The Uruguayan football hero Diego Forlan is currently no longer active in his main sport, but achieved his first successes in tennis as a new passion on the ITF World Tennis Masters Tour.
by Dietmar Kaspar
last edited: May 1, 2024, 9:34 p.m
© Getty Images
After his football career, Diego Forlan also wants to do it on the tennis court.
Former soccer professional Diego Forlan can hardly move around without being recognized on the streets of his hometown of Montevideo. With his five goals at the 2010 World Cup, the Uruguayan folk hero made a significant contribution to his national team’s passage to the semi-finals and shared the golden boot for the best World Cup goalscorer together with the German Thomas Müller, David Villa from Spain and the Dutchman Wesley Sneijder. The now 44-year-old also won the title of top goalscorer in the Spanish Primera Division twice.
Forlan is also very accurate in his new passion. After following his successful playing career with two short and unsuccessful coaching engagements in the Uruguayan league, he is currently ambitiously dedicating himself to tennis. Since last summer, in his native Uruguay, he has played three tournaments in the MT400 category on the ITF World Tennis Masters Tour in various senior age groups. He followed up his quarter-final entry at his debut tournament in the over-35 class in Montevideo with his first semi-final entry in the over-40 category in Punta del Este. In the over-45s, for which he has been eligible to play since this season, he reached another semi-final in his hometown of Montevideo.
In the ITF singles ranking, his three tournament participations have pushed him to his career high of position 424. Even if it is doubtful that he will reach similar heights in tennis as he did during his footballing days, he will definitely attract a lot of attention in his home country by taking part in the ITF World Masters Tour events. Six years ago, he showed off his tennis skills on a big stage in a show doubles alongside his compatriot Pablo Cuevas against his professional colleague Guido Pella and the comedian Martin Bossi, both of whom come from Argentina.
2024-05-02 06:02:00
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