David Nalbandian, a former world number three player from Argentina, has announced his retirement from professional tennis. He’s competed on the ATP World Tour for 13 years. During this span, he’s collected 11 titles and reached a career-high ranking of world number three in 2006.
The Argentine revealed that a nagging shoulder injury was the reason behind the difficult decision.
“I can play matches, but my shoulder won’t let me continue my career,” he shared with the reporters in Buenos Aires. “I can’t play like that at a [professional] level.
“It’s tough because I have to announce my retirement from the sport that gave me so much. I’m very grateful.”
Nalbandian has posted significant victories during his impressive run on tour. He’s won the year-end Tennis Masters Cup title in 2005 after defeating Roger Federer in five sets. He’s also won back to back ATP Masters 1000 events in Madrid and Paris in 2007 where he defeated both Federer and Rafael Nadal on both events on the way to the titles.
His best Grand Slam results include a final run at the Wimbledon Championships in 2002 (lost to Lleyton Hewitt), semifinal runs at the 2006 Australian Open, 2002 French Open and 2003 US Open.
Nalbandian cited his Davis Cup appearances as one of his best memories on tour. Argentina reached the final in 2004, 2008 and 2011 (wherein he participated on those events).
“It’s the event that I felt was different from the others,” he said. “The pressure, the support of the people. It’s something unique. It’s a shame [Argentina] couldn’t win it, but it’s the way it was.”
The Argentine shared via his official Twitter account that he will be playing a number of farewell exhibition matches with Spain’s Rafael Nadal with those matches starting on November 21.
“It’s a long way to those matches,” said Nalbandian. “I’m still in rehab from my injuries and I need to keep training.”
