David Ferrer: The tireless warrior who never quit
The years have inexorably passed and, at the same time, the physical problems have also increased: a witness of this is David Ferrer. If clay-court tennis game were a subject of study in universities, Ferrer would certainly be one of the leading professors, after the rector, Rafael Nadal.
The great misfortune of David (and that of many other tennis players of this golden age!) was precisely that of playing in the same era as Nadal, the greatest tennis player ever on clay, who left only crumbs to his rivals.
But Ferrer has carved out an important space in this tennis era, winning 27 titles in 52 finals played; an enormity, which stops only behind the numbers of Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray, among the tennis players still active. Although the Spaniard, unlike colleagues like Marin Cilic or Stan Wawrinka, has never won a Slam title.
At the age of 37, with the latest title won in 2017, Ferrer is heading for his last season in tennis. He will retire at the end of the year but, in the meantime, he has been handing out hard tennis lessons, including to Alexander Zverev, who is considered the future leader of the ATP Tour in the second round of the Miami Open, proving once again that the Old Gen is still superior to the Next Gen.
Ferrer is now heading into the last part of his career: on clay, trying to give a fitting end to his career that was defined by the red dirt. The Spaniard's last event will be the Mutua Madrid Open, which will be an extravaganza of an event this year with Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer, and Zverev all being a part of it. Ferrer doesn't deserve a farewell anything less than this.
from Tennis World USA http://bit.ly/2X4kYzP
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