Man Utd cult hero Diego Forlan to make his professional tennis debut

Manchester United cult hero Diego Forlan is set to make his professional tennis debut in an ATP doubles event in November.

The 45-year-old retired from playing professional football in 2019 but has since been playing tennis, regularly competing in his native Uruguay in ITF Masters events.

And now he will make his professional tennis bow in a doubles match alongside Argentina's Federico Coria in the Uruguay Open in Montevideo.

The tournament is a recognised ATP event and is on the Challenger Tour which means Forlan had to get a wildcard to play.

Forlan was a promising tennis player growing up but instead focused on a career in football.

And what a career he had.

Diego Forlan in action for Manchester United in a Champions League game in Athens against Panathinaikos / Ross Kinnaird, Getty Images

Forlan started his professional football career in Argentina at Independiente in 1997 and made his professional debut a year later.

In 2002, he was signed by Sir Alex Ferguson for a fee reported to be around £6.9million and earned his cult status in December the same year.

Forlan scored his first brace for the club in a 2-1 win for Manchester United at arch-rivals Liverpool in a season which saw the Red Devils lift the Premier League title.

After that performance, he was immortalised with a chant from the Manchester United faithful which went: "He came from Uruguay, he made the scousers cry."

According to Transfermarkt, he went on to score 17 goals across 98 appearances in all competitions for the club.

Forlan then joined Villarreal in 2004 before signing for Atletico Madrid as Fernando Torres' replacement in 2007.

He was prolific in Spain, scoring 155 goals in 325 appearances across all competitions while playing for Spanish clubs, twice winning the European Golden Shoe awarded to Europe's top scorer.

On the international stage, Forlan won the Golden Ball at the 2010 FIFA World Cup when Uruguay finished third and he helped his country win the 2011 Copa America title.

He scored 36 times in 112 appearances for Uruguay.

Forlan also played for Inter Milan, Internacional, Cerezo Osaka, Penarol, Mumbai City and Kitchee before retiring from playing and has briefly managed at Penarol and Atenas too.

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