After a long time away from the game to heal from numerous injuries, David Nalbandian of Argentina took to the court at the 2010 U.S. Open, fresh and coming off of winning the ATP World Tour in Washington, D.C. and a quarterfinals appearance in the World Tour Masters Tournament, held in Canada.
His first-round opponent: South African Rik De Voest. In the crowd for the match, outside court 11, was Argentinean Davis Cup coach Ricardo Rivera. “This should be a good match,” he said before the match. “David has improved and is healthy, but we will see how he plays today.”
Nalbandian came out strong winning the first game with impressive foot movement and forehand winners. Seeing this start right out of the gate, the crowd thought the match would soon be over, as did Rivera, whose facial expression looked to be in agreement with the crowd’s cheering.
The next game, again, to Nalbandian, but at 4-2 in the first set, De Voest came back with a strong service game and great defensive maneuvering ability, forcing the set to a 6-6 tie break. The look of easiness on the face of Rivera was gone, as was fan confidence in Nalbandian being back and healthy from all of his surgeries and knee problems.
But Nalbandian kept his head down and served away. One point after the other, Nalbandian quickly won the set 7-4 on tie break, 7-6 in games. The crowd roared. Nalbandian pumped his arms and screamed as he went to his chair for a brief rest before beginning the second set.
“Time,” came from the chair referee and the players went back onto the court to start the important second set—important because if Nalbandian were to win it, he would only be a set away from the match. Having this on his mind, De Voest was the one to come out swinging with a big serve. He blew serve after serve past a surprised Nalbandian, whose shocked look quickly turned into a lackluster performance and eventually the loss of the set to De Voest, 6-3, match tied at a set a piece.
Nalbandian slowly walked to his chair, with a bit of discomfort and a slight limp. Coach Rivera turned to his fellow Argentinean and pointed down, indicating Nalbandian was having trouble with his knees.
The third set saw both players slowing and fatigued, but it was in the fourth game that Nalbandian’s injury came to the attention of the crowd. De Voest lobbed a ball over Nalbandian’s head. Nalbandian, who was playing close to the net, ran back, pulled up, and let out a light screech; he immediately dropped his racquet and put both hands on top of his knees. He stayed in this position for a few seconds before the ball boy came over to him, picked up his racquet, and handing it back. De Voest, seeing this, went right for Nalbandian, making him run all over the court, but Nalbandian didn’t give in—he ran and ran and kept on coming. At the rest, after the game, which went to De Voest, Nalbandian massaged his knees and leaned his head back; he looked to be completely out of it, but shockingly to De Voest, Rivera, and the crowd, Nalbandian found a second wind and battled back to win the set, taking a 2-1 set lead.
His energy, however, which saw him pumping his fist in the first set, was gone. This time, he just walked over to his chair and sat, without much emotion.
Being up 2-1 in sets, having only one more set to win to take the match, both players gave it their all—Nalbandian to win, De Voest to win and stay alive. Back and forth they went, one player winning one game, the other winning the next; they were in a stalemate, no player giving the other much room for error. With the set being so closely played, it looked like Nalbandian would take it, up 5-4. Rivera put his creditial, which he placed to his side, back around his neck, assuming his guy would win, but no one told that to De Voest—he won the game, causing Coach Rivera to take the creditial off once again and sit quietly with a discomforted look on his face. Winning the game and tying the set at 5-5, and then again at 6-6, meant the set would go into another tie break. But this time, unlike the first tiebreaker, De Voest was the stronger, serving heavy, strong, and on the corners, while Nalbandian just struggled to stay upright, 8-6 in the tie break, two sets all in the match.
In the fifth and final set, Nalbandian was angry. He played angry and didn’t let off his serve or racquet play. De Voest took four games, but it was Nalbandian who took the set, 6-4. Four hours of tennis. Rivera got up and clapped with the crowd. Nalbandian exited the court to the locker room—and once inside, he stayed there.
“David is inside now, he is resting, he has two big icepacks around his knees, not a good time for an interview,” said Nalbandian’s personal coach, Luis Lobo, just outside the locker room.
Icepacks on both knees, a five set match, it was only the first round, he needed to get a lot of rest for the second round, when he would face Frenchman Florent Serra.
Coming out, only a few days later, Nalbandian’s knees looked fine. His serve was faster and stronger and so was his court movement. Serra only gave him a competitive match in the first set. Although Nalbandian lost 7-5, Serra wouldn’t win another five games in the whole match. Nalbandian took it, three sets—7-5, 6-4, 6-2—advancing to the third round to play Spaniard Fernando Verdasco.
The highly anticipated matchup between 31st seeded Nalbandian, on the comeback trail, and 8th seeded Verdasco, in top-form, took place in front of more people than both of Nalbandian’s two previous games. The crowd was split between the two, half going for Nalbandian, the other for Verdasco.
Unlike the previous two matches, Nalbandian didn’t come out the best of the two early; on the contrary, Verdasco was on fire, winning most of the points, the service battles, and net games. Verdasco was also winning the match off the court: Nalbandian’s frustration showed, as he argued calls with the chair referee and a few with the line judges. Verdasco quietly went about the business of closing out the match, not thinking too much of the point before or after, just staying in the now. With that calmness, and Nalbandian self-destructing, Verdasco took the match in four sets, only dropping the second set, 6-2, 3-6, 6-3, and 6-2.
Nalbandian waved to the crowd, who cheered him on, as he packed his things to exit the court. He showed class and determination by getting over his recovering injuries and changing up the style of his play against Verdasco, to not put any unwanted stress on his knees. He did well to go to the third round, on a very hard surface to play on—the hard court of the U.S. Open.
He needs some extra recovery time, but he should be good to go for the new ATP Tour season. Watch for Armenian-Argentinean David Nalbandian at the first Grand Slam event of the new year—the Australian Open in January 2011.
Antranig Dereyan
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