Daniel Nestor

Nestor, Daniel
Daniel Nestor, tennis player (b at Belgrade, Yugoslavia 4 Sept 1972). Considered one of the finest Canadian tennis players, Daniel Nestor gained worldwide recognition in 1992 when he defeated then-world number one Stefan Edberg of Sweden while playing for Canada in a DAVIS CUP match at Vancouver. Daniel Nestor was ranked 238th at the time. Since then, Nestor has enjoyed a solid career on the professional circuit and has been an active participant in Canada's Davis Cup program, posting a 13-13 singles record and 12-2 doubles mark representing Canada in team competition. Career singles highlights for Nestor, who turned pro in 1991, include victories over world-ranked stars Marcelo Ríos of Chile, Patrick Rafter and Mark Philippoussis of Australia, Cédric Pioline of France and Ukraine's Andrei Medvedev. His career-best singles results in major events include reaching the fourth round of Wimbledon in 1999 and the third round of the Australian Open in 1998, 1999 and 2001.

Nestor entered few singles tournaments after 2000 when a shoulder injury forced him to concentrate on doubles, in which he is now considered one of the world's finest players. His most significant wins came with fellow Canadian Sébastien LAREAU, Bahamian partner Mark Knowles and Nenad Zimonjić of Serbia. At the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, Australia, in front of 9000 partisan fans, the duo upset Australian favourites Mark Woodforde and Todd Woodbridge 5-7, 6-3, 6-4, 7-6 (7-2) in the Olympic gold-medal final to win Canada's first-ever medal in Olympic tennis competition. That victory clinched for Nestor and Lareau the title of 2000 Canadian team of the year, following a ballot conducted among sports editors and broadcasters across Canada. Nestor is also one of the few Canadians to have won a tournament on his native soil, having combined with Lareau to win the Tennis-Masters Series Canada doubles title in 2000 in Toronto.

In 2002 Nestor became the second Canadian ever to win a Grand Slam (one of the 4 major tennis tournaments) when he partnered with Mark Knowles to win the Australian Open doubles crown. Nestor and Knowles also won 2 Masters-Series events - the top rung of men's tennis - in 2002. Nestor and Knowles teamed up again to win the US Open in 2004 and the French Open in 2007. The successful team parted ways in 2007.

Nestor embarked on another successful partnership shortly after, with Nenad Zimonjić. In July 2008 Nestor became the first Canadian to win at Wimbledon when he and Zimonjić defeated Jonas Björkman (of Sweden) and Kevin Ullyett (of Zimbabwe) in the doubles final. Later that month Nestor and Zimonjić captured the Rogers Cup doubles title, an event Nestor previously won with Lareau in 2000. In April 2009 Nestor reached a historic milestone in Canadian tennis, celebrating his 100th Tour final when he and Zimonjić won the Barcelona Open doubles title over Nestor's former partner Knowles and Mahesh Bhupathi of India. Nestor's 58 career titles are the most of any current player at the ATP world level. In June 2010 he and Zimonjic won their third Grand Slam title together at the men's French Open. Nestor has currently amassed 69 doubles career honours, including titles in all 6 Grand Slam events, several Masters tournaments and the Olympics. He has been a Davis Cup member since 1992.

Author ALLEN CAMERON