OK, I'm slightly copying this off another board (the one that dare not speak its name), but I reckon this is worth a discussion or two - how rubbish has Nalbandian been this year? He's slipped out of the top 20, and hasn't gone further than the quarter-finals in a tournament this year.

He used to be number 3 in the world, but relying on his talent only, with apparent little interest in training, minor tournaments and indeed the first set and a half of his matches in slams! Trouble is, you need to work hard to stay at the top - look at how hard Davydenko works, the effort Nadal puts into matches, even when he's injured, and the commitment the likes of Djokovic and Baghdatis showed at Wimbledon. Nalbandian by contrast, doesn't seem to like knuckling down and drifts along from tournament to tournament.

This may all seem harsh, but I'm saying this as someone who admires his ability and strategic game, and believes he should have won at least one of the hardcourt slams by now (or possibly French Open 2004).

So, what's in store for Nalbandian in latter half of 2007? Will he:

a) Get back to his normal results - i.e. reaching most quarter and semi-finals.
B) Storm through and shock us all by winning a hardcourt Masters title and US Open?
c) Crash out of 1st/2nd round in most tournaments?
d) Play OK in some matches, but come unstuck in 3rd and 4th round, as that's when he has to play the decent players these days?

Great idea for a discussion MrI..But I am personally a little bit too tired...

Anyway, Fate Dave has always been a great man for me..But his laziness..well..It is a shame...and so I can discuss too much about him :P

Therefores, I will propose another challenge: Ok Nalbi season is until now bad..No doubt...

But then what about the Gonzo one (great start and after..What :( :( ) ??

And AROD?? And finally in particular Lubo :yikes: :yikes: ..

I really feel that this season something really new happens..It is might be too early but i really believe a certain amount of players are now in the "has been" category..Fate Dave seems definitely on it at least, but he is not alone :rolleyes:

i can't say i really feel for the guy. he is a bit of a tit. i remember his unseemly spat with tim henman last time they played.

his story does go to show though how hard it is to stay at the top of the game. maintaining fitness, desire and motivation seems to be the key and bandy is lacking on all counts imo.

The Decline of Nalbandian - Good :D

It seems the like of symapthy on this thread indictates most of the board feel the same :lol:

I like Nalbandian very much and i want him back in the top 5 where he belongs. I'd like to see Coria back too. They are great players, like them or not.

Yeah I quite like Nalby too and wish he was challenging like he threatened to do regularly before the last year or so where he has fallen to the wayside...

A shame to see him like this. At one point his game looked like it could potientally trouble Federer.

Oh I know! He said Tim was among the 'worst rubbish in the game" which was absolutely ridiculous :nope: Hated him fo rthat, foul mouthed bloody *********!

Well I can't say I've ever found him exciting. I know folk talk of his strategy, but I find him tedious. Thing is these days to have an impact with strategy you need stamina and fitness above everyone else and he doesn't seem to have that. That aside, he is nto unft and he is not fat as many suggest, it's just that the game is tougher in terms of such these days. I think also a lot of it is mental - he is nto motivated these days INO and seems to lack the patient mentality which i srequired to support a strategic grinding game.

Anyway wehatever you think of Nalbandian, isn't it ironic that his first major outing that made him famous ended up with him geting to a GS final, and Wimby too! Andlook what has happened since. Never got near that again. And I truly beleive that his GS final was something of a slight fluke where the draw fell apart and he capitalised (all credit to him) and that had this nto happened we'd have never built him up so much and gone on about him being a player who ought to have won something. We don't talk about Davy like that, and so why should we say it of Nalbandian? IMO he is over hyped.

Hi Sb- Shame you can't appreciate fully Nalb's talent, cause he really is a great one. In my view, the fluky one in that Wimby final was Hewitt. All the big SVers were injured and too old and Nalby was not mature enough to really challenge Hewitt. He single handedly led his nation to a DC final and won all his single match in that final. He can make Hewitt look average on Hewitt's soil when he is on form. He looks slow and chubby but is amazing fast with a great sense of anticipation. He is the only player, with Safin able to rush Federer around the court.

I agree that a few comments he made at last year Madrid TMS v Henman were not smart, but tenniswise he is one of the very best on form.

I can't deny I have a soft spot for Nalby. The first time I saw him play was on the Challenger-circuit on my own tennis-club in Scheveningen. I love the way he's able to hit such "clean" balls when he's on form.

I do believe, however, he's one of the great underperformers of this era. He's sort of the Pioline of the '00's: the potential to win everywhere, but doesn't win anywhere.

That's fuuny, i went to a great club in Scheveningen 15 years ago with some pro/semi pro playing in the summer. If I remember it was on clay. Is that your club Scan?

My father used to work in the Hague and I spent quite a bit of time there.

I have to add my bit here as I love Nalbandians game but hate his attitude at times and his spat he had with Tim who is such a gentleman.I however I do love the fact that he hates Lleyton Hewitt its hilarious!.

Nalbandian is a great talent.I mean have you ever watched the guy when he was on song.Even Federer looks amateur against him.His fluent clean hitting of the ball is amazing and his backhand is one of the best in the business.However due to his recent donut eating habits he has kinda turned into a potatoe spud and isnt that mobile.He needs to get into shape and get back into that Top 10,he belongs there.

Tenez,Im sorry but Coria wont be back anytime soon and he needs to get over his double fault virus.I seem to think he has nightmares which involve a net! roflmao

roflmao Yes unfortnately. But again, when Coria was on song, he simply was the very best. Even on clay he should/could have beaten Nadal. On fast court he took a 6/1 set to Federer in Shanghai (?) by simply playing sublime (after being bagled). Of course uncapable of sustaining this form for long. The skills were there though.

The club is called the METS or Metselaars. It has quite a big stadium, which used to be the site of the Dutch tennis championships and Davis Cup.

Still, since it was 15 years ago, I think at that time we had a Satellite. It's also possible you saw either the amateur/semi-pro tournament or the Dutch tennis league.

I can't say I'm a fan of Nalbandian. I saw him in the Wimbledon final in 2001 when he lost to Hewitt and I know he was young then but it was such a boring match and was really disappointing given I'd managed to get final tickets.

Also, all that fuss last year wanting to make sure his 3rd round match didn't clash with Argentina playing in the world cup was ridiculous. He lost anyway, lol!

I know :lol:

Hey :)

Of course I can respect his talents, but when I've seen him play in recent years he's been quite boring. I'm nto a great analyst of the game anyway so I'm probably missing whatever hes' good at, but he just doesn't excite me at all.

Well I can perfectly understand- for me Becker was a bit like that. I recognised his great talent but I did not like his personality (like George ;)). But as we usually have similar taste for players' styles (Mc, goran, Edberg, etc...) , i thought you would have also seen/appreciated that in Nalby.

I just love the way he strikes the ball. He may be a strong guy, but he can hit so effortlessly. It's just a shame his nerves have almost always gotten the better of him, most notably against Baghatis at the AO '06.

Cleanest Hitter in the mens game I think!