Who is Diego Forlan? All you need to know about the ex-Uruguay & Manchester United striker set to make professional tennis debut at age 45

Diego Forlan, a 45-year-old former professional football player who played at the highest level, recently started pursuing a career in tennis after his time in the football world. He is now poised to make his professional tennis debut at the Uruguay Open, which is scheduled to be held in November 2024.

Forlan concluded his remarkable career as a professional footballer on August 6, 2019, and then worked as a head coach. He represented Uruguay 112 times in international football and won the Golden Ball at the 2010 FIFA World Cup.

In an interesting turn of events, the 45-year-old is now looking forward to starting a career in tennis. He played at an ITF MT 1000 event in Lima, Peru, in June 2024, winning his first three matches in the 45+ category. He won his first match against Chile's Gonzalo Chareno 6-0, 6-2 and then bested Jorge Hernandez 6-0, 6-1. In the third match against Pablo Rojas-Holch, he won 6-3, 6-3.

Months after this, the former football player is now ready to make his professional tennis debut at the Uruguay Open, which is slated for November 11-17, at the Carrasco Lawn Tennis Club. The official Sky Sports X account shared an announcement regarding the Uruguayan's new move. The account shared a picture of Diego Forlan and wrote alongside:

"Former Manchester United Forward Diego Forlan will make his professional tennis debut at next month's Uruguay Open."

---

Diego Forlan opened up about playing tennis after retiring from football

In an interview with The Athletic in October this year, Diego Forlan opened up about trying his hand at different sports after stepping back from football. He revealed that he tried golf, but he wanted something where he could run and was more similar to football, so he opted for tennis. (as quoted by Express.co.uk)

"I need something where I can run. Golf, you play in beautiful places, I like it and I still do it, but I need something different, something more similar to football. I started training and playing tennis and I was getting better and better," said Forlan.

He further opened up about his transition to tennis and said:

"At first, I would play the top player at the club and players from around Uruguay and it was easy for them to beat me. Then it became more difficult. Now I can win. At the club tournaments, I was losing in the first round, now I'm winning a lot of them."

Diego Forlan's switch to tennis is not sudden; the 45-year-old played the sport till he was 16, and then switched to football for an illustrious career.