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He was a poet with promise, who lost himself in the quest for prose. The thought of David Nalbandian wraps me in a time machine and rolls me down an undulating mountain range until I come to a stall in 2007. It was a season that served as a microcosm of everything about being Nalbandian. The talented Argentine suffered injury after injury – the back, abdomen, a leg – it was as if the parts of his body were ganging up against the whole. A fixture in the top ten, Nalbandian slipped to 26th before stirring the imagination of his fans with a riveting performance at the Madrid Masters.
Anyone who witnessed the annihilation of Rafael Nadal in the quarters of that event, a 6-1, 6-2 drubbing, would agonise over the meagre career of Nalbandian. But we shall save that for later. The Argentine went on to eliminate Novak Djokovic in the semifinals before pulling off a stunning come-from-behind victory over Roger Federer in the finals to clinch his maiden ATP World Tour Masters Series title. In doing so, he became only the third player after Boris Becker and Djokovic to defeat the top three players in a single tournament.
When the tour reached Paris immediately after that, everyone expected the big three to restore order. Nalbandian drew Federer in the third round and only needed two sets this time. A laboured three-set victory over David Ferrer in the quarters kept his coals burning and a quiet effort against Richard Gasquet earned him another crack at Nadal. Nalbandian delivered another stunning blow, this time 4 & 0, to take back-to-back Masters series titles. Ironically, the Argentine emulated Marat Safin, another wasted talent, in winning back-to-back titles at Madrid and Paris.
But it was a passage on the tour that underlined the enormous gifts of Nalbandian and reminded us of what might have been if the Argentine had managed a semblance of consistency. Alas, that was one thing the mercurial man from Cordoba never seemed to possess in his impressive bag of tools. Ardent followers will remember that Nalbandian got off to a 5-0 start against Federer, before losing his way and never quite recovering. David eventually managed to win only three of their other fourteen matches, but one of those came at the 2005 Tour Finals.
That was another memorable Nalbandian epic. The Argentine was ranked 12 and out of the reckoning for the elite year-end event. As luck would have it, Andy Roddick pulled up with an aching back to open the door for David. In his early twenties at the time, he took the opportunity with both hands. After getting through the league phase with two victories, he defeated Nikolay Davydenko in the semis to set up a marquee clash with Federer in the finals. The Swiss got off to a dominant start, taking the first two sets, before Nalbandian mounted a Houdini like fightback that left everyone stunned in sheer disbelief.
‘El Gringo’ fell to 0-2 in the third set, immediately after suffering a painstaking 11-13 loss in the second set tie-breaker. On the brink of certain defeat, Nalbandian turned the match on its head by taking the next six games. Eventually, Nalbandian earned a memorable five-set victory to claim an unforgettable victory over the top-ranked Swiss. But these brief moments of jubilation did barely any justice to the expansive talents of the man with the most complete two-handed backhand in the game.
Eleven ATP tour titles after nearly fourteen years on the tour is a pittance of a return for the young man who made a rather majestic entry with an impressive run to the finals of Wimbledon in 2002. Weighed down by the grandeur of the stage and occasion, Nalbandian had surrendered tamely to Lleyton Hewitt then, but his already impressive talents were out in the open for everyone to admire in gushing acknowledgement.
Unfortunately though, Nalbandian never quite lived up to the promise of his potential as he struggled to come to terms with the conflict between flair and effort. The emotional man sought to define his career with success in the Davis Cup, but a divisive environment within the Argentine team left him unsatiated even on that count. Nalbandian was quite the hero with his monumental efforts in Cup matches, but even his best wasn’t enough to bring the Davis Cup to Argentina.
Nalbandian’s commitment to his nation was best exemplified in their tie against Romania in 2011. Diagnosed with hernia, the ‘Copero’ was advised not to play. The warrior in him ignored the suggestion to take on Adrian Ungur in the first rubber. Walking wounded, he compounded his misery by pulling his hamstring. But in an effort that summarised his commitment, Nalbandian pulled off a near miraculous four-set victory before submitting himself to double surgery. During his time, Argentina reached three Cup finals, but ended on the losing side on each occasion.
His best opportunity came against Spain at home in 2008. The dominant Spaniards were without the services of Nadal and the presence of Nalbandian and Juan Martin del Potro gave the Argentines a distinct edge over the visiting team. But the home team slumped to an unseemly 1-3 defeat as rumours swirled about acrimony in the South American camp. Nalbandian featured in two other finals, in 2006 and 2011, but suffered losses on both occasions to return home disappointed. It will probably be those losses that shall linger strongest for the Argentine warrior.
But what shall define Nalbandian’s career is the fact that he now has a permanent seat among the selection of most talented players never to have won a Grand Slam title. As he walks away into retirement due to a shoulder that is no longer willing to respond, he leaves behind a trail of unfulfilled opportunities.
