TENNIS: INJURY-AFFECTED NALBANDIAN ANNOUNCES RETIREMENT
Agence France Presse
October 1, 2013 Tuesday 7:49 PM GMT
BUENOS AIRES, Oct 01 2013
Argentina’s former tennis world number three David Nalbandian announced
on Tuesday he was retiring because of a persistent problem with his
right shoulder.
The 31-year-old — whose most prestigious victory was in coming from
two sets down to beat Roger Federer in the 2005 Masters final —
will play a final exhibition match against Rafael Nadal on November
23 in Buenos Aires.
“It is a difficult day for me,” said Nalbandian, who has slipped to
231st in the world rankings after another injury-affected season.
“It is a sad day but my (right) shoulder simply can’t cope any more
at the highest level.”
Nalbandian, who was world number three in 2006, won 11 ATP titles
and reached the 2002 Wimbledon final when an unknown 20-year-old,
but lost to Australian Lleyton Hewitt.
Nalbandian, Argentina-born but of Armenian-Italian ancestry, also
inspired Argentina to three Davis Cup finals, although they lost
all three.
Nalbandian, who in an interview with French newspaper L’Equipe a
few years ago said he would also like to compete in the Rally World
Championship, started the year well enough reaching the final in Sao
Paulo where he lost to Nadal but then his shoulder problem intervened
and an operation did not improve the situation.
From: Baghdasarian
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