Diego Forlan, the 45-year-old World Cup golden ball winner, will make his ATP tennis debut.
Next month, at the second-tier Challenger level, the former Manchester United forward will compete in doubles with Federico Coria at his home Uruguay Open in Montevideo.
Forlan’s transition from one sport to another is gradual. The former Uruguayan international was a gifted junior who had always played tennis but decided to turn to professional football instead.
After playing for United, Atletico Madrid, Inter Milan, and Internacional in Brazil, he left Kitchee in Hong Kong and officially retired from football in 2019. He had previously played in Japan and India.
Forlan is ranked 108th in the world governing body’s rankings for players 45 and older, and according to his profile on the International Tennis Federation, he made it to a masters (age level) final in Paraguay in August.
Forlan expressed his thoughts in a recent interview and said: “I need something where I can run. Golf, you play in beautiful places—I like it and I still do it, but I need something different, something more similar to football. I started training and playing tennis, and I was getting better and better. At first, I would play the top players at the club and players from around Uruguay, and it was easy for them to beat me. Then it became more difficult. Now I can win. At the club tournaments, I was losing in the first round; now I’m winning a lot of them.”