Former FIFA World Cup Golden Ball winner Diego Forlan makes a return to tennis at age 45 after giving up on the sport at 16

It is extremely rare for a quality athlete from any particular sport to make a transition into another one after having retired from the former. Diego Forlan is one recent example of such a sportsperson. The 45-year-old Uruguayan was a footballer at the elite level, having scored 271 goals in his club career. He also played for top European clubs like Manchester United, Atletico Madrid and Inter Milan.

He represented Uruguay 112 times in international football and also won the Golden Ball in the 2010 FIFA World Cup. Having hung up his football boots in 2018, the Uruguayan took up a few coaching jobs in his homeland. However, Forlan has recently started pursuing a career in tennis with some remarkable success.

Diego Forlan is taking the tennis court by storm:

Diego Forlan gave up the dream of becoming a tennis player at the age of 16 and put his entire focus on his career in football. However, prior to that, he had played tennis with Marat Safin and Juan Carlos Ferrero, both of whom went on to become top tennis players and Grand Slam winners, at the junior level.

He is playing at an ITF MT 1000 event recently in Lima, Peru on clay and has won his first three matches in straight sets in the 45+ category. He won the first match 6-0, 6-2 against Chile's Gonzalo Chareno and defeated Peru's Jorge Hernandez 6-0, 6-1 to start his campaign in a stunning fashion. He then beat Pablo Rojas-Holch 6-3, 6-3 to set up a quarterfinal clash with Brazil's Antonio Amaro Da Silva Filho. It also happens to be the first tennis tournament he has participated in outside his home country.

Sir Alex Ferguson had earlier vouched for Diego Forlan's tennis prowess:

Diego Forlan played under the tutelage of Sir Alex Ferguson at Manchester United. Sir Alex was an ardent admirer of Forlan's prowess in tennis. He organized a pre-season tennis tournament featuring the footballers of his team in 2003 and was really impressed with Forlan's game. He also bet some money on the Uruguayan and won. Forlan has himself said in this regard,

"There was an atmosphere with the manager and the directors watching. Sir Alex said that he knew I’d played before and put money on me. I won the match and Sir Alex said that he won his money too."

Another legendary footballer, Paolo Maldini, also tried playing at a Challenger event in Italy in 2017, but with less desirable results. Forlan, being a southpaw, probably manages to add an extra dimension to his game, which has helped him win tennis matches recently.

Sports lovers all over the world will hope that Diego Forlan continues his pursuit of excellence in an entirely new territory. However, should he keep taking part in ITF events regularly, his coaching career in football will suffer. Hence, he will have to take a call on that. Still, for the time being, football's loss appears to be tennis' gain.