Fernando Verdasco, an extraordinary left -handed with a spectacular career | ATP Tour

Fernando Verdasco

Verdasco, an extraordinary left -handed with a spectacular career

The Spanish said goodbye at 41 years playing in doubles with Novak Djokovic in Doha

February 19, 2025

Every story has an end. And that of Fernando Verdasco wrote his last chapter this Monday in Doha, when the Spanish and Novak Djokovic fell into the quarterfinals of the Qatar Exxonmobil Open box in front of Henry Patten and Harri Heliovaara. Verdasco, who did not compete since September 2023, officially retired forming a couple with the Serbian, one of the best players in history, and put the final brooch to an incredible trajectory that began when he was four years old and grabbed a racket with a racket with The left -hander for the first time.

“After being a year and a half outside the competition, I didn’t even think about making an official advertisement or playing one last time until I talked to him [Djokovic]”Said Verdasco. “But now I am very happy that this has been possible in Doha. As you all know, I’ve been living here for 10 years, so it’s like my house. There is no better way to retire than in my home, with my whole family, my friends and, in addition, with someone like Novak, who, in terms of numbers, is the best player in the history of tennis and one of the best athletes of history ”.

“I know Novak since the beginning of our races and has been one of my greatest rivals in the last 20 years,” said Verdasco. “In the end, the players against the most played Rafa [Nadal]then Andy [Murray]then Novak, and then Roger [Federer]. Rafa is retired, Roger is retired. Murray is retired … So Novak is who I shared the most in these 20 years, he added. “I felt that he was the person with whom I had to play my last game and enjoy this experience together.”

Professional since 2001, Verdasco closed his stage as a professional tennis player at age 41, and after a successful career, full of brightness. With 7 ATP Tour titles conquered, including the crown in the historic Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell, Verdasco became No. 7 of the PIF ATP Rankings and added more than 500 victories (559 wins), exhibiting an impressive longevity. In addition, he helped Spain get three titles from the Davis Cup (2008, 2009 and 2011), with a very prominent role in the first of those conquests.

The Madrid will never forget what happened on November 23, 2008, when he got the decisive point for Spain to raise its third salad bowl. It was against Argentina in Mar del Plata. And Verdasco won José Acasuso in an epic encounter to five sets, which resolved 6-3, 6-7 (3), 4-6, 6-3, 6-1 to complete the victory at home, becoming with Feliciano López (he won his individual party on Friday against Juan Martín del Potro, and then joined Verdasco on Saturday to tie the double point) in one of the feat heroes.

“The most special Davis was that of Argentina, when I won the fourth point of the final against Acasuso and gave Spain the victory. Beyond having achieved the final point, the following year, in 2009, we won against Stepanek and Berdych in Doubles with Feliciano, and that was also the decisive point. But in Spain everyone expected us to win, while in Argentina nobody did. Before playing, everyone was assumed that Nalbandian and Potro were going to beat us, especially because Rafa was not in the team. So, in the end, it was an incredible feeling. ”

After finishing that 2008 at high, full of trust and exhibiting its best version, Verdasco left at the start of 2009 another of the most remembered moments of his career. It happened at the Australia Open, the first Grand Slam of the season. The Spaniard reached the semifinals, leaving the rivals of Radek Stepanek, Andy Murray or Jo-Wilfried Tssga on the road. With the pass to the final at stake, Verdasco met his compatriot Rafael Nadal, and both were protagonists of one of the best matches in the modern history of tennis.

Throughout five hours and 14 minutes, the two lefties built a meeting full of impossible plays; Traclazos, stone blows and superhuman defenses that put people standing again and again during an unforgettable night. Verdasco fell to Nadal, yes, but he left a blow on the table that catapulted him during the following years.

“I knew that Verdasco had talent, but not so much,” the legendary Rod Laver said after witnessing the battle between the two Spaniards in the stand.

That talent of the Madrid, that the historic Australian player admired that summer night in Melbourne, remained throughout a great 2009, which ended with the tennis player reaching No. 7 of the PIF ATP Rankings, his best standing position always in the Classification, and with the classification for the Nitto ATP Finals in London.

A year later, in 2010, Verdasco met Nadal again in the final of Montecarlo (after defeating Djokovic in the semifinals), and stayed at the gates of getting victory in an ATP Masters 1000. However, a week later , the Spanish was made with one of the most important trophies of his career, when crowned in the Count of Godó in Barcelona, ​​one of the most prestigious events in the calendar.

“It was special because Barcelona was my club when I was 15 years old and trained there for a year,” said Verdasco. In addition, I grew up seeing that tournament since childhood, so winning it was very special. ”

Until the end of his career, Verdasco continued to reap conquests, such as Houston or Bucharest titles. The Madrid kept the semifinals of the Australian Open, reached rooms in Wimbledon and the US Open, and the round of 16 at Roland Garros.

Remember for its effects as a left -handed player and his powerful shots, with a great serve and an impressive right blow that put in many troubles his opponents, Verdasco exceeded 500 victories in the 2018 season, in Madrid, and entered the club of The tennis players who reached that figure, reflex of longevity and success.

Verdasco also stood out for being an excellent double player, a modality with which he finished his career with Djokovic in Doha. The Spanish rose with 8 titles, including the Nitto ATP Finals of 2013 next to David Marrero, and became No. 8 of the world in the discipline in pairs.