Open Era Gold: David Nalbandian — Giant Slayer

This week we profile someone that never became world number one or captured a Grand Slam, but accomplished something no other player has . David Nalbandian defied explanation, until you saw what he could do on the court when everything was just ‘right.’ We saw that happen in 2007 at the Madrid Open when he became the first and only person to beat Nadal, Djokovic and Federer at the same tournament. 

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Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Hello everyone. Simon here. Ihope you're enjoying the clay court season and
aren't too bummed at seeing the endquestion mark of Rapper and Nadar's career.
All joking aside, Dev and Iwill dive into the Spaniards return next week
when we are back to recording again. This week, however, we will
revisit an Open era favorite with ourexamination of David Nalbangian's run in Madrid where

(00:24):
he beat the top three seeds.Still a remarkable achievement to this day,
and we hope it wets your appetitefor the twenty twenty four version of Madrid
just around the corner. Enjoy andwe'll chat to you soon. Hello in

(00:51):
Welcome to the Open Air Podcast.My name is Deveg Desai and I'm joined
as always by mister Simon Bushall.We're going to go way back in time.
This moment in time in tennis producedsomething that we will never see again.
Probably it's just I don't think it'llline up this way, but Bush
this is an accomplishment by a playerthat truly fit that enigma bills that is

(01:15):
so sloppily thrown around when people gettoo lazy to describe someone in great detail.
I think it's fair to say DavidAlbinian legitimately was the enigma. Certainly
so. Yes, And I thinkanytime there is a discussion about who is
the greatest player to never win aGrand Slam on either the men's or the
women's side, his name comes upvery very quickly in that conversation, just

(01:37):
given the skill level that he hadand the overall career that he had in
terms of the players that he beatand some of the heights that he could
have reached on the professional tour,he never could quite translate it into winning
a Grand Slam. But what anunbelievable player, an unbelievable talent, and
someone who technically, if you watchboth fourhand and backhand, has to be

(01:59):
right up there with all time greatsin terms of when you look it up
in the Dictionary of how to hitboth a fourhand and a backhand? What
do you want to do Bush first? You want to do that where the
ADP was at in two thousand andseven, or maybe a deeper dive into
Nolbanian himself. Maybe we'll start withthe Argentine as a kid growing up.
Yeah, I think that makes sense. Right, And I think a lot
of stuff has been written about himjust on the basis that he retired not

(02:22):
too long ago, even though it'sit doesn't seem he kind of seems like
he came and went so quickly,right. And I think we've been so
blessed to have three or four playersaround the top of the game who have
had very prolonged and extended careers thatwe tend to forget that players don't usually
have twenty five year careers and whengrand slams their entire career. And I

(02:43):
think that that is true for DavinArbandian as well, which he was an
exceptional junior player, and he sooften gets mentioned in the same breath as
his record against Roger Fedder, ofcourse, because he beat him out the
US Open, he beat him inthe final, and Federer is on record
as saying that Nabanian is a veryvery difficult player for him to player the
juniors, and they are interlocked somuch in their junior career because they each

(03:04):
wanted to be each other really badlythough both at the top of the sport
at that point in time, andeveryone had the expectation that this Argentinian kid
was going to go on and besomething really really special. And I think
if you look back at that eraof junior tennis, it really is a
who's who of players that have goneon to have exceptional careers. But yeah,
his junior career was really quite magnificent. He obviously won the US Open

(03:30):
in singles, and it sort ofparlayed to his early career, which you
would say is the best part ofhis career. And it lined up perfectly
with his run to the Wimbledon finalin two thousand and two. And you
won't find a much more different finalthan the one year previous two thousand and
one. Of course we covered onthis show, and you go from two

(03:52):
thousand and one to two thousand andtwo where the final is between David and
Albanian and Leyton hewittt how times havechanged and how that changed at Wimwedon grasscourt,
tend has died on that day whenthat final was created. I legitimately
had no recollection of this two thousandand two when Wilden final. I knew
Layton who had won it, andbecause he has a couple of slams,

(04:14):
but I could not recall really anythingfrom this match. So I had to
go back and look. But itis jarring. It is jarring how much
everything changed really in a year.Even though you could say that gore On
and Pat Rafter were on their wayout, it was this new baseliner era
and guys who could really physically gotoe to toe with you for seemingly ever.
And I think the da vidnaw Bandyand type was someone who could sling

(04:38):
the ball with just extreme power,but also I thought an extremely smart guy,
like a very smart player that Ithink found angles better than most.
He didn't win that final against Layton, though, and I guess that is
really the closest Kma Bush to capturinga slam. Definitely, Yeah, And
I think it is true that thattournament kind of stands out in a lot
of ways at Wimbooden because they didchange the grass and it did give us

(05:00):
a final that was so different,and I think they kind of recognized they
went too far in a direction thatallowed grinders and heavy hitting baseliners to be
successful at that tournament. And Ido think that plays a part in this
era of when Nalbanian was actually atthe height of his career. And I
know we're going to touch on twothousand and seven at Madrid because the run
that he goes on there is trulyexceptional. But even around that period of

(05:24):
time, so he reaches the finalwomen in two thousand and two, he
does all right. I mean,he makes the semi finals at the French
Open and his two thousand and four, two thousand and five. I remember
this period of time for him verydistinctly because I thought he was an exceptional
player. I really really enjoyed watchinghim. The term enigma gets thrown around,
but like in a lot of wayshe reached the top five in the

(05:46):
world. He was just a really, really damn good player and someone that
really doesn't get spoken about a wholelot. What what bothers me is I
think you could make a very strongcase that he was the most talented of
the guardios or the corps is,like his countrymen or his contemporaries at the
time, like he had the best, the best game, the biggest game,
and he just couldn't put it togetherat the biggest moments, even though

(06:10):
he had his Master's series titles andbeat the top guys. It felt like
it kind of fell apart at thebusiness end of the biggest tournaments, like
it did the French Open against Gaudioin two thousand and four, which is
a tournament he definitely should have won. In hindsight, push remember that final
like that is that is a Slamfor you to have? You like that?
Is it? It's true? Yeah, and looking back at it,
it seems astonishing that rafaion Adel didnot win it. As a fourteen year

(06:34):
old. He was the bull katand the player at the same time winning
the match. They somehow let ithappen. I think they changed the rule,
but it was crazy. One thingI will mention about now, Bandian
is that we talk so much aboutdifferent players and what it takes to really
take that final step to be anall time great, to be a Grand

(06:56):
Slam winner, to be someone whohangs around at the top three levels of
the sport and really is a transcendentlygood player. I would make an argument,
and I know this is going tosound like hyperbole, is that I
think David Abanian is more talented thanNovak Djokovic in terms of his in terms
of his strokes, in terms ofhow he reads the game and everything that
goes into it, but everything elsekind of wasn't there. Nabandi is not

(07:18):
in the greatest of shape. Putit that way. The guy enjoyed his
lifestyle a heck of a lot.He looked a little rotund around the middle
sometimes when you watched him play earlyon in his career, and it certainly
is the case in two thousand andseven when you're watching I Megan, I
was making some notes the other day, the man is born sweating, like

(07:39):
if I think he was walking downa flight of stairs, rip of sweat.
I needed to go into the farmresolve in act to figure out how
hard it was in Madrid at thistime, because the level of perspiration instantly
from the first time the ball wasstruck in any of these matches was shocking,
and they've been alarming, to behonest, but that was a Naberdian

(07:59):
way that in his hair was soakingwet all the time, which I honestly,
he reminded me of like a workinga working class wrestler who's like really
reliable to put on a good show, but you're like, what is what
is going on? Really nail onthe head with the wrestling comparison, because
I thought his hairstyle looked very similarto like PlayStation two era wet SmackDown professional

(08:22):
wrestler. Yeah, exactly it,I guess before we get into the Midtro
tournament itself two thousand and seven asa whole, we mentioned now Banning as
a guy has firmly in that conversationof the top twenty or so players,
But this is still Roger Federer's rain. He wins eight titles in two thousand
and seven tournament finals twelve he makesstill the top dog. But this is

(08:46):
definitely a moment, I think Bushwhere things begin to shift and it's no
longer Roger running around and just bludgetingpeople for fun except for clay. Like
this is now when Novak Djokovic,which is the most improved player of the
year, raf Nadal is firmly thesecond best player in the world, and
eventually we would obviously see what washe come for that? But like the

(09:07):
guys that were chasing Roger, youfound out really who was up for it.
In two thousand and seven, Ithought, Yeah, a good year
for tennis. I would say overall, if you were going to pick one
out of the decade, this isa good one to go back and watch
some really really excellent matches. Onetwo, three is Federer Nadal Jokovic,
and I think they are in thatorder at this period in time. I
don't think there's any denying that,really that Federer still is the man at

(09:31):
this period of time. He isstill in that very semi pretentious sort of
regal Federer era where he's walking onto court acting like he's, you know,
a monarch and you know, gentlygiving the slow cup waves. Extremely
pissed off when he lost Matrid,and we'll get to that, but I've
never seen him looking he's like,get out of here. When he shook

(09:52):
hands on them, those freeze.I don't lose. I don't lose to
people. Let's know what happens.You noted tombos that Rogers gear at this
tournament was the best that he had, and I think it's because for some
reason two thousand and seven, itwas like the everyone on tour had to
have a pattern on their shirt,Like you were not allowed to come on

(10:13):
to court without a pattern shirt andlike have like four different colors going at
once, except for Roger, likehe was the only guy with like a
true color combination. Everyone else hadthe most ridiculous patterns, which seemed to
be tour mandated because they all hadthem. Well, I say that it's
it's a good outfit, Efedera.I mean, I think you're probably right
in the sense that compared to theseother guys, compared to these other guys,

(10:37):
like, it's just a shirt,it's just a thing you get,
Like I don't know what, Idon't know what the mandate was for,
Like Yarko Nemans coming out with afive color matching T shirt short combo,
like why why are we doing this? I think we do proplytize the two
thousands a little bit too much.To be honest, there was some bad
fashion in this era, very verybad fashion. And it's it's around sort

(10:58):
of your lost is on television,Your Matthew Foxes is your heart throb around
this period of time. And ifyou look back at some of the ways
that Matthew Fox is wearing in thisperiod of time, it's pretty damn awful,
that has to be said. It'spretty pretty fall Wow, it's such
a targeted attack on Matthew Fox.I don't I'm sorry, I don't want
to dig too deep to uncover thereal reason to your animosity. But thirteen

(11:22):
years ago, it was a longtime. It was a very long time
ago, and just just another reasonto I guess endlessly fawn over the Big
Three and their longevity. The otherguys in the top twenty at the end
of two thousand and seven, it'sfed Nadal Joker, number four Bush.
Can you guess, Oh, that'sa really good question. If I had
to take a stab, maybe DavidEnco Maybe, no, you got it,

(11:46):
Dabby Denko, Dabby trierra Is five, Andy Roddick six, Fernando Gonzalez
seven, Gascae eight, Now Banionnine, Robrato ten, Andy Murray twelve
of those guys, obviously, theBig three is still playing. Shouts three
Shard Gas because he's still out thereas well. Andy's trying. But these
cats are all still there. Therest of these guys are legitimately tour directors,

(12:07):
are coaches, Tommy has James Blake, Carlos Mooyer, Lubachic Husney,
They are literally men coaching now whilethese guys are still playing. That is
absolutely insane, And I think thatis the greatest respect that we can play
to these three dudes, is youlook at their peers and look who's around
them and what they're doing. It'sastonishing, really and that's the best I

(12:30):
can say for it. When theperson who is your direct competition as a
junior in the case of some ofthe Big Three, is now a rally
driver in a different sport, youknow you've probably had a prolonged and good
career. And as much as Novak'sdad's comment about how it's a bit ridiculous
that Roger is playing and like hewants to be playing till he's forty because

(12:50):
he's obsessed, I'm like, yeah, he is obsessed. Like no,
yeah, that's it, man,Like that is that obsession with winning is
why these guys are at where they'reat. Like, you should know this,
Your son is exactly the same.Can you imagine being so good at
something that you've been doing stop for? Why would you stop thirty years?
Yeah, exactly thirty years you've beendoing it for. You're forty years old

(13:11):
or close to forty, and you'restill arguably the second best player in the
world. That's astonishing. That isabsolutely incredible. And again that convince yourself
to stop in that position if it'snot tenant or something else, it's a
tough ask. So just again anothershouts to the Big three for being them,
but This episode isn't about them,It's about the guy that took them
all out at the same tournament.The only time that has ever happened,

(13:35):
I dare say, the only timethat it'll ever happen. After the break,
it's David now Bandian's ridiculous Madrid Miracle. Welcome back to the Open Air

(13:58):
Podcast. Simon. We are inMadrid. It's two thousand and seven.
The mood it's tense. I thinkit's tense because a Madrid is a completely
different tournament in two thousand and seven. It's a hardcourt and it might be
the best damn hardcore we've ever seenever. Dude, we are We are
so ready for a Madrid Open episodeat some point, just given the politics

(14:20):
and everything involved in this tournament.And we could touch upon the fact that
in twenty twelve, yes, wedid have blue clay at this tournament,
which is still the single handling handedlythe best thing that's happened to tennis,
and I'm sad that it's not thereat all, but I should touch on
something. Madrid is a really bigtournament in Europe and it's a massive tournament
for the swing of the tennis tourat that period. Of time, because

(14:41):
if you look at the winners ofthis tournament since two thousand and two,
there's only been a few winners.Agasie Ferrero, Saffren, Nadal Federer,
Nalbandian, Murray. That's it.It's very one in twenty eighteen, but
he doesn't count because he's canceled.But everyone else that's a massive list.
That's an enormous list in two thousandand two and shows the quality of the
field of this tournament. I wentto the Madrid Open a few years ago

(15:03):
when I was in Spain for work, and easily the coolest tennis related sporting
sporting experience I ever had. Igot to see see American Steve Johnson just
get destroyed on clay and really absorbthat and you're like, what are you
doing out here? Doc, Likethis ain't for you. So that was
fun and the experience was different.And I've been to tournaments in North America

(15:26):
and I feel like that European clichelike people care slightly, yes, was
definitely true at that tournament. Butit was clay then it was totally different,
like the Gaja Magica, like thecenter court. With the clay,
you really get like an intimate feel. I feel like on TV at least
Bush two thousand and seven, thishard court feels a bit cold, but
realistically it's probably the fastest hard courtthat we might have ever seen, and

(15:50):
I think it produced then some excellentconditions for a guy like Albanian who can
hit just the absolute piss out ofthe ball, as we say, totally
yeah, And I think it servedhim really well because in a lot of
ways, David Obandian and Roger Federare quite similar. And I know that
sounds weird, and it sounds weirdin terms of when you think about them
aesthetically, just you see sort ofthis squat looking Argentinian with the long swings

(16:15):
in both backhand and forehand against thesort of regal looking, you know,
single hander. But they both stayvery very close to the baseline. They
stay glue to the baseline. Theywant to control the rally and the point,
and they're both very very aggressive andthey try and burn with a one
two punch, And realistically this isa perfect setup. It is a perfect
setup and court for David Nobandian toplay on because all he has to do

(16:38):
is read the game really well,which he's exceptional at stand on the baseline
and hit the producers out of theball. And when the courts that quickly,
you get full value for your shots. I love this court. I
love watching this tennis and I wasa huge fan of watching his entire run
here. The run is exceptional.We mentioned who he beat, but it
was no Kekewark to get to thequarterfinals, all right, our Clement Thomas,

(17:00):
British Swan Martin del Potrow as awild card dispatched in the third round.
Then it's rapah. They had neverplayed coming to this match Bush,
which I thought was evident. Ithink it's very evident. And I mentioned
the sweat. I don't know,I'm gonna sound weird because I constantly talk
about this, but he is avery very sweaty man, and these are

(17:22):
two very sweaty individuals. And Iknow it's Madrid, and I know it's
the time of year, but ifyou watch this highlights package, it is
like a it's a it's a monumentto you know that that shelving section of
your like Indigo or your chapters,whether it's like the Mummy Pawn section where
you have like a sweaty man onthe cover, that's basically what this match

(17:45):
is. I don't know how redlike how that analogy like, did you
think that that analogy was going toresonate strongly with a lot of people,
because I'm not I don't I'm notaware of that section an indigo, but
I know what you're saying kind of, and I'll keep going with you here.
The other thing is like Navanian's unseatedand Rafa is like the kid,
like the new kid on the block. But everyone loves them. The crowd

(18:07):
loves them, the crowds them becausethey're in Spain, but also has his
idea of you're watching one of thegreats in action and he's still basically a
teenager, which leads to a veryawkward situation because we're not exaggerating when we
say this now, Bannian kicked thecrap at a Rafa seventy one minutes,
six one six' two an absolutemasterclass, and you can hear it at

(18:27):
the end of the match. Thecrowd is absolutely stunned he's done it,
and it's met at best by mutedup walls because the fans are being stunned

(18:48):
into silence by the performance this afternoonof the former world number three obviously it's
a different rafa. He's still akid, plenty of room to grow as
he did. But I still verycharring to see anyone dispatched Nadal like that.
I don't care how young he was. Remember were talking a few weeks
about a week ago about how whenNadal loses, he still plays all right.

(19:11):
He still has a very decent level, and he almost never lets his
level down to a point that hejust outright tanks a match, same as
true in dispatch is fine, helooks all right, he's not like he's
not playing his best at all.But now Baly just hits it past him.
As simple as that. When youhave a court that's this quick,
and you have a guy who wasseeing the ball like a football and is

(19:34):
on top of you, and nothingyou can do. You're not getting him
out of a rhythm, you're notgetting it out of a sweet spot.
He's just standing there and delivering.And this is probably a good time to
mention the racket of David Albandyan.I know I'm a mystickler for this stuff,
but I do think it's very interesting. His racket is so heavy and

(19:55):
so stiff, and the balance pointon it is so like head heavy that
I don't think I could swing it. I genuinely think if I got one
of his actual rackets and tried tohit it on a tennis court, it
might break my entire arm. Like, it's not an exaggeration to just like
suggest that an average person or likesomeone walking it off the street and picking
up this racket could not use iton a court to like hit playable shots.

(20:21):
That is how of a random machinethat David now Bandian uses, right,
Like, this isn't something you canpick up off the rack anywhere.
I feel like, well, let'ssay an average average swing weight overall for
a racket is about three hundred tothree hundred and fifteen grams. So that's
the weight that's coming through when you'restriking the ball so full swing, and

(20:42):
the weight that the ball will hitthe ball at now banions is about three
hundred and eighty. Now that isjust imagine how much weight is coming from
behind the ball when it's being struck. And it's no wonder he's able to
hit these winners. It's just ridiculousthe amount of power that he's able to
go trol it with. You haveto have exceptional technique and you have to

(21:03):
basically be superhuman. You have tohave been raised since two years old to
hit a perfect tennis ball in orderto be able to swing this thing.
And I could sit and watch himhit backands all day when he's playing against
Rafa here, it's just gorgeous.It's so beautiful. He hit some shots
behind Rafa and rallies that just jawdrafting, because again, like it's really

(21:23):
hard to put doll in that situationpositionally, and he did it repeatedly.
He made Rafa look very uncomfortable,and especially a net where a doll has
come a long way, but helooked very bad there. It was a
shocking result in I think Delbanian admittedhe's like, you know, everything went
right, this is this is justmy day. I think Raffa wasn't at
his best, but a long roadahead because up next is the most improved

(21:48):
player in two thousand and seven,the guy that so much was expected of,
the guy that you know what,he's dominating in twenty twenty, some
thirteen years later. It's no thatjoke. Sporting an absolutely the hideous outfit,
one of the most offensive shirt choicesI've seen in some times, and
I know this podcast is global andthe tennis world is global, but I

(22:11):
always enjoy bringing some British humor andBritish sayings to this podcast. One that
comes to mind for this is thestate of this the state of the outfit,
and I think that's probably true forthis. It's it's a shock.
It's a real, real guy.This guy had twenty minutes to get to
the airport and he's like, youknow what, I just throw something in

(22:33):
my bag. Maybe maybe it's atraining gear, maybe the sponsor sends it
over accidentally. It doesn't matter.I'll use it. And he rocked out
with this on the court. Youknow, two thousand and seven Novak,
he's it's very much the understudy tothe other guys. Even though I think
the age is very close. We'recloser with Rafa, but he still like
that guy who has some health problems. Every now and then. You don't
know which Novack you're gonna get.I mean, he he's accomplished a pretty

(22:56):
amazing things already two thousand and seven. He was excellent in Canada. But
the book not out on Novak.People are not totally sure. And I
think this match against Albanian in thesemi final. Novak's fitness level, his
health level, it's in question justa bit, and Deevin Albandian is absolutely
firing once again in all cylinders.I think it's interesting that you touch upon

(23:17):
the overall physical nature of what Djokovicis like at this period of time,
and I mentioned as nal Bandian hisoverall fitness around this period of time.
He watched the handshake between Nalbandian andNadal doesn't get set often enough. We
talk about Nadal with the big musclesand everything that was an enormous human being
for a professional athlete and as atennis player. He's nearly six to two

(23:37):
and he towers an Albandian at thenet. It looks like a child Nadal's
standing next to when he gives givesthe handshake. And I think it's true
here as well, because we're talkingabout Djokovic. I talk about the baggy
clothing and I think it's probably truehere right as well. Like he's awful,
he's skinny, he's pretty skinny.Yeah, he's young, he's not

(23:59):
built into a frame. And I'mnot excusing the closing company because I think
you've got to work with you,dude here right, you got to you
got to give him a break.You know, you can't send him out
there, give him a lifeline forgoodness sake, at least a couple of
options, right, Like, yougot to have a plan B, a
Plan C, possibly a Plan Din this case, because I don't know,
I don't know what was going onhere, but I don't think this

(24:19):
shirt was the most offensive moment ofthis semi final. I think it was
Debbie Albanian just you know, howcan you beat someone up without hitting them?
I think it's a it's a euphemism, but he really beat up Novak,
and he's a bigger guy's a fitterguy, a fitter guy. In
this situation, Novak didn't look right. The commentators makes several allusions to it.

(24:42):
He does have a bad rap,he's got a bad reputation. At
this point, Novac does about hislike body and his fitness. And it's
a straight sets win for Dad eatingAlbandian. He's beat two of the top
three players in the world. It'sanother upset and again the crowd is like,
what the hell just happened? He'syeah, that's about the world class

(25:08):
wins for the Argentine no question aboutthe fact that Djokovic was really struggling today
in terms of the energy levers,but Albandian was able to take advantage of
it, just as it did yesterdayagainst Rafael Nadal, who played tolly.
Albandian could very much end up numberone at the end of the week,

(25:32):
at least as far as this tournament'sconcerned. Comment here is just completely like,
you know, Ratho was horseshit.He was terrible, But I mean,
good for him, Good for Nabandion. I guess, yeah, good
for him. Like oh no,Bava should be ashamed. He came out
there. I mean, I guessthat's a win for Vitingbandian cool like it
was just so nonchalantly like all right, yeah, he just he just beat

(25:52):
two of the top guys in theworld. A couple of points on this.
First of all, Novak Djokovic aperiod of a time he's gonna want
to forget because it's very, veryclose to Tony Wonder in the beard like
mustache sort of combination Tony Wonder fromArrested Development. It's a it's a poor
look. He probably he is probablygonna want to have this one back.

(26:14):
I would say, we've all hadperiods of time where we've had facial hair
that we regret immensely, and Ithink this is probably going to be one
for Djokovic as well. We've allbeen there, women nineteen twenty years old.
We've tried a little bit too hardwith the facial hair, except usually
we're not watched by a couple ofmillion people when we're playing his professional athletes.
I just then, like, culturallyat this time, like, what's

(26:36):
the like you have Avril Lavine's singinghits Plain White Tea's Sean Kingston, Like
it's a really dark time pop culturallya few like for number one singles.
But well you say that, Devang, but you have very easily read those
off, which has to be frommemory. There's no way. Yeah,
I feel like you're hiding something intie. Of the many useless things I've memorized,

(26:59):
it is the Billboard one hundred fromtwo thousand and seven, which includes
also Umbrella Brianna still in it stillgoes. It's another shock, it's another
what just happened moment? Now abandia Now I think you know this is
it's hidden now He's like, Okay, can I do this quote? This
is very important? Win for me, I haven't had a good year.

(27:21):
Quote. I had some physical problemsthis year, but I've been working hard
regaining confidence and today I got thereward on the court. It was a
weird year because he mentions that hewasn't right. David and Albanias started at
eight eight in the world and heended at nine. But in between it
was extremely rocky. Like he mentioned, who was he was a bit all
over the place, and I thinkthat's true of his entire career from those

(27:42):
points in two thousand and fort twothousand. Really you would argue from the
point that he won in the Worldto finals against Federer in two thousand and
five, in that famous match whereI believe Federer was actually playing with a
walking stick by the end of thefinal, it was a bit all over
the place, wasn't it? AndI think he did struggle a lot.
I think no Onion definitely struggled withmaintaining motivation, maintaining fitness, and when

(28:06):
you had three players as extraordinary aswe have had over the last decade and
a half, the level required isvery, very high, and you would
make the case that he lacked alittle bit of professionalism. Sometimes he was
still a very hard worker, ofcourse, but what was required to be
the third best player in the worldwas to be Novakdokovich in that period of
time, which is saying something ofimmense the immense caliber of player that was

(28:33):
around then. And I do thinkit's funny if you watch the pair of
them play, you watched Dokovic noup, now Bandian play. Now.
Bandian is just Djokovic in twenty twenty. Really on a hard court at this
period of time, He's just acomplete command of the ball, grinding on
the baseline with immense power, hismovements astonishing. Djokovic is very, very
erratic in this match, much moreerratic than we're used to seeing him.

(28:56):
And I think that's one of thethings that we don't least give enough credit
for, is how unbelievably solid theSerb is now in just all faster of
his game. And there was periodsof time around this when he's three in
the world, when he's four inthe world and he's still young, where
he's just one factor of his gameis just always a little off. There's
always something with this kid around thisperiod of time, either it's the serve

(29:19):
or it's the second serve, orhe's slapping a forehand into the net,
or it's you know, the water'snot positively charged enough, or there's too
much bread around. You know.The list goes on and on, and
I think there's that famous QUI clipof Rodick talking where he goes in the
long list of ailments that Djokovic has, and I think that was the period

(29:40):
of time where really no one reallyliked him. I guess that really hasn't
changed a lot in a lot ofways, has it. It goes to
two thousand and seven Australia Open,so it was this year when that went
down. It was a big deal. You know. I think Novak just
took a lot more risks back then, too, miscalculated because he was trying
to end points a lot earlier becausehe is physically he just couldn't do it

(30:03):
and he wasn't there And that wasacknowledged by him and clearly something he's worked
on very well because he is wherehe is now. But you're right,
he was persona negrada in some waysand a lot of that hasn't changed.
I think again, every time wetalk about Novak, there's a lot in
his favor in terms of the boogenessand stuffiness is straight up bigotry that is

(30:23):
prevalent in the tennis rold against outsiders, the people who are not from the
same areas and stuff like that.That's definitely something that Novak and his family
faced, and I think he werestill facing that big time when he was
a kid or younger. In twothousand and seven, so that was the
semi final. It's Roger Federer inthe final. It's Roger in a very
clean Nike outfoot bush. But you'reright, this is like Roger. Roger's

(30:45):
beginning to think about changing the constitutionto make himself permanent king. He's like,
can I just is shee elections?We don't need any more challenges.
I am the guy, like Ican't be the guy. It's interesting watching
him hair, isn't it, becauseyou tend to forget seeing him with the
full head of hair, the fulllike fully pan ten model sort of look

(31:08):
dressed very cleanly, very nice Nikeoutfit, looks like a million dollars walking
onto court, acts like it.In a lot of ways. You could
see why some people didn't like himat this period of time. I think
if you were in the camp andyou fully were on board with watching this
dude, you would think, Okay, this is the best person in the
world. I fully admit I wasin that camp. I was fully wearing

(31:30):
the federal hat at this point.But you could see how he would be
grating to people who didn't like himat this period of time. Very very
arrogant on court, a lot ofswagger, a lot of strutting around and
quite frankly, kind of deserved givenhow good he was at this period of
time. Well, I mean,he's hitting shots that deserves strutting afterwards.
Like there's a racket work that Idon't I don't think it's ever been seen,
and it's shot like the first set, he comes out and is absolutely

(31:52):
laying wasst and it feels like theprocession is on. It's six to one,
it's smooth sailing. I think thecrowd is comforted by this return to
normalcy, like we've had David nowBandion destroy potential blockbuster matchups down the road
because he was playing out of hisskull. But Roger was amazing in the
first set. And yet somehow Ithink that of the many incredible things now

(32:15):
Vanion was able to do in matriate, I think that the ability to somehow
come back now against Roger, againstRoger in two thousand and seven, who
is the best player in the world, without question, There's no doubt Choker,
It's David now Banyon coming back inthe second set to take it six
' three and Bush there's a momentearly in the third set where he breaks.

(32:36):
I think it was that one toone where you'd never really see Roger
shook in like the five to sevenera, like it's very rare. He
did lose some matches, of course, but I got his real sense of
oh what like how And I thinkyou heard it from after the match where
it's like that real realization is kickingin. This guy might just be on
a heater. Certainly, absolutely,And I think there is also a certain

(33:00):
part of this as well, thatthat Navanya is a terrible matchup for Federer,
like Narbandian at full flight on thesurface is an awful, awful matchup.
And I think this is how Djokovichas been so successful in lasser career
against Federer as well, which isVedder is great in the first set and
everything that he does works really hard, but Narvanian is not taking a step

(33:22):
back. He will not move offthe baseline. He stands and tries to
trade blows with him. And Ithink Federer tries to bully players so much
that when someone does it back tohim as well, and as timing the
ball as well as narbanianers, andI woule to read where Federer shots are
because you know they've been playing sincethey're six years old on the tour.
It's a really really bad position forFederer to be in. And when that

(33:45):
period of time that you're talking about, in the third set, he knows
he's in a fight. He knowshe's playing against a guy who is playing
as well as him, if notbetter, and feder is playing really,
really well and it's not working.And I can't think of how many times
that would have been the case duringthis period at a time where you're the
number one player in the world,everything you usually do works, it's worked

(34:05):
in the first set, and yetthe other guy is actually better than you.
I mean, just a lot ofpeople didn't believe they were better than
Federer, Like a lot of peoplejust straight up went away after losing the
first set, and just that lackof belief, and you're right now,
Banian had no problem in that regard. He maintained the lead in the third
set and held out the champion inMadrid two thousand and seven. It's Davvin

(34:28):
Albanian with I mean you got tohear it from the announcers themselves. It's
it's remarkable and there it is.Yeah, now Banian's first ever Master serious
title, and what a way towin it over Roger Federer. He dropped

(34:50):
the opening set in breathtakingly quick time, but he hit back, not kidding
that first set was so quick itis shocking if you were not aware of
what happened afterwards, and he wentaway and did not check the score until
many hours later. If you hadlooked back and saw that Roger lost that
match, I think you'd be incredulous, and rightfully so. That's how magic
this week was for Davi, nowBandy and Bush, the third player after

(35:14):
Boris Becker and Novak himself to defeatthe world's top three players in a single
tournament. I mean, we love, we love hyper hyperblely on the show.
We love to wax spoetic about thepast, possibly because we've been forced
to the last few months. ButI honestly this will never happen again.
These guys are getting old now aswell, so it's impossible probably that they'll

(35:37):
be in the same tournament long enoughto make it happen, and all these
other factors, but just the wayit all worked out, the way the
tournament was set up, We're nevergoing to see this again. No,
I'm completely beating them on merit aswell. You wouldn't say any of them
played particularly badly. I mean,Djokovic was struggling a little bit, you
would argue, but I mean hewas struggling with everything in two thousand and
seven. The match I would encourageeveryone to of course, the Federal final

(36:00):
is one because of the level oftalent of both players and the period of
time that it's federal. But theNadal one is really astonishing to watch.
You want to know how good thelevel that Nolbandian got to in this tournament,
and just given the surface and howwell he was seeing the ball,
he makes Nad all like a child, He makes an at like a junior
player, and this is Rafa Nadal. It's really one of the most incredible

(36:22):
runs you'll ever see. And I'mrun of the most remarkable tournaments I think
I can ever remember in my life? Well talk post tournament and what happened
to mister now Banian after the break. Welcome back, Wrapping up another episode

(36:47):
of the open air podcast David nowBandian's remarkable Madrid Open in two thousand and
seven. Bushi also made the doublesemi finals on this tournament with Giero Kanyes
before losing to the Brian Bros.I noticed in your notes you have some
suspensions here. Well. Jiemo Kanysin two thousand and seven also beat Roger

(37:12):
Fotter twice. He beat him IndianWells and he bet him in Miami.
It's off the back of Jama Kanye'sbeing banned for doping. Good friends between
these two obviously doubles partners. Kanyehas has some history with some let's say,
favorable narcotics. I'm not saying anythingis here, but it wouldn't surprise

(37:36):
me and I don't want to purguremyself on this podcast, but do you
think there is something slightly suspicious aboutthis run here? I don't like how
you set me up to persure myselffaster. I don't like how this setup
was. Like, I don't knowwhat I think, but today, why
don't you put something on the recordfor various injuries see Kanye Kanye's was booked
and then came back correct like hewas now reinstated or is this pre hisnsion

(38:00):
now this is posted spent. Hewas posted suspended in two thousand and six.
I believe this is I believe hebeat Federer and Indian Welles. It
might have been his first tournament back. I want to say, I think
that was the storyline. What's what'swild is that fed beat Kanyas at the
Madrid Open in the same tournament inthe third round. I mean, these
guys are just going around the worldtogether, so it's not that we're like,

(38:21):
whoa, they played each other andit's like, no, there's it's
a professional tour that's traveling all thesame places. There was not a conspiracy
here, though. It is aninteresting note question. I'll I'll let you
keep your tin four hat for onemore week. But for now, BENNI
himself twenty five to eighteen in thetour rankings. He's a huge one for
him because, like we said,he doesn't seven. It was not a

(38:42):
good year for him turns in consistency, he was all over the map,
really but it was definitely the highpoint. Plays at the twenty seven Paris
Masters where he beats Roger again,this time in the third round, Farrera
in the quarterfinals, Gascade in thesemifinals, and then he wins his second
Masters Series title two thousand and seven. I mean, this is probably the
peak bush. He doesn't get aSlam, but he gets to two of

(39:05):
the biggest titles in his career,the biggest ones I guess you could say,
I guess, no, the Master'stitle, the ATP Cup. Yeah,
yeah, I mean the ATP Cupcertainly probably the most prestigious out of
that bunch. But in terms ofoverall runs and the players that he beats
and overall standard of tennis that hegets to, I think it's it's not
arguable that it's not this period oftime in his life. I mentioned that

(39:25):
match between Nadal and Albandian in Madrid. The Paris one equally as much of
a beatdown six four, even moreso. Yeah, how often have you
seen Nadal baygad And it's actually very, very sort of sad in some ways
to watch him just being mowed downin this final. It's another one that

(39:45):
I do suggest going back and watchingthe highlights for because the level that Nalbandian
is on at that period of time, if he could have sustained that level
for a year, for a calendaryear, I mean he would have been
right. He would have been oneoh one denying it like he's just he's
head and shoulders about everyone else he'splaying at this period of time. That
win in Paris got now Bandon backinto the top ten at number nine,

(40:08):
where he finished the year, andafter Paris he became the first player to
defeat the number one and two playersin consecutive tournaments and then win the tournament.
So weird stat It's definitely one thatfeels cherry picked, and that's because
it was. It's it's a career, you know. I Hey, like,
we love watching this guy play,I think collectively. Bush among the

(40:34):
first things we said to each otherwhen we talked about tennis when we met
was our mutual admiration for Debbie Abandon. And it's easy to see why.
Like I think it's high risk,it's it's exceptional hitting. He makes some
mistakes, but he's going for smartthings and he's a smart player, and
I think that combination of tactical smartsalongside brilliant ball striking, like how can

(40:55):
you not love that totally? AndI think there's a There's a thing that
I always look for and I alwaystry and get a sense of in interviews
is the way that players talk areout about other players. And I think
so often in the sporting world wevery rarely get a glimpse into how people
actually feel about other players, abouthow like the best truly see the competition

(41:16):
and the people that they are upagainst. And I think that the point
that I make about in our Bandianis do you hear the way that players
talk through all of the pr andthrough all of the double speak and all
the things that go out there,there is a longing and an ambition for
him to achieve greatest success. AndI think if you hear the way that

(41:37):
the players talked about him, itis from a position of this guy's really,
really damn good. It is thesame way that you hear the way
that Federer and Nadal talk about Curiosas well. And why you see so
many tennis fans getting frustrated at someonelike Nickkirios in terms of his tennis ability
is when like the two best playersin the world and possibly two the best

(41:57):
players of all time are talking aboutthis dude as being Wow, this guy's
really good. This guy's really reallygenuinely good. You sort of get you
sort of get an insight into howtalented someone is. And I think the
same point could be made about nowBandian is the way that Federer talked about
him, specifically saying that he readsthe game unbelievably and his bull striking is
so crisp that it's just a marvelthat he didn't have more success than he

(42:22):
did. Ended in twenty thirteen.It didn't end on super positive note.
There is an incident the Queen's Clubus disqualified after kicking it out and hitting
a lines person really awful around bushwas bad, bad. It sucked the
famous image, of course of thelines person with blood dripping out of their
forehead. It's not a good scene, especially with a white clothing and you

(42:45):
know everything else going on at atQueen's Club, and so many strawberries were
spat out in shock and disgusted atthis whole thing, and monocles were dropped
and everything was going wrong. It'snot a good situation. Mock it and
say that it's funny because it's queen'sclub and it's all hoity toity, but
yeah, bad situation. Due didn'tcover himself in a whole lot of the

(43:07):
glory and had a few run insthat he didn't act like a particularly nice
person, should we say, ontour and on court. The back off
of his career nothing to write homeabout, it has to be said.
Never got to the heights again intwo thousand and seven, and really it
is this flash in the pan andit is really that that period of time

(43:28):
where he realized the potential, herealized everything that he could do and could
achieve, and what it resulted inhim was pretty spectacular, but it was
very fleeting and pretty ephemeral. Thatit is a queen's Club, was broadcast
Nashal or the BBC as well,so he's a bit of a prior and
got spanked at Wimbledon by Tipsarevich.Tasarrevich beat him again at the London Olympics
in twenty twelve. He withdraw ushim the twenty twelve US Open with the

(43:52):
strained muscle in his chest and thenDavis Cup is basically it. In twenty
thirteen October first, twenty thirteen meannow Bandian announce his retirement and Bush,
I think you mentioned it, gotinto rally car driving mostly he races in
Argentine's specification Chevrolet agill Agile. Idon't know. Wow, it's a car.

(44:15):
Okay, Okay, this is goingon the edge of my seat here.
Please ap. Apparently it is acircuit where you can only run this
type of Chevy that is only madein Brazil and Argentina. Okay, Well,
that is random and interesting, andI hope he's having fun with things.
But it leads me to the finalquestion. Bush, the best player

(44:36):
to never win a Grand Slam?Is it? Now? Bandian? I
mean, it's such a wide question, isn't it. It's such a difficult
one to answer given what do youbase that off? Do you base that
off position in the world, Becauseyou would argue that someone like Marcelo or
Rios was a world number one whonever achieved that potential. You could argue

(44:57):
someone like Carlos Moya be in thatcategoria as well. Wait a minute,
am I am I perjuring myself onon a radio. Well, I didn't
want a Grand Slam? Right?He did completely correct that, I believe
he did. No, Sure,right, I'm editing this part out like
save Me Carlos Moya won the FrenchOpen he did, but dispand open Era

(45:22):
disband this show. We yah,we flew too close to the Sun nineteen
ninety eight Bush But anyways continue.I think I think what I think we're
getting at is that really like I'mlooking at a couple of lists on the
ATB side like you got like forme, Daddy Denko might be the fairer
show because I think you just didit for like David Frere and David Denko,

(45:42):
I feel like put in enough workwhere they deserve that kind of payout
where I don't know if Dad Ireally put it in. I'm not having
this. I'm just this. Youdo understand it. You know you're not
You're not having the show like theparticipation in metal version of a Grand Slam,
where just because you hung around longenough you deserve a Grand Slam.
You're not having that. I'm nothaving that at all in what possible capacity.

(46:07):
Given the players that have never wona Grand Slam, is Nikolai Davidenko
the best of all of them.Davideko is like solid good top ten player
who I'm aware I got to topfive in the world. Do you think
there was ever a period of timewhere you thought that Nikolai Davidenko was gonna
win a Grand Slam given who hiscompetition was. Push The problem is a

(46:27):
lot of guys have one Grand Slam. So, like, there's this list
that I'm mentioning, like Robin Soderlingis on this list, I'm looking at
Miroslav Mercer, Todd Martin, likeI a lot of guys in Marcelo Rios,
I think you want to talk aboutpure talent Rios and flaming out spectacularly,
like Marcel Rios solution in the case, because he definitely had everything you

(46:50):
needed. But I you know,what this goes to show is that I
think he is definitely in the conversationbecause it's a weird list of guys who
were good but like should have Maybeit's right they never got a Grand Slam.
Maybe that's justice that they didn't getit. Yeah, I think I
think he's right up there. He'scertainly within what a list that you don't
want to be in, but he'scertainly in the top three of players that

(47:12):
had never won a Grand Slam.I would argue out of pure talent alone,
I don't know how many players inthe world could have done what he
did during that two week period againstthe caliber of players that he was playing
against. I don't I out ofthat list, I would struggle to say
that any of them could have puttogether that many quality matches against quality opposition

(47:34):
and quite frankly blowing them off thecourt. I don't think that Robin Sodling
is beating Roger Feeder twice within twoweeks and Rafa Nadal twice in two weeks.
I just don't think he's doing it, regardless of the court that he's
on, regardless of how quick thesurfaces and everything working in his favor.
I don't think that Nikolaide Evidenko's doingit. I think only David Abanyan was

(47:55):
capable of doing it at that periodof time. Well, if we have
any angel investor who can kind ofset up some sort of time travel based
Davy Danko now Bandian final, thenwe'll settle this. But it's a fair
shout. I don't know. Ithe Queen's clut thing really did kind of
end things on a terrible note interms of like my my personal fondness for

(48:15):
now Bandian. This definitely helped things. I mean, you look back at
this, boy, isn't it niceto see some guys bully the Big three
and really not wilt and not givea damn that the Big Three. Obviously,
the contexts were different. Nobody knewthat these are three goats, literally
back to back to back. ButI don't know. It's we talked about
to her strength and parody and whenwas it better and what was the best

(48:37):
era? But these these journeyman grinderswho are really really good kind of missed
them. And I think he hasthe perfect game that if if you were
looking for a player to be constructedin a lab to beat these three dudes,
it is someone who is a cleanbullstriker who can hug the baseline,
absorb pace and give it back tothem, not be overall by the movement

(49:00):
and the variety, but just outrightbeat them at their own game. Even
though they have different game styles.He pretty much stayed doing exactly the same
thing that he always did, andhe was just better at it than all
three of them during this tournament andthe following week. I think there's probably
something in this, And I knowit's a strange thing to say, but

(49:21):
I would I would give some adviceto someone like Felix Ogi Alisim. Watch
these watch these highlights, Watch howhe sticks to the baseline and bullies people
around, and do more of that. Don't be nine feet behind the baseline,
because they'll just control it and takeit away from you. And if
you're talented enough to do it andnot go overpowered, and you can read
the game well enough and have theagility, then why wouldn't you do it?

(49:44):
And I think he is a playerthat would really benefit from watching some
of Nalbandian's old tape that was thetwo thousand and seven Madrid Open to Albanian
doing the unthinkable bush anything we've missed, So you want to touch on I
think so. I think we hada good dive into Madrid. I will
mention that we touched upon blue clayjust briefly. And I would encourage you,

(50:07):
ever when to go back and lookat the history of the Madrid Open.
It is great. There's a lotof great stuff within Ever since two
thousand and two, different owners,some bankruptcy, three changes of surface,
billionaires being involved, the cream ofthe crop in terms of players who have
been attracted to that tournament and winningit and its place in the calendar as

(50:29):
well. We don't often talk abouttournaments as a thing. We always talk
about players, but as an entity, it's a pretty fun tournament to do
some research into as well. Infed when that blue clay Madrid tournament,
because it was basically a hardcourt inthe middle of it was I love that.
I love that. I love howmad everyone was like, what the
hell is this blue monstrosity and theyliterally changed it right after. That's the

(50:54):
solution, by the way, ofhow you make the US Open good.
I'm Siriah y Usta hit us upopen Era. We love you really invite
us to all the events, butthe US Open should be on blue clay.
I'm sticking to that. I'm reallyshould be the bombshell to end it.
I love it. We are onPatreon, Patreon, dot com,
forward slash open Era. Three dollarsa month goes to helping the pod and

(51:17):
helps us keep doing what we're doing. It's much appreciated. We're also on
Twitter at open Era pod shoot usquestion suggestions, anything like that, and
that is it. Thanks for listeningas always, and we'll talk to you
next week.