Diego Forlan spoke about the players that inspired him to transition from football to tennis as he prepares to make his debut on the Challenger tour next week.
The Uruguayan is swapping the football pitch for the tennis court once again next week as he is playing in doubles on the Challenger circuit next week.
Forlan had played on the seniors future circuit but is now taking the next step by playing in Montevideo next week as he and Argentinian Federico Coria have been given a wildcard for the event next week.
The partnership happened because of Uruguayan tennis player Ignacio Carou and Forlan spoke about playing on the Challenger tour in his home country, “[Ignacio] was joking many times with me to play some futures. This year, I said to him, ‘No, I was on holidays, I don’t want to play’,” Forlan told the ATP website.
“Then a couple months after, he sent me a picture of Federico Coria and said, ‘I have your partner for the Challenger in Uruguay’. I think it was a joke and then he said, ‘He wants to play with you, I’m not joking!’
“If you asked me when I was playing football if I was going to play a professional tournament in ATP, I wouldn’t have imagined that. Playing with the professionals for just one match, I will be enjoying it.
“Having the opportunity to — I don’t know if I’m the first one, but to be a professional football player to be a professional [tennis] player, just for one match… For me, it’s a privilege. I know it’s going to be really, really difficult to play against those guys. But I don’t have anything to lose. It’s a privilege for me to have this opportunity from [tournament director] Diego Perez.”
Forlan has been inspired by some of tennis’ great players in the past having had a choice between football and tennis early on in his career.
The Uruguayan chose football but now the former Champions League winner now has the opportunity to live out his second career.
The likes of Boris Becker and Goran Ivanisevic inspired Forlan to play the sport as he spoke about playing with Diego Maradona early on in his career, “Imagine for me, to have the opportunity to be around [Maradona] and then the opportunity to play football and tennis — it was unbelievable,” Forlan said of the experience to play with Maradona.
“We played football and we played doubles in tennis. We had a really good relationship. He was very competitive. It was a nice game.
“I used to watch Boris Becker a lot. I really enjoyed watching Ivan Lendl as well, Andre Agassi, Pete Sampras. I remember when Goran Ivanisevic won against Patrick Rafter at Wimbledon [in 2001].
“He [received a wild card] for that tournament — didn’t have that chance to play because of his ranking. And he won the tournament. It was unbelievable. I remember the final because I was watching that match.”
Forlan’s ATP debut is set to attract a lot of attention with his match expected to take place on Monday or Tuesday.
