Diego Forlan embraced a new chapter in his athletic career, stepping onto the tennis court at home in Uruguay despite a tough doubles loss.
The former Manchester United star entered the Uruguay Open in Montevideo with a wild-card entry, joining the Challenger Tour event just a tier below the elite ATP circuit.
Paired with Argentina’s Federico Coria, ranked No. 101, Forlan faced a 6-1, 6-2 defeat against Bolivia’s Boris Arias and Federico Zeballos.
Yet the result mattered little to the 45-year-old soccer legend, who represented Uruguay more than 100 times and was simply savoring his venture into a different professional sport.
“I’m grateful for the opportunity to play with Fede,” he told claytenis.com. “It’s not easy for him to enter these tournaments with an amateur beside him. I hadn’t even imagined, let alone dreamed of this. It’s wonderful to have played against professionals – it takes courage to do it.
“The atmosphere on this court that I love so much was incredible; my friends, my family were here. It was very special, and I enjoyed it. I felt like a tennis player for a moment.”
Both teams held serve to start the match, but Arias and Zeballos quickly pulled away after earning a break in the third game of the first set.
The second set followed in similar fashion, with Forlan and Coria struggling to contain the high-powered serves of their opponents, while Forlan was unable to hold serve during the contest, which lasted only 47 minutes.
“I’ll take with me a few volleys, a good smash, and some forehands during the exchanges. Overall, I’m pleased,” he said.
Forlan signed with Manchester United from Argentina’s Independiente in 2002 and was part of Sir Alex Ferguson’s squad that won the 2003 Premier League title and the 2004 FA Cup.
After making 98 appearances and scoring 17 goals, Forlan joined Spanish side Villarreal and later played for Atletico Madrid as well as Inter Milan before spells in Brazil, Japan, Uruguay, India and Hong Kong.
He scored 36 goals in 112 appearances for his country, finishing as joint top goal scorer at the 2010 World Cup as Uruguay secured a third-place finish in South Africa, and won the 2011 Copa America.
Forlan was a promising junior tennis player and has continued to play since retiring from soccer in 2019.
He has had some success on the senior tennis circuit and said he would now focus his efforts on tournaments in the over-45 category.