Much like last season, 2013 has seen its share of retirements from the game.  This past summer alone, reigning Wimbledon champion Marion Bartoli bid a shocking adieu to the sport, and crowd favorite James Blake hung up his racquet after competing at the US Open one last time.  Now, less than two months out from these goodbyes, another player will walk off into the sunset.  Citing a shoulder injury that makes it impossible for him to compete at the top level, Argentine David Nalbandian has opted to call it a career, marking another talented loss for the sport of tennis.

It is hard to pinpoint just where Nalbandian’s legacy fits into tennis.  He never did win a major, and yet he certainly stands at or near the top of anyone’s “best-player-to-have-never-won-a-major” list.  Nalbandian was a competitor who possessed far more ability than a number of his peers, but similar to another talented, albeit more successful player, Marat Safin, he was also a chronic underachiever who proved dangerous to the opposition and to himself in equal measure.  One never quite knew what we would get with the Argentine.  He was the good, the bad, and the ugly all rolled into one.

Sadly, there was plenty of the ugliness in Nalbandian’s career.  In fact, to the casual tennis fan, it is arguably the ugly incidents for which he is most well known.  He has paid his share of fines over the years, including a citation for unsportsmanlike conduct for throwing water at an Australian Open official in 2012.  He has engaged in the occasional public spat with a handful of players, including countryman and Davis Cup teammate Juan Martin Del Potro. 

But the most memorable incident unfolded last summer at the Aegon Championships at the Queen’s Club in London.  Nalbandian was up a set on Marin Cilic in the final but fell behind a break midway through the second set.  Frustrated with the loss of serve, Nalbandian kicked the nearest thing to him.  Unfortunately, it was an advertising board situated right in front of a line judge.  The board broke and injured the official, earning Nalbandian an automatic disqualification and fine for his lapse in judgment and instant infamy via YouTube. 

Coupled with these ugly moments have also been the bad times throughout his up-and-down career.  Lost opportunities must have haunted Nalbandian.  He held match point against Andy Roddick in the semifinals of the 2003 US Open. (Roddick went on to win the tournament for his only major title.)  He failed to capitalize on the opportunity of a lifetime by folding in straight sets against the unheralded Gaston Gaudio in the semifinals of 2004 Roland Garros. (Gaudio went on to win the tournament for his only major title.)  He also let a 4-2 lead slip away in the deciding set of his semifinal against Marcos Baghdatis at the 2006 Australian Open.  Had he found a way to win any of these encounters, who knows what we would be saying about his career now?

But missed chances were not the only things to trip up Nalbandian.  He never appeared to be the fittest player on tour, and it showed in the plethora of injuries that plagued him over the years.  Additionally, as alluded to earlier, he was not always the easiest guy to like.  In a somewhat amusing example, French journalists at Roland Garros in 2004 named him the “Lemon Award” winner for his sour disposition.

Given this litany of negatives ascribed to the Argentine, one might wonder why Nalbandian provided so much of a joy to a number of fans and was so well respected in the locker room.  The answer lies in all the bright moments that he produced throughout his career, and there were certainly plenty of them.

First, players and fans had to respect Nalbandian’s ability to play big-time tennis on all surfaces.  That ability propelled him to a career-high singles ranking of world No. 3.  In addition, it garnered him 11 singles titles, which included two Masters 1000 crowns and the 2005 Tennis Masters Cup.  Furthermore, he reached the final of Wimbledon in 2002 and is one of only a few players to have reached the semifinals or better at each of the four majors. 

Nalbandian was even more effective in Davis Cup competition, the arena where he himself has enjoyed his fondest memories.  With an overall 39-11 win-loss record in team play, he is second only to Vilas as the most successful Argentine Davis Cup player.  Sadly, Nalbandian never led his team to winning the Cup, but his patriotic efforts did spur them on to three finals in 2006, 2008, and 2011. 

Finally, and perhaps most importantly, Nalbandian repeatedly showed the knack for giving the best in the sport a run for their money.  He amassed 13 total wins against the the Big Four consisting of Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic, and Andy Murray.  Those victories included a solid 8-11 tally against  Federer, the lone member of the Big Four from Nalbandian’s generation. 

The biggest win of Nalbandian’s career came against the Swiss at the 2005 Tennis Masters Cup.  Nalbandian only entered the event when Roddick was forced to withdraw, but he proved a worthy substitute by reaching the final.  There, he came back from two sets down to stun Federer in a fifth-set tiebreak.  In doing so, Nalbandian became the first player to win the prestigious tournament without having already won a major or Masters 100 title. 

Nalbandian’s impressive wins over the game’s elite did not end there, however.  In 2007, he won the Madrid Masters 1000 by defeating Nadal, Djokovic, and Federer in succession.  That same fall, he secured his other Masters 1000 title in Paris at the expense of Federer and Nadal, proving yet again that he had the necessary tools to achieve the greatness that forever lay just beyond his grasp.

These snippets represent David Nalbandian in a nutshell.  The man was an enigma, infuriating and one minute then brilliant the next.  All of that aside, love him or hate him, there is no denying that Nalbandian could play beautiful tennis and made the game fun to watch.  He has made the right decision to retire, but his presence on the tour will be greatly missed.