MANCHESTER UNITED caretaker boss Ruud van Nistelrooy made his name banging goals in for the Red Devils between 2001 and 2006.
The Dutchman, 48, scored 150 times in 219 outings under Sir Alex Ferguson’s guidance.
While Van Nistelrooy proved to be the far greater United forward, his team-mate Diego Forlan had his number on the tennis court.
During a pre-season trip to Portland in 2003, the pair faced off at Nike HQ.
While Van Nistelrooy was by no means a bad tennis player, Forlan had impressive pedigree in the sport having played as a child.
Ever the wily figure, Ferguson knew of the Uruguayan’s prowess, and is even claimed to have bet on him to beat United’s current caretaker boss.
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The Scot would not be disappointed, with Forlan recalling in a chat with ATP Media: “We played a tie-break.
“It was only me serving, so there were some double faults, giving some points to him. But I managed to win.”
Forlan will hope for a more solid serving display next month, when he makes his professional tennis debut aged 45 at the Uruguayan Open.
After hanging up his boots in 2018, the forward picked up his racquet again as he looked for a hobby to keep himself fit.
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He has since shown impressive dedication to his craft and has made rapid improvements.
Forlan has popped up competing at various Over-45s ITF events in South America.
And he will now have the opportunity to mix it with the pros, after being handed a doubles wildcard at the ATP Challenger Tour event in Montevideo.
He will partner Federico Coria, with the former top 50 star having been keen to play with him.
The partnership came about via Forlan’s friendship with former tennis professional Ignacio Carou, as he explained: “[Ignacio] was joking many times with me to play some futures. This year, I said to him, ‘No, I was on holidays, I don’t want to play’.
“Then a couple months after, he sent me a picture of Federico Coria and said, ‘I have your partner for the Challenger in Uruguay’. I think it was a joke and then he said, ‘He wants to play with you, I’m not joking!’”
Amazingly Coria, 32, won’t be the most famous doubles partner Forlan has played with – as in 1993 he had the opportunity to share the court with Diego Maradona.
While he knows he will be a huge underdog when he competes alongside Coria, Forlan is ready to enjoy his experience.
He said: “If you asked me when I was playing football if I was going to play a professional tournament in ATP, I wouldn’t have imagined that.
“Playing with the professionals for just one match, I will be enjoying it. Having the opportunity to — I don’t know if I’m the first one, but to be a professional football player to be a professional [tennis] player, just for one match… For me, it’s a privilege.
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“I know it’s going to be really, really difficult to play against those guys. But I don’t have anything to lose.”
The event, which has been played by the likes of Juan Martin del Potro and David Ferrer down the years, is set to get underway on November 11.
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
