Ex-Manchester United star set to make professional tennis debut aged 45

Ben FlemingPublished Oct 22, 2024, 12:31pm|Updated Oct 22, 2024, 12:35pm

Former Manchester United striker Diego Forlan is acceptable to marque his nonrecreational tennis debut aged 45 astatine adjacent month’s Uruguay Open.

Forlan, who besides enjoyed spells astatine Villareal and Atletico Madrid earlier retiring from shot successful 2019, volition spouse Argentine Federico Coria successful the doubles lawsuit successful Montevideo.

Forlan was granted a wildcard into the lawsuit which sits connected the Challenger Tour, the second-tier of tennis competitions beneath the ATP Tour.

The Uruguayan is well-known for his emotion of tennis and was an accomplished inferior subordinate earlier choosing to prosecute a footballing vocation instead.

Since his retirement, the 45-year-old has been competing connected the International Tennis Federation (ITF) Masters Tour and is ranked conscionable extracurricular the apical 100 for players aged 45 and over.

His astir caller contention came successful August astatine a MT400 level lawsuit successful Paraguay, with Forlan reaching the last earlier suffering a straight-set decision to Argentina’s Federico Pontarolo.

In an interrogation with the Athletic earlier this year, Forlan said helium practices 4 times a week and was drawn backmost to the athletics owed to his tendency to support acceptable and active.

‘I request thing wherever I tin run,’ helium said. ‘Golf, you play successful beauteous places — I similar it and I inactive bash it, but I request thing different, thing much akin to football.

‘I started grooming and playing tennis and I was getting amended and better. At first, I would play the apical players astatine the nine and players from astir Uruguay and it was casual for them to bushed me.

‘Then it became much difficult. Now I tin win. At the nine tournaments, I was losing successful the archetypal round, present I’m winning a batch of them.’

Forlan’s spouse Coria is the satellite fig 101 successful singles and has won 7 tourney wins connected the Challenger Tour.

The erstwhile striker joined United successful 2002 from Independiente, scoring 17 goals successful 98 appearances for the club before joining Spanish broadside Villareal.

He doubly won the Pichichi Trophy, successful 2005 and 2009, for astir goals successful a La Liga season, and besides claimed the Golden Ball astatine the 2010 World Cup for his staring relation arsenic Uruguay finished third.

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