When David Nalbandian Beat the Big 3 ALL IN A ROW at Madrid 2007! 

Berdych, Del Potro, Nadal, Djokovic, Federer now that's a phenomenal road to victory!

Funny story, when he won the ATP Masters he had not originally qualified, and was fishing and camping with friends in Argentinian Patagonia. One player stood down (I believe Roddick) and he was called as he was the first substitute to fill in. He almost refused, as he didn't planned nor trained for it, he was in a vacation and out of shape and regular training. He finally chose to go (his friends insisted), took a plane and in less than 24h he was in the court playing against the best 9 players in the world at the time, reaching the final and winning it in 5 sets after being 2 sets down and recovering a couple of match points against Roger. Some said that if he'd trained more and partied less (he loves hanging out with friends, eating barbecue with good amounts of wine and fernet 😂, and racing rally) he'd probably been a true legend (even more than now). Many rivals said he made the most difficult things look very easy when he was on fire, and these matches prove it spectacularly.

Dominating Nadal in straight sets. Beating a young Djokovic in straight sets. Beating World #1 Federer from a set down. That is mental!

Don't know why no one talks about his backhand. One of the best of the history in my opinion. Pure class.

When David was on, he was nearly unbeatable.

He and Federer are the greatest players I’ve ever seen in ‘God mode.’ In fact, Federer was quoted recently saying that ‘Nalbandian could beat you on any surface quite easily if he cared to.’ And Ferrer asserted he could have been number one. Too much partying!

Nalbandian sounds like a name for a knight. And in the world of tennis he was.

He also put a beating on Delpo in this event before Nadal.

The fact that no other player has achieved this before or since then, beating all the Big 3 in the same tournament, makes Nalbandian's accomplishment a truly remarkable one.

The groundstrokes are one thing, but the intelligence, the timing, the feel for the right shot... Wanna know why so many "young promising players" today still can't beat the big three? They may have some of the shots, but they don't have the tactical smartness and insight this guy had. Shame he went out so early.

Federer's head-to-heads at fast courts during his peak (2003-2008): 6-2 Nadal 10-1 Blake 19-2 Davydenko 17-0 D.Ferrer 12-1 Gonzalez 21-3 Roddick 7-2 Novak Djokovic 8-3 Agassi ... 8-8 Nalbandian yes, David is the only exception

I was a big fan of Nalbandian. He hits the ball early and cleanly, not to mention with so much power! With the exception of Nadal at his peak, nobody gave the Fed as much trouble as this guy did. Miss him!

En lo personal fue el mejor jugador que vi. Con el único que me levantaba a la madrugada para ver un partido. Me asombraba ver la facilidad que tenía con todos los golpes pero sobre todo con su revés, hasta el día de hoy sin lugar a dudas el mejor revés a dos manos de la historia. Creo que fue el talento más grande que tuvimos junto a otros maestros de otros deportes que también fueron argentinos... Guillermo Vilas en una nota dijo que Nalba tenía el talento de número uno, que nunca había visto un tenista adaptarse tan bien a todas las superficies y ganar en todas. Durante un tiempo no entendía como podía ser que habiendo nacido con ese don de ser numero uno del mundo, que muy pocas personas en el planeta lo tienen (dicho y confirmado por los principales tenistas y leyendas) no había encarado con más hambre de ser el mejor de todos los tiempos... Después comprobé y corroboré que son decisiones, y hay que respetarlas. Ser sudamericano, tener todo lejos (los grandes torneos), estar alejado de tu familia mucho tiempo, de tus seres queridos... es un montón. Y hay que contar que todo comienza a los 12-14 años, donde los amigos de colegio se juntaban a ver pelis hasta tarde o preparándose para un cumple de 15, y el metido en su casa, en un hotel o donde sea, preparando el torneo que va a disputar. Por supuesto que la frase: "sin esfuerzo no hay gloria" es cierta, pero hay que estar en su persona y lo entiendo. Por último, era tremendo saber que ibas a ver a Nalba y sabias que le ganaba a cualquiera, no importaba quien estaba al frente, y si era un tenista top mejor! Se lo extraña mucho, coincido con otros comentarios, que fue una camada única la que aprecio en el 2000, esa camada llego para ser llamada la mejor camada de la historia. P/D: Que locura que cuando tenía ganas se ganaba un título, de no creer eso. Todo pasaba por sus ganas jajaja. Saludos!!!

The best tournament ever... Literally the worst player he beat was clement, a grand slam finalist.

Nalbandian looked never rushed: rather it seemed he had plentiful, even extra time to get in position, plan out the next shot, and then plant the ball exactly where he wanted it.

Something important to remember is that Nalbandian was 4-6, 1-4 down in his match against Berdych, but he recovered and went on to win the match and the tournament, beating the Big 3 in the process. What an incredible achievement. About this tournament in particular, Nalbandian said this: "I struggled against Berdych. I was a set down and double break down in the second set. If I had lost that match, I would've gone out of the top 40 because I had to defend the semifinal that I had reached the year before. But this Berdych match was an inflection point. Coming up to Madrid I was playing really well: I remember losing a tough 5 setter to Ferrer at the US Open but I felt good. In Madrid I had a tough draw, and after beating Berdych, in every match I felt like I couldn’t miss a shot. It was an incredible feeling. And in Paris it was even better, because in Madrid with the high altitude I could have some errors, but in Paris I really couldn’t miss a shot."

Insane how close to the baseline he played, just smothered his opponents by taking their time away. You rarely saw Federer being rushed by someone playing faster than him, but this guy s reflexes and timing were out of this world. Such clean strokes, impeccable touch and shot placement. A joy to watch. ❤

Unreal stuff, during these 2 weeks there was not a single player before or after that could've beaten this Nalbandian, it was like he flicked a switch and went god-mode all of a sudden. They would've needed to tie one hand behind his back or face 2 at once to even give him a challenge, absolute monster!

... And not too bad the two names of the 2r and 3r, Berdych and Delpo. Nalbandian beat Berdych, Delpo, Nadal, Djoko, Fed in a tournament, its unreal.

David Nalbandian......Great Tennis IQ, Great Backhand, Great Hands(Finesse)!

El Rey David 🇦🇷 era una máquina !!!, saludos de chile🇨🇱

One of the best mechanics in history. He devoured the minds of his opponents in this tournament particularly

One of the greatest player of all time, who have never won a Major! A great player to watch, an intelligent player and this two handed backhand, the best one at this time!

Those 2 weeks had to be one of the most dominant performances in tennis history... Just looking at the rivals and the way he toyed with them was unbelievable

Nalbandian's agility, coordination, feel and purity of groundstrokes, particularly that inside-out backhand ... truly awesome. Sad he suffered so many injuries and retired relatively young.

His two-handed backhand was a devastating shot, he could take high balls on the backhand and forehand side and return them with acute angles and low trajectories and used these skills with great tactical intelligence.

He had so much potential and could have been one of the greats. Shame he retired so early.

Him and Devydenko are the two greatest to not have won a GS. But both sure did prove to the Big three they could kick their asses on a good day. Amazing performance.

I never tired watching David Nalbandian play.Exquisite player sadly missed but fondly remembered.

Nalbandian had such unlimited shot production. And the best two hander I have ever seen. Such a shame injuries bad training attitude did him in.

God he hit such a clean ball it's scary. Unbelievable talent.

I'll never forget these lovely days. My hero Nalbandian forever!

David was one of the most talented player of the last 25 years his backhand was superb a nice serve a pretty good forehand and he was a great returner is a shame he won't a Slam 😔

5:50 holy hell Federer was fast back then. His defensive skills are often overlooked

Impresionante cómo le corría ese revés a Nalbandian, la ponía dónde quería. Qué genio

I watched all these matches, this was absolute insanity and could never be repeated.

Actually my tennis role model and idol in terms of playstyle

Best backhand of all time. Effortless, laser-like power. Beautiful to watch. Stan is not far behind - but he has brute strength.

He is joy to watch.

Solo espero que alguna dimension paralela, si es que existe, haya ganado los 4 Grand Slams. Inmenso el teton, el mejor revez a dos manos de la puta historia. Gracias por tanto

This is so close to perfection.

Imo the most talented and enjoyable tennis player to watch ever. His ground strokes were perfection from both sides, and tennis was like watching a chess game when Nalby was playing. His shot selection was genius, and he could do whatever he wanted with that backhand. Many say Federer is the reason they play with a one hander, Nalby is the reason I play with a two hander :)

No one talks about Nalbandians movement and anticipation. Guy is always in the right spot in the right position.

In two weeks: in god mode. Amazing tennis. Amazing player. I miss you, Nalby.

That was one *phenomenal* performance. The way he dominated the plays with the use of his backhand is something that you would hardly see. Most games donʼt utilize the power of the backhand as he does. He was virtually making it nearly impossible to return his backhand after putting the opposing player off-balance. Among the few people I could only think of with the similar capability are Andre Agassi and Novak Djokovic. Nalbandian was one amazing player. I miss seeing him play!

Due to the lack of tennis events we get to remember some of the great matches and great players! Keep this kind of videos coming!

In three weeks Nalbadian beat Berdych (14), Gasquet (10), Ferrer (5), Djokovic (3), Nadal x 2 (2), Federer x2 (1)

Nothing but huge RESPECT for this man.

Qué locura lo que hiciste gordo sos una leyenda! 👏

If you can defeat Federer, Nadal del Po’ and Djoker in one tournament you can be considered of the best tennis players ever.

the most fun player ever to watch, along with federer

It's the one of my best players it's great player especially his backhand it's very strong

Una locura!

Another of his great achievements was reaching SF at the 4 Slams. His tennis was always there; but when Jaite started coaching him on July 2007 they focused on training, so by the end of the year he had reached his best physical form ever. In such condition he was able to beat anyone.

I can't believe this was almost 13 years ago! Time goes so fast!

Qué buena época de tenis. Comparas con la de ahora y nada que ver. Estaba lleno de excelentes jugadores.

That’s gotta be the hardest draw in history are you kidding me 😧

And some people still believe about the weak era. Just look at Nalbandian! What a great player he was, shame he retired so early

One of my favourite tennis players of all time. Far better player than what his stats suggest. An under achiever in my opinion.

Se te extraña David,esa manera de jugar que tenías, cuando estabas en tu nivel podías ganarle a cualquier jugador.gran talento

Phenominal effort from an incredible tennis player at his peak ; a great pity he faded away without some major wins he richly deserved

this achievement record will never get replaced as big 3 start to fade

"Argentina's David Nalbandian remains the only person to achieve this feat - beating Nadal, Djokovic & Federer to win a tournament!" Y el unico con este nivel de talento q ademas disfruta y disfruto de una vida por fuera del tenis. Inigualable, inalcanzable. Estos tres deberian sentirse agradecidos por haber podido presenciar desde adentro de la cancha una presentacion del Rey. Seguramente los hizo algo mejores. Saludos y salud!

If this man wasn't lazy..I would not be the number one tennis player - Roger Federer in 2008

Nalbandian : ‘I was God once’

Nalbandian was the greatest underachiever of all time. It's unfortunate that his talent was wasted.

Nalbandian y Rios los jugadores mas talentosos de la historia, cada uno en sus peaks fueron excepcionales. Sin grand slams pero con masters muy valiosos donde solo te enfrentas a los mejores desde la 1 ronda, en los grand slams entra mucho en juego la resistencia fisica y mental, que no eran sus fuertes.

When I feel a bit down, I just recall and watch again this games of David and feel better... What a beast!! 👏🙌

That was a tough era,lots of players with so much will to win,strong mentally enough to fight toe to toe against the big 3,after 2010 everything changed,and nobody could stand a chance against the big 3 no more,that will to win,that love for the game was replace by "I'm the next gem,I'm making a lot a money,I'm a legend already" kind of players.

ATP, thank you for the high quality highlights. All the other highlights of this tournament are fuzzy and hard to see. It'd be great if you uploaded Nalbandian's Paris Masters run.

Nalbandian uses his opponent's power so beautifully, like in changing ball direction which is in itself a tricky thing. Hope someone comes along with similar stroke styles as his.

super talented! no doubt he is in the class of big 3. if Argentina could've given as good support as those Eur countries ...

One of my all time favorites David Nalbandian! Great to see that he beat the big 3, almost back to back Masters! I believe he had one of the best and effortless looking backhands of all time!

His backhand form is prob one of my favs to look at

It’s so insane he beat Fed and Nadal in the next Masters tourney back to back titles with the three best ever to play the game in their primes. That is insane tennis folks.

So much to take away from this video, it’s amazing. Firstly I think Djokovic has learned a LOT from Nalbandian in terms of how he approaches fast courts and how he plays Nadal and Federer. The angles, the timing, it’s deadly. Secondly you see how much better Federer and Djokovic were than Young Rafa at dealing with that flat pace; early Rafa would struggle to generate any depth and would hit slow, short high bouncing balls ready to be hammered. Prime and late era Nadal have made the adjustment big time.

Fue y por mucho tiempo más, será el mejor jugador argentino del tenis

One of the most underrated players ever. A healthy Nalbandian would have captured more than a few grand-slam victories.

The thing to note about Nalbadians game ; was he had a very good ALL COURT one - he could do all shots very well

He hits the ball So sweet and effortless , great player 👍🏻🎾

Man I would give anything to see peak Nalbandian vs. Peak Djokovic battles. the BH to BH would be so good

Wow, just wow. I don't watch a lot of tennis, but this guy had steel for vains and ice for blood.

BEST tenis era ever!

amo la filosofía de Nalbandian. el tiempo es algo que ni la plata ni los ranking te lo pueden dar. y el supo ocupar su tiempo en las cosas que lo hacían verdaderamente feliz. Aunque como amante del tenis reconozco que me hubiera gustado verlo 100% metido en el tour.... aun asi dejo huellas I love the Nalbandian philosophy. time is something that neither money nor rankings can give you. and he knew how to occupy his time in the things that made him truly happy. Although as a tennis lover I admit that I would have liked to see him 100% involved in the tour ... even so he left traces

only man who achieved the impossible in tennis!

The king David we miss you in the tour!🥺🥺

David and Stan are my all time favourite players. So glad to find this video in my suggestions. Btw my two favourite rackets were in that Madrid final (David's Yonex and Roger's Wilson)

David Nalbadian era un jugador extraordinario le ganaba a los mejores , lo unico que le jugaba en contra que no le gustaba mucho entrenar vivia de fiesta en fiesta con amigos y el tenis para el era un pasatiempo .. que gran jugador era DAVID NALBADIAN 💪💪💪

Only double handed backhand which is nearly equal to Wawrinkas one handed🙏

He made Nadal look like a chump and toyed with Djokovic before beating Federer pretty handily. Insane

Nalbandian fue uno de los jugadores mas "CONTRADICTORIOS" que vi en mi vida... Asi como levanto partidos que tenia practicamente perdidos, tambien perdio partidos que tenia practicamente GANADOS... No obstante, este fue uno de los momentos mas MEMORABLES en su carrera... El aguante fisico que tenia era asombroso... Si no te ganaba con su juego, te ganaba por cansancio... El tipo se bancaba partidos de mas de CINCO HORAS como si fueran simples entrenamientos... Su reves a dos manos era LETAL... Cuando estaba "inspirado", era INTRATABLE hasta para los mejores jugadores de su epoca... Un ANIMAL!!..

The most wicked double handed backhand. That is insane it feels like he is a video game character

He and Hingis had beautiful two handed backhands ..... as elegant as the best one handers

Along with Federer and Safin, the most talented of the 2000s.

One of my favourite players 👏🏼👏🏼

Absolutely insane! Congrats to him!

I always thought Nalbandian had one of the most beautiful games in the sport. He was so talented, but too bad he didn’t achieve as much as he could have given his amazing skills.

the man, the myth, the legend.

David is greatest player along with former #1 Marcelo Rio's never too win a Grand Slam, Thanks for the memories David you are a great Champion

Nalbandián fino! The Best!!!!!