Diego Forlan swaps football fields for tennis courts, outcome not as expected

Former Uruguay footballer Diego Forlan suffered a defeat in his first professional tennis match. The 45-year-old was once regarded as amongst the best strikers in the world and played a key role in helping his national side in finishing on the fourth place in the 2010 FIFA World Cup.

Forlan, who retired from football in 2018, decided to start playing tennis professionally. However, his opening outing did not go as planned as he suffered a defeat in the doubles event in his native country. Forlan and his partner Federico Coria lost to the pair of Boris Arias and Federico Zeballos in straight sets with a score 6-1, 6-2 in just 47 minutes, that is according to BBC Sport. Forlan and his partner received a wildcard entry in the ongoing Uruguay Open.

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During the contest, the former star striker was cheered by his friends. Talking after the match, the Montevideo-born stated that he ‘enjoyed’ the contest despite finishing on the losing side. "I enjoyed it quite a bit,” he said. “I knew there was a high probability it would be a tough match for us, that was clear, so I prepared myself to not have too hard a time and to enjoy it, and that’s what I did. I’m grateful to everyone who came, the stadium was packed.”

Forland also went on to thanked his partner and the opponents and expressed optimism that they would’ve enjoyed playing with him. He also went on talk about how difficult it has been for him to play tennis despite playing football in front of 60,00 spectators, week in, week out.

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"I hope they enjoyed it a bit,” he said. “With Zeballos and Arias, two great doubles players, they at least saw some nice tennis, some plays from Fede, a few from me. There was some good entertainment. I had played an exhibition match in 2017 and 2018. I didn’t have the same tennis skills or experience on the court back then. Even though I was used to playing football in front of over 60,000 people, it's a sport I controlled (...), whereas with something new, there are more doubts.”