Fedfan - 3/6/2010 5:43 PM

I'm embarrassed to admit it, but I've never seen this guy play. From what I've gathered on this site he's a tremendous talent that's been injury plagued. Anyone that is 8-10 against Fed, and 2-2 against Rafa has my respect.

Is he going to play IW? If not, when can we expect him next? Looking forward to seeing him for myself....just hope it's not at Fed's expense(at a Major). :(

Haelfix - 3/6/2010 4:26 PM

Nalby is streaky on his returns. Sometimes he's on fire, other times he barely can get anything on it.

cutdcrap - 3/6/2010 5:56 PM



Apparently, he has received WC invitations to play Indian Wells and Miami. If he doesn't get injured tomorrow (he is not supposed to play the singles rubber, since he is recovering from a tore aductor, but I suspect he is going to play all the same), he'll reappear at IW. He had hip surgery a few months ago and has played just a couple matches in 9 months.

tented - 3/6/2010 6:01 PM



Thanks for the update.

That would be great! I miss Nalbandian a lot, and would love to see him again. When he's healthy and motivated, he's incredible.

Fedfan - 3/6/2010 5:43 PM

I'm embarrassed to admit it, but I've never seen this guy play. From what I've gathered on this site he's a tremendous talent that's been injury plagued. Anyone that is 8-10 against Fed, and 2-2 against Rafa has my respect.

Is he going to play IW? If not, when can we expect him next? Looking forward to seeing him for myself....just hope it's not at Fed's expense(at a Major). :(

Fedfan - 3/6/2010 5:43 PM

I'm embarrassed to admit it, but I've never seen this guy play. From what I've gathered on this site he's a tremendous talent that's been injury plagued. Anyone that is 8-10 against Fed, and 2-2 against Rafa has my respect.

Is he going to play IW? If not, when can we expect him next? Looking forward to seeing him for myself....just hope it's not at Fed's expense(at a Major). :(

cutdcrap - 3/6/2010 5:56 PM



Apparently, he has received WC invitations to play Indian Wells and Miami. If he doesn't get injured tomorrow (he is not supposed to play the singles rubber, since he is recovering from a tore aductor, but I suspect he is going to play all the same), he'll reappear at IW. He had hip surgery a few months ago and has played just a couple matches in 9 months.

UnforcedError - 3/6/2010 6:51 PM



Here's a treat for you if you've never seen him play. I wasn't following tennis when he was at his best either. Thank goodness for YouTube.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4XOBP3N1ejc

newage - 3/6/2010 7:28 PM



Don't forget Nalby was a set and 5-2 up in the second set in one of the matches he lost to Rafa, then he totally choked and lost his touch.

moxie629 - 3/6/2010 8:23 PM



While that was a big night & win for Rafa (he had never beat Nalbandian before, I think,) it is ungracious to bring up on a Nalby thread. Nalbandian was one of the few to hold a winning record against Nadal, up until last year. We have to give Nalbadian his props as one who intimidated Nadal, by Rafa's own admission.

Haelfix - 3/6/2010 11:11 PM

I've just seen him get blitzed by servers too many times in his career. Federer for instance owes a number of his victories against Nalbandian to his serve, this despite going through stretches where Nalby had his number from the baseline.

Don't get me wrong, he's a brilliant returner at times, (i'd rank him with Murray as the best in the game at the moment) but I do think it dissappears from time to time.

newage - 3/6/2010 11:37 PM



Not only he returns brilliantly at times, in general he is a brilliant player 'at times'. He can be better than Fed/Rafa/Murray/Djoker but is just too volatile to ever belong to that group.

When he finds his A-game, he really is in a class of his own.

Haelfix - 3/6/2010 11:49 PM

Fedfan,
If you've never seen Nalby play, he's roughly an Agassi like player. When he's on his game he yoyo's the opposing player from side to side, and seems like he only has to move a few feet, whereas the opponent has to cover huge stretches off the court. He also doesn't do it with power, which makes it very agreeable to watch.

Andre might of hit the ball a tiny bit harder, and his placement was phenomenal, otoh Nalby generates angles that have never been seen on a tennis court.... By anyone past or present.

But yea the analogy is pretty good. Both great returners with some question marks at serve, huge weapons on their 2handed backhand and so forth.

newage - 3/6/2010 11:14 PM



ungracious in what way? I hold Nalby's talent to the highest regard. This is merely to point out his mental state which always lets him down and if he wasn't mentally fragile he'd be amongst multiple slam winners, easily in the mix with Fed and Rafa. To me, when Nalby brings his A-game with the right frame of mind he can more than match Fed at the baseline, and would outplay Rafa more often than not. Having said that, it would be appropriate to point out that as good as he can be, he is a mental case and never had the intensity to really be a tennis great.

don't forget his second loss to Rafa was a walkover, he got injured in his prior match.

cutdcrap - 3/7/2010 12:17 AM




Federer owes to his serve a number of his victories over almost anyone. Remember his 2009 Wimbledon final to Roddick? Federer is an outstanding server, mainly in the placement department. When he is in the zone, he can frustrate any returner.

Nalbandian is not mentally weak, as many people believe. He simply has never put in his career the effort other top players have. I know people who are friends of him; in the Argentine tennis environment we know how he approaches his life as a tennis player. He never wanted to sacrifice the things needed to be sacrificed in order to belong to that select group. He likes to party, he likes to eat and generally have a good life. He knows he could have been better; he always says this is the choice he has made.

We have had the opposite approach in Argentina. In the 70's, Guillermo Vilas was an absolute tennis nut. He would train 8 hours a day every day; I remember seeing him train, and I can say I have never seen someome put so much hard work on a tennis court. He lived for the game. He needed a 5.000-calorie daily diet not to lose weight, due to the intensity of his training. The opposite of Nalbandian, Vilas did manage to be #1 in the world in 1977, even though technically he was much less gifted than the former. Vilas sweated all throughout his career. He accomplished some amazing feats and records, like winning 4 GS titles, 65 ATP total titles, and he still holds the record in # of ATP tournaments won in 1 single year (1977), which is 16... and those included a French Open and a US Open. However, Vilas became a strange person once he quit tennis, a solitary man. You can see he craves for the attention he got as a tennis player; he created a big tennis resort in Buenos Aires called "Vilas Raquet", where top juniors play. I know Vilas; he was never able to cut the cord, I think, and to me, he hasn't looked like a happy man since he quit the game, and he did so in his mid 30's, when he was getting badly beaten by players not half his caliber.

My point is many people in Argentina criticize Nalbandian for not having made the effort to be #1; an attempt his talent entitled him to see as feasible. I, however, see him more as a "normal" human being, more like any of us. I think he has always been perfectly conscious that he wasn't giving it his best shot, but he simply chose other kind of life.

moxie629 - 3/7/2010 12:48 AM



Forgive me for accusing you of being ungracious. I was assuming that we were being genteel about Nalbandian's weaknesses (primarily mental.) But I see that I was being condescending. You are being straightforward about Nalby's strengths and weaknesses at the same time. I have never seen enough of Nalbandian to appreciate his brilliance, but I do see the passion in his fans. I do hope he comes back in good health to finish out his career with some kind of a flourish.