David Nalbandian comments on Players Rankings

According to David Nalbandian, a player who is strong only on one kind of court and not on all courts, he can’t rank at the top in modern Tennis.

Yes, twenty years back, if someone was specialized for maybe clay or grass, he could rise to the top, but, in today’s game, such players would remain far, far behind.

Nalbandian cited the example of Sampras to explain his point. The American was not so good playing on courts where the ball reached to the players with lesser speed and so, was never a big threat on clay. He never looked like winning French Open in spite of participating in that competition for so many times. Just once he could qualify for the Round of 4. But, irrespective of his weakness on clay, he owned the top spot for more than 5 years. However, nowadays, if you are like that, your rivals would get past you because players are playing well all around the globe now.

Nalbandian himself also had a liking to the grass, but, he was comfortable at clay too. He, however, couldn’t have the glory either at Roland Garros or the All England Club. But, he says winning slams wasn’t a dream when he was making his strides into the professional world because had so many players around him who were much older than him and still could not have been able to play in the slams. So, for him, the dream was just to play in the Slams and other major competitions.

When questioned if becoming a coach is on his mind, Nalbandian straightaway ruled it out saying it is not different from being a player as it also needs extensive travelling which he is not prepared for.