Daniel Nestor Not Stopping at 40

Written by: Staff on 12th June 2012

Daniel Nestor Not Stopping at 40

epa03256840 Max Mirnyi (L) of Belarus and Daniel Nestor of Canada celebrate with their trophies after winning the Men's doubles final match against Bob and Mike Bryan of the USA for the French Open tennis tournament at Roland Garros in Paris, France, 09 June 2012. EPA/CHRISTOPHE KARABA |

Even though he will turn 40 in a few months, Canada’s Daniel Nestor sees no reason to hang up his rackets anytime soon. Nestor and his partner Max Mirnyi repeated as Roland Garros doubles champion, stopping Bob and Mike Bryan from winning their record 12th major.

“I feel fortunate, because I think when I played singles and when I was younger I had a few injuries, especially with my left arm,” said Nestor. “The last few years, for whatever reason, I have been pretty much pain free, so I can serve as hard as I can and hit the ball as hard as I can. That makes a big difference. There were a lot of times early in my career where I would be in a lot of pain and I couldn’t play the way I wanted to. A lot of that had to do with singles being definitely more stressful than doubles. It’s doubles. It’s half the court. It’s not physically that demanding. I think it’s possible for people in their 40s to keep playing.”

However, Nestor whose daughter is a toddler doesn’t see himself playing until the age of 44. While he and Mirnyi have seized the No. 1 ranking from the Bryans, eventually, he realizes that he will slow down. When asked whether he’ll compete at the 2016 Olympics, he called it a “big stretch.”

But raising the big trophies still tastes sweet for now.

“I love competing,” said Nestor who owns eight Grand Slam titles. “I love playing in the big tournaments and challenging myself to play against the best. I really enjoy playing the Grand Slams especially, and trying to play my best in those tournaments, and maybe make up for some things I didn’t do as well when I was younger, like playing the big moments well, and now I feel like I’m doing a little bit better.”

Topics: Canadian tennis news, Daniel Nestor, Doubles tennis, French Open 2012, Max Mirnyi, Sports, Tennis News