After a long break Argentine David Nalbandian is set to play in the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing.  He is seeded #7 and his first opponent is  Zeng Shaoxuan of China.  He is also scheduled to play doubles with Guillermo Canas. However, it is still somewhat unclear if David has managed to recover from his injuries.

It is very unhealthy to be David Nalbandian’s fan. He is absolutely unpredictable!!! When Nalby loses, I need at least one tennis-free day to recover, to digest his “I-don’t-know-why-I-am-playing-tennis” performance, and only then continue following the action. Nalbandian (the bookmakers’ fourth favorite) lost 6-1, 6-2, 6-3 in the third round of Australian Open to 22nd-seeded Juan Carlos Ferrero. It was unwatchable.

Que paso David?

(AP Photo/Rick Stevens)

I haven’t been able to post much in recent days because I was having a lot of fun in New Orleans. When you are in Big Easy, your priorities shift. Fun, food and music take over tennis! I absolutely love Nola. There is so much spirit and love of life in that city. And the last several days were particularly fun there. In addition to usual tourists, the city was full of LSU and OSU football fans, and educators. The Allied Social Science Association was having its annual conference which brings together thousands of university professors and newly minted PhDs (job candidates) from all over the world. It was interesting to observe how the sports fans and academia were having fun together in the world-famous French Quarter.

Now I am back to my usual routine–which of course involves tennis. The first disappointment was when I read that my tennis muse (aka David Nalbandian) injured his back while practicing with Marat Safin. His participation at the Australian Open is in doubt. Now I officially think Nalby is jinxed (not that I believe in jinxing).

This is an aerospace-themed holiday greeting card from the former Soviet Union. It bears the New Year greeting in Russian (s novym godom). New Year was the main holiday (ideologically more acceptable) celebrated in the former Soviet Union (officially atheist). Christmas was banned after the 1917 revolution and not celebrated again until 1992. Also, in Russia, Christmas is celebrated according to the Julian calendar, on January 7 (Armenians celebrate on January 6), and is a much different type of celebration than New Years.

My wishes for 2008!

May we all:

1. Enjoy world peace (or at least continue to dream).

2. Continue to do good and help as many people as we can in our lives.

3. Benefit from intelligent decisions from our leaders, and in the case of the Americans in 2008, the voters.

TENNIS WISH: Nalbandian, please win a Grand Slam. PLEASE!

Thank you for reading my blog!

World No 9 David Nalbandian is scheduled to play an exhibition match in Uruguay.

Venue: Conrad Punta del Este Resort and Casino, Punta del Este, Uruguay
Date: December 28-29, 2007
Surface: Hard
Website: http://www.tenisenpunta.com/2007/

Confirmed players:
David Nalbandian (Argentina)
Nicolas Lapentti(Ecuador)
Mariano Zabaleta (Argentina)
Pablo Cuevas (Uruguay)

David Nalbandian, the top-ranked Argentine at No. 9 in the world, beat compatriot Juan Monaco 6-4, 7-5 in the Copa Argentina final in Buenos Aires. Nalbandian also won the 2005 title at the Buenos Aires Lawn Tennis Club. David is scheduled to play in Kooyong Classic tournament in Melbourne from January 10-12. He will be in a field that includes Roger Federer, Andy Roddick (number 6), Fernando Gonzalez (7), Andy Murray (11), Tommy Haas (12), Ivan Ljubicic (18) and Marat Safin (56). It is a warm-up for the Australian Open.

Official Website

David is one of the few top players who has never had an official website. Now, with his recent two ATP masters wins, it looks like David has finally understood that he is a world famous tennis star and he needs to communicate with his millions of fans. His official site www.davidnalbandian.com will be officially launched in 17 days. FINALLY!!!

(Via davidnalbandian.net)

Fernando Gonzales stunned defending champion Roger Federer 3-6, 7-6(1), 7-5 on the second day of the Masters’ Cup in Shanghai. In recent weeks Federer was beaten by David Nalbandian in the Madrid Masters final and by the same player again in the quarter-finals of the BNP Paribas Masters in Paris. Federer must not be happy about losing consecutively to two different players. Interestingly, I found this Federer’s quote about his losses to Guillermo Canas this year at Indian Wells and Miami. It is quite telling as to what is going on in the mind of the Swiss maestro now:“I would honestly rather lose to the same guy twice than lose to two different guys. I think if I lost to two different players I would think I wasn’t playing well, but with one guy I can think ‘OK, this guy is on a roll’. It’s just easier to digest.”

(Photograph: Eugene Hastiko/AP)

The God (or maybe Gods) of Tennis didn’t hear all the fan prayers who wanted to somehow give another chance to David Nalbandian to play in Masters Cup in Shanghai. What were the odds that everything would work the way it did in 2005. The Argentine player, champion at Madird and Paris Masters tournaments, has decided to not go to Shanghai as a first alternate after learning that American Andy Roddick and Rassian Nikolay Davydenko will be there despite some doubts due to injury.

Tommy Robredo, ranked tenth in the standings, will travel to Shanghai on Wednesday evening to take Nalbandian’s alternate spot at the Masters Cup.

Nalbandian is already in Cordoba, and is celebrating his two big wins with family and friends.

Technorati Tag: David Nalbandian, Tennis Masters Cup

Congratulations to David Nalbandian. The new tennis superhero thrashed Rafa Nadal to win the Paris Masters. I am sure next year all top male athletes won’t withdraw from Paris Masters since this is how the award ceremony looks like in Paris. Not bad. Borat would even say “Niiiiiiiiiice.”

Good strategic move by the tour organizers. They can rest assured that this trick won’t be copied at the U.S. Open (or at Wimbledon) since it can result in banning tennis as a sport! We don’t need multiple nipplegates in the U.S.

Oops, I digressed.

Nadal and Federer must be calling now to all other six participants of the Masters Cup and pleading them not to withdraw. Nalby is the first alternate there. Let’s wait and see if he can be as lucky as in 2005. One of the rumors is that Davydenko might not be there, but given his tour history, I don’t think he will ever skip such a lucrative event.

Just give your body some rest Kolya! It is not an eternal machine.