks forward to a fresh start to his not-so-bright career in 2011.
Over the past few years, Nalbandian’s tennis career has been a series of ups and downs. He crashed in 2008, losing the Davis Cup final to Spain. As a result, he said goodbye to his coach Martin Jaite in a bid to find a better mentor. However, he was unsuccessful and 2009 was even worse for the player. Although he won the Sydney tournament, he sustained a hip injury that kept him out of the season for the first four months. His eventual return to the tour was disappointing, and he took more time off to undergo surgery on his hip in May. As a result, he was unable to play for the rest of 2009.
Nalbandian made a comeback in February 2010 at Buenos Aires. However, the year was spent in rebuilding and putting together pieces of his pale career. He was unfortunate enough to suffer more injuries during the year, and critics ruled that these were an indirect result of his overcompensation for his hip injury.
However, the year was not a washout for the Argentine. He played for his country twice at the Davis Cup, despite discrepancies in form. After helping his team through the initial stages, he was called back to play in the quarterfinals of the event. He met and defeated Mikhail Youzhny and Nikolay Davydenko, leading Argentina to the semi finals.
Hence, to a great extent, Nalbandian’s comeback was not unsatisfactory. While the results of his matches did leave something to be desired (and he failed to dominate the hard court, which is normally his surface), he managed to win most of his fights against non-top players. He skipped the Asian run and was defeated by British Number 1 Andy Murray and American Number 1 Andy Roddick in his concluding tournaments.
David Nalbandian begins 2011 as World Number 27. While it does give him a position at the Aussie Open, it is a far cry from his World Number 3 high. He has also been ranked in the World’s Top ten on numerous occasions; therefore, his current position does seem a little disappointing.
Pablo Cuevas hits 25
Although Pablo Cuevas of Uruguay is not too popular in the tennis world, he was able to attract attention in 2008 when he won the French Open doubles title match with partner Luis Horna. Cuevas and Horna defeated Serbian tennis player Nenad Zimonjic and his Canadian partner, Daniel Nestor, to win the match. The team also performed well at the 2008 season-ending Masters Cup.
Cuevas held his own in 2009, starting the year as World Number 143 on the singles tour. He made it to the top 50 in October and reached a career high of World Number 45 near the end of the season.
However, his standing on the singles tour deteriorated in 2010. He began the year at World Number 47, and fell to Number 63 by December. Another leap forward is probably beyond the range of his game.
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