Nalbandian Doesn't Surprise at All
David Nalbandian won the Paris ATP Masters title on Sunday defeating World Number Two Rafael Nadal for the second time in the past few weeks. Nalbandian also beat Roger Federer for the second consecutive time (the previous win was also only a couple weeks ago at the ATP Masters Madrid). Nalbandian is now 8-8 in his career against World Number One, Roger Federer. In addition, Nalbandian also beat new World Number Three, Novak
Djokovic, in Madrid a couple weeks ago. Given Nalbandian’s slide down the rankings this year and poor play until the past couple weeks, many have been shocked by his string of victories. But I’m not surprised at all. Nalbandian’s recent wins illustrate yet again how important confidence can be to a player’s success. Nalbandian may have had some injuries earlier this year, but if you watched him lose some of his recent tough losses, e.g. David Ferrer at the 2007 U.S. Open, you realize how much of his poor play had to do with a lack of confidence. When he was losing, Nalbandian simply didn’t execute on the important points. Now that he’s winning again, he is serving well when it matters, hitting his forehand aggressively and of course nailing his awesome two-handed backhand whenever and wherever it’s necessary. His two recent tournament titles have launched Nalbandian back into the top ten in the rankings. Next on Nalbandian’s “schedule” should be hoisting a Grand Slam title… vamos!
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