Lapentti’s retirement

34-year-old Nicolas Lapentti a few weeks ago, on January 18th decided to retire from professional tennis but he hadn’t been active since 24th May 2010 when he was beaten by Taylor Dent in the first round at the Roland Garros.  Definitely a Davis Cup legend for his nation, but a player with considerable contribution to the Open era too, especially from the mental point of view – one of the best 5-set players, a specialist of winning matches after saving match points. Only one out of four players in the Open era who won ATP tournaments in their debuts. Below links to my MTF tribute thread (it facilitates me the navigation) and a Davis Cup page about his retirements.
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Davis Cup – Nico’s retirement
MTF – tribute thread
Nico cuelga la raqueta (in Spanish)
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In the picture, he celebrates beating Fernando Meligeni 6-4, 2-6, 16-14 (Munich, Grand Slam Cup 1999); it’s been the longest decisive 3rd set indoors in terms of games.