Diego Forlan on tennis: From beating Ruud van Nistlerooy at Man Utd to becoming ATP Tour professional

Footballers are a competitive bunch. The will to win is rarely ever consigned to the pitch.

So when Manchester United strikers Diego Forlan and Ruud van Nistelrooy faced each other on a tennis court at Nike’s HQ in Portland during a 2003 pre-season tour, there was tension.

Sir Alex Ferguson and their United team-mates were watching. Fergie had apparently put money on Forlan winning the pre-training tie-break tussle.

“Everyone wanted to see who was going to win. I had all the pressure,” remembers 45-year-old Forlan, who is gearing up for a professional tennis debut in his native Uruguay next month.

“Ruud played a lot – not as much as I played, but still he knew how to play.”

After a few serving jitters, Forlan beat Van Nistelrooy “in the end”.

What the now-interim United manager did not know – the wily Ferguson had typically not missed a beat – was Forlan had quite the pedigree.

Initially for Forlan, tennis was simply fun. After retiring in 2019, external, Forlan had more time for tennis. Focusing on the fitness and social benefits, he played with friends in the Montevideo club league.

His competitive spirit was sparked and, in 2023, the left-hander made his ITF Masters Tour debut. Now he is ranked 113th in the world in the over-45s category.

A greater reward came when he was given a wildcard into the Uruguay Open doubles on the ATP Challenger Tour – the tier below where Novak Djokovic et al compete.

“If you asked me when I was playing football if I was going to play on the ATP Tour, I would not have imagined it,” said Forlan, who counts Boris Becker, Ivan Lendl and Goran Ivanisevic among his idols.

“I didn’t know if I was going to play tennis even though it was a sport I really liked.”