Former Manchester United, Atletico Madrid and Uruguay footballer Diego Forlan’s professional tennis debut ended in a 6-1, 6-2 loss Wednesday night in his home city of Montevideo, Uruguay.
Forlan, 45, and Argentine partner Federico Coria faced Bolivian duo Boris Arias and Federico Zeballos after receiving a wildcard entry for the Uruguay Open, an ATP Challenger event. The Challenger Tour exists one rung below the main ATP Tour, the preserve of stars of men’s tennis like Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner.
Forlan and Coria received a warm reception from the crowd as the match began. It was a promising start, as the Uruguayan pair held in their opening service game. Forlan’s first point won was when he hit a volley, extending the point before Coria ended it with an unreturnable forehand. Forlan also showcased an overhead smash winner.
As the contest progressed, Forlan’s inexperience showed. He committed unforced errors from his forehand sailing long to dumping volleys in the net. Even his overheads began to soar outside the lines. In the sixth game of the first set, the Bolivian pair hit a volley by Forlan, who didn’t know which shot to respond with.
Forlan’s serve hindered his team. It didn’t have a lot of pace and when it landed in bounds, the Bolivia team hit it back with interest, putting Forlan and Coria on the back foot from the start of each point. Forlan was broken in all of his service games and the pair only won 58 percent of first-serve points for the match.
There were some bright spots in Forlan’s debut. Down 4-1 in the first set, he hit a backhand that appeared to go wide but clipped the line, before he stuck a perfect reflex volley that died over the net at the start of the second. The spectators — who had whistled the Bolivian pair when they were winning too easily for their liking — erupted.
Forlan magic touch, just like the World Cup 2010 🇺🇾 😉 #ATPChallenger | @DiegoForlan7 pic.twitter.com/LivsUEV8XK
— ATP Challenger Tour (@ATPChallenger) November 14, 2024
Even in the second set, the crowd pulled for Forlan. Chants of “Ole Ole Ole!” rippled across the stadium and despite the result, Forlan smiled throughout the experience, visibly appreciative of this moment. “Thank you for the opportunity,” he said to the crowd in Spanish after it was over.
Coria, 32, is ranked No. 101 in the world for singles having been as high as No. 49 earlier in his career, but he is the world No. 413 for doubles. Forlan, who played tennis in his youth before pursuing a career in football, does not have an ATP-level ranking. He has been playing on the International Tennis Federation (ITF) Masters Tour since retiring from football in 2019, initially in ITF 400-level tournaments which tend to pit him against club-level players and former coaches.
He has since advanced to playing ITF 1000-level tournaments, which can include former professional players who once won matches on the ATP Tour, but even the Challenger Tour is a massive step up from someone used to ITF Masters tennis. ATP Tour players often use the Challenger events when returning to tennis from a serious injury or when trying to rebound from a loss of form, with former Wimbledon finalist Matteo Berrettini and three-time Grand Slam champion Andy Murray, who retired this summer, using the circuit to rebuild their game in recent times. It’s also a proving ground for the brightest young stars in the sport.
Forlan has taken the ITF Tour and this graduation to the Challenger Tour extremely seriously, practicing four times a week and working with a coach, the former Uruguayan Davis Cup captain Enrique Perez (who Forlan knows as Bebe) to improve his technique.
“At first, I would play the top players at the club and players from around Uruguay and it was easy for them to beat me. Then it became more difficult. Now I can win,” Forlan told The Athletic this summer.
The wild-card appearance was likely a one-off for the Uruguayan, who won the Golden Ball — awarded to the tournament’s best player – at the 2010 men’s FIFA World Cup. He is his country’s third-most prolific goalscorer, with 36 in 112 appearances, and he won the Pichichi, awarded for the most league goals scored in a season, when playing for both Atletico Madrid and Villarreal in Spain’s La Liga. At Manchester United, he won over fans to become something of a cult hero after failing to find the net in his first 27 appearances for the club.
(Top photo: Eitan Abramovich / AFP via Getty Images)
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