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Daniels Career
| 1988
| Daniel, just in his beginnings of professionalizing, refuses to join the Nick Bollettieri Tennis Academy in Florida and joined the All Canadian Tennis Academy in Downsview (now called Ace Tennis Academy) instead.
| 1989
| Daniel playes his first Challengers on the tour. He also playes his first Canadian Open loosing in the first round to Ned Caswell. In his first doubles match in 1989, he doesn't get over the first round.
| 1990
| Daniel takes another try on the Canadian Open in doubles (with Janecek) but doesn't get further than the year before.
| 1991
| Daniel finally turnes pro and playes mostly Satellites and Challengers. In 1991 he qualifies for two Tour events, Guaruja and Buzios.
| 1992
| 1992 Daniel upsets No. 1 Player Stefan Edberg in a five set first round Davis Cup match and wins his first doubles title at the Recife Challenger together with Sebatien Lareau.
| 1993
| For Daniel the season doesn't start too well. He is sidelined by a left wrist injury from april to midjuly. At the end of the season he wins the doubles title at the Challengers in Calgary and Pontre Vedra, once again together with Lareau.
| 1994
| Daniel teames up with longtime partner Mark Knowles for the first time and they win the doubles title of Bogota on the first try.
| 1995
| In January 1995, Daniel and partner Mark Knowles become the no. 1 in doubles for the first time after winning the Wellington Challenger, followed by a runner up at the Australian Open. Daniel also wins the singles title at the Aptos Challenger. He qualifies for the singles main draw at the Australian Open, Wimbledon and the US Open, reaching the second round in all of these Grand Slam Tournaments. In doubles Daniel and Mark win the tournament in Tokyo, reach the semifinal at the French Open and the semifinal at Wimbledon. They win the tournament in Cincinnati as well as the tournaments in Indianapolis and Monterrey. They climbe as high as No. 3 in the team rankings after the US Open and finally finish No. 5 at the end of the year to qualify for the Doubles Championships for the first time.
| 1996
| The year 1996 starts for Daniel and partner Mark Knowles with a doubles title at Doha. They win the doubles title in Memphis and they also win the doubles title in Hamburg and Cinncinati. At the end of the season, Daniel and Mark reach the Doubles Championships for the second time.
| 1997
| In 1997 Daniel and Mark once again win the doubles title at Indian Wells. They make it to the finals at Key Biscane and win the doubles title at Rome. The 3rd Doubles Championship doesn't bring more than the group plays, just like the years before.
| 1998
| The year 1998 doesn't start quiet well but at the French Open, Daniel and Mark become runner up, loosing to Elthing/Haarhuis in 3 sets. They make the final at Cincinnati and Indianapolis and are also runner up at the US Open and the Doubles Championships.
| 1999
| In 1999 Daniel wins the tournament in Sydney together with canadian partner Lareau, before reuniting with Mark Knowles for the season. In Wimbledon they reach the semis together, before Daniel celebrates another victory together with Sebastian Lareau in Shanghai.
| 2000
| In 2000, Daniel and longtime partner Mark Knowles split up, because Daniel wants to prepare with Lareau for the Olympic Games where they finally win the gold medal together. Daniel and Mark team up again for the Stockholm tournament to win it before they end the season with different partners again.
| 2001
| Daniel and Mark win their first doubles title in the year 2001 at Doha again. Daniel than teams up with Sandon Stolle in order to play the whole season. Daniel and Sandon win the tournament at Sydney and reach the quaterfinal at the Australian Open. Together with Nedad Zimonjic he becomes runner up at Dubai. Daniel and Sandon reach the finals of Rome and Hamburg, before they win the final at Halle. At the end of the season Daniel teams up with Nenad Zimonjic again in order to win another tournament at Lyon before ending the season with two semifinals at Basel and Paris together with him.
| 2002
| At the beginning of 2002, Daniel and Mark team up again. They start the season by winning their first Grand Slam tournament, the Australian Open, in doubles, followed by 5 tournaments in which they always reach the final. Being No. 1 in the Doubles Championsrace allready at that time, they also become runner up at the French Open, loosing to Haarhuis and Kafelnikov in two straight sets. At Wimbledon, Daniel and Mark finally become runner up at their second Grand Slam tournament that year, reaching the third slamfinal allready. Right after, they reach another final at Toronto before winning the tournament at Indianapolis and reaching yet another final at Lyon. To the end of the season they win another title in Madrid and become runner up at Basel. Daniel and Mark finally finish their most successful season so far with a total of 7 victorys, 7 runner ups, 1 semifinal, 7 quaterfinals and only one 2nd round loss. Daniel finishes the season as No.2 (behind partner Mark Knowles), with 5630 points. As the best double ever, during the existence of the ATPs Doubles Race, Daniel and Mark lead with 1126 points before the team of Jonas Björkman and Todd Woodbridge who have earned 785 points.
| 2003
| Daniel and Mark start the season 2003 with a runner up at Doha. They reach the final of the Australian Open again but loose this time in a revenge match to their final opponents of 2002 - Michael Llodra and Fabrice Santoro. After a short break they win the tournaments in Memphis and Mexico in two weeks in a row, before capturing the title of Houston in april. In may they win their allraedy 4th title that year, the Tennis Masters at Hamburg, but they aren't able to repeat this success on a clay court at the French Open, where they reach the R16. After the end of the claycourt season they win Queens on gras, which brings them the 5th title allready on the 3rd surface so far. In 2003, Daniel and Mark also play the WTT season together, Daniel plaing his first season for the Sacramento Capitals, winning the WTT-Award as "Male Rookie of the Year". The team reaches the final again, but looses to the Delaware Smashs with a score of 21:14. The season ends with a quaterfinal at the US Open at the mens doubles - while Daniel also reaches the mixed final together with his partner Lina Krasnoroutskaya of russia - as well as another victory at the Swiss Indoors in Basel. Short after, the Canadian Davis Cup team takes home a 3:2 victory against Brazil, to join the worldgroup in 2004. The season finally ends with 6 titles, 2 runner-ups and a record of 5 semifinals including Sydney, Scottsdale, Cincinnati, the US Open and the Tennis Masters in Houston. In September, Daniel also holds his first Daniel Nestor Celebrity Charity Event to support charitable causes in september this year.
| 2004
| Daniel and Mark start weak into the 2004 season reaching only one semifinal in Doha before they are able to capture their first title in Marseille at the end of february. The second title of the season follows in Barcelona but Daniel and Mark aren't able to get to a final of the big ones yet. Finally at the London Queens Club they make it to the final where they loose to the Bryan Brothers in two strait sets 6:4 6:4. After a short visit in Birmingham (a quaterfinal loss) Daniel and Mark reach the semis at Wimbledon where they loose a tought 5-setter, interrupted by several periods of rain, to Knowle/Zimonjic. Daniel thyn trys to prepare for the olympics together with partner Frederic Niemeyer. Due to Frederics low ranking they are unfortunately unable to reach one of the main-draws of any of the following tournaments. Before heading to the olympics, Daniel and Mark make it to the semis at Toronto - where even a court is named after Daniel - and they win their first Masters Title in Cincinnati. The olympics themselves are probably an experience, but Daniel isn't able to defend his title at all. Right after, Daniel and Mark come back together to capture their second Grand Slam title so far, by winning the US Open. Back in Toronto after this big win, Daniel holds his second Daniel Nestor Celebrity Charity Event to support charitable causes such as the Tennis Canada's Go for Gold Fund and the funds for North York General Hospital's expanding Orthopaedic and Plastics Clinic (OPC). Daniel and Mark than continue their high level play, adding also the Masters title of Madrid to their list at the end of the season and reaching once again the Tennis Masters Cup. Winning their 3 Round-Robin matches, they get out of reach for the Bryans to capture the years-end no. 1 crown as well, but they loose to even thoose guys in the Masters Cup semis right after.
| 2005
| The "Rollercoaster-Year" 2005 starts with a big dissapointment when Daniel and Mark loose their first round matches in both, their season opener Sydney and the Australian Open. Following the Open, they finally get in shape reaching the final of the Marseille tournament loosing it close in a 6:7 6:7-battle to Stepanek/Damm. In Indian Wells they win their first title of the year, followed by another title in Houston about one month later. At the French Open, Daniel and Mark reach the Semis but finally have to retire due to a wrist-injury of Daniel, which keeps him from playing for about two month. After Daniels return to the tour, they both reach another quaters in Montreal as well as the semis in Cincinnati before earning another surprising Grand Slams 1st round loss at the US Open. During these US Open it is also announced, that Daniel and Mark among another 43 players, have sued the ATP in a reaction to a set of new doubles-rules released by the ATP right after the Wimbledon-tournament. In October, Daniel and Mark finally get back to the top of the game by winning the tournament in Vienna as well as the Masters title in Madrid right after. They make another final at the Paris Masters and finally qualify for another cosecutive Masters Cup in 3 years, where they unfortunately can't hold on to their great performance. The Daniel Nestor Celebrity Charity Event is successfully held as the years before, raising money for benefiting local charities. But the personal highlight 2005 is for Daniel his wedding with fiance Natasha at the end of July in Toronto.
| 2006
| Daniel and Mark make another disappointing start into the season 2006, loosing in the first round of the tournament in Sydney against the polish duo of Fyrstenberg and Matkowski leaving Australia after the first match of the Australian Open without a win in mens doubles yet. Nevertheless, Daniel and partner Elena Likhovtseva are able to start with a great perfomance in mixed doubles by making the final, where they finally loose to Mahesh Bhupathi and Martina Hingis. Back in the US Daniel and Mark win their next tournament on the schedule at Delray Beach. The following visit to europe is started with another final appaerance where they fall to Damm and Stepanek, followed by another first round loss in Rotterdam where they loose to the israeli duo Erlich/Ram. The up and down continues with another final appearance in Dubai the week after, followed by a win at the Masters Series event in Indian Wells. Back on top of the game they than start to loose it again and finish the next 3 stops on the tour with a second round and two first round losses, before winning again and gaining the title at Barcelona for the second time. Now they improve their winning streak, winning the Masters Series event in Rome as well and reaching the final at the Masters Series event in Hamburg right after. At the French Open they can't stick to their performance and loose in the second round of the mens doubles, while - once again - Daniel and Elena are on top of their mixed game and make it to another Grand Slam final, this time loosing to Zimonjic/Srebotnik in their last match. Daniel and Mark now change to gras in order to prepare for Wimbledon, finishing at the London Queens Club with a semifinal appearance. At Wimbledon they than loose their quaterfinal to the Bryans after playing the longest match ever played at this event against Aspelin/Perry finally winning 5:7 6:3 6:7 6:3 23:21 after 6 hours and 9 minutes. In mixed doubles, Daniel and season partner Elena Likhovtseva make it to the quaters. Before Daniel and Mark continue their regular season together, they both play the summer at the WTT League, Daniel for the first time for the Philadelphia Freedoms with whom he takes home the League title. Back together in Toronto, Daniel and Mark make another semifinal appearance before they head with another quaterfinal on the board to the fourth Grand Slam event of the season. Here they loose a tought 3-setter to Goldstein/Thomas in the third round, which gives Daniel some time to prepare for his fourth annual charity event at Toronto. After a final break of four weeks, Daniel and Mark than start the last block of their season with another dissapointing first round loss in Stockholm, before they close up the season with a sudden great performance, including a final appearance at the Masters Series event in Madrid, another tournament win in Basel and a final appearance at the Masters Cup Shanghai where they loose to the top duo of Bjoerkman/Mirnyi. At the end of the year, Daniel and Mark are able to capture five titles together, with Daniel also winning the WTT Champions title with his team, earning the Most Valuable Player Award of the WTT-season and also earning two Canada Excellence Awards for his performance last year.
| 2007
| The year 2007 starts for Daniel and Mark with a semifinal appearance in Doha and a runner-up in Sydney.
At the Australian Open they reach the semifinals where they loose to the Bryan twins, while Daniel nevertheless wins his first Grand Slam title
of the season together with longtime partner Elena Likhovtseva in mixed doubles. He and Mark than make another final in Marseille and Houston, but
aren't able to win any of the 13 played tournaments. In may the duo announces to split up after Wimbledon, but after winning surprisingly the
French Open, the split of their longtime partnership is delayed until the fall season following the US Open. Following up on the French Open
title, Daniel and Mark than also win the tournament at Queens, this time beating the Bryan Brothers in the final. In Wimbledon the duo looses in the
quaters, while Daniel and Elena reach the semis before Daniel and Mark take the time to play for the WTT-League, where Daniel is able to reach
the Eastern Conference Final with the Philadelphia Freedoms, before his team looses this match to New York Buzz. In all 3 following tournaments,
including the US Open, Daniel and Mark reach the quaters before finally playing with different partners. Daniel now partners with Nenad Zimonjic,
who split with partner Fabrice Santoro after Wimbledon. After a slow start in Moscow and Madrid where they reach the quaters and the R16, the new
formation gets together winning the tournament in St. Petersburg and making a final appearance at the Masters Series event in Paris. At the end of the
year, Daniel finally reunites once again with Mark to play the Tennis Masters Cup, which they win in a great final against Simon Aspelin and Julian
Knowle 6:2 6:3. With this victory they finally end their partnership so far, having once again proofed that they used to be one of the best doubles teams
on tour.
| 2008
| Daniel goes into his new season with partner Nenad Zimonjic.They come off with a rather low start before they reach their first semifinal at the Dubai tournament in march, where they loose to Martin Damm and Pavel Vizner 3:6 6:7. One week later they reach another final at the Masters Series in Indian Wells than end the rest of the hardcourt spring season and the beginning of the claycourt season with three first round losses. At the Masters Series event in Rome they suddenly start winning again, reaching the final, but finally loosing 6:3 4:6 8:10 to the Bryans in their last match while one week later they turn it around winning themselves 6:4 5:7 10:8 in the Masters Final of Hamburg. The winning streak holds on - at least up to the French Open Final - where Daniel finally can't defend his title which he holds together with former partner Mark Knowles. He and Nenad have to give in to Pablo Cuevas and Luis Horna 2:6 3:6 after they had lost only one set during the whole tournament. They start winning again only one week later at Queens and go on with a faboulos grasscourt season taking the Wimbledon title as well, surviving a five setter against Lukas Dlouhy and Leander Paes in which Nenad breaks his left wrist but goes on playing nevertheless. While this victory brings Nenad his first Grand Slam title in mens doubles, Daniel completes his Golden Slam having won the Australien Open in 2002, the French Open in 2007, the US Open in 2004 and the Olympic Gold Medal in Sydney 2000 allready. After a quaterfinal apearance In Indianapolis which he plays together with canadian partner Frederic Niemeyer, Daniel and Nenad are than able to capture the Masters Series title in Toronto as well and to make another semifinal appearance at the following Masters event in Cincinnati. At the upcoming Olympic Games in Beijing Daniel and Frederic unfortunately loose to the british Murray-brothers 6:4 3:6 4:6 in their first round match, while Nenad also looses in his first round match against the czech duo Damm/Vizner. Reunited at the US Open Daniel and Nenad make a 3rd round appearance before facing problems in their form, winning only two out of the next six matches.
The end of the 2008 season is highlighted by a Masters Cup final in which Daniel and Nenad are able to not only capture the final title of the year but also to capture the year end no. 1 ranking. On december 15th, Daniel and Natasha finally welcomed their first child, a sweet little daughter named Tiana Alexis. Just 12 days earlier, partner Nenad Zimonjic and wife Mina had welcomed their first children, Leon and Luna.
| 2009
| With nine titles in eleven finals, Daniel and Nenad conclud the season 2009. The first final they allready reach in Doha, where they loose to Lopez/Nadal in a close three setter. One week later, they loose another final against Bob and Mike Bryan in Sydney before heading to the Australian Open where they make an unexpected exit in the second round. In Rotterdam they come immediatly back on track to win their first title of the season before earning the first but not last first round exit in Dubai at the end of february. In the next two Masters 1000 events in Indian Wells and Miami, they also loose both their first round matches before heading to their first claycourt tournament in Monte Carlo. Here they gather new strength and despite the early losses in their last events, capture their second title of 2009. It seems that claycourt becomes their surface of choice when they also capture the titles in Barcelona and Rome. But in Belgrade - a tournament that was established in 2009 for the first time - they once again face an early exit loosing in three close sets to the serbian duo Djokovic/Madjarovski. One week later their rollercoaster ride continues with another title on clay at the Masters Series 1000 event in Madrid, before their hope of a first Grand Slam title in 2009 ends at Roland Garros with a 6:7 6:7 defeat by Dlouhy/Paes in the semis. But Daniels and Nenads first Grand Slam title of 2009 isn't much further. Just a few weeks later, after playing a disappointing tournament at Queens, Daniel and Nenad once again raise the Wimbledon trophy, defending their title against Bob and Mike Bryan in a 7:6 6:7 7:6 6:3 battle. Back on hardcourt, Daniel and Nenad than make a solid appearance in Washington and Montreal, reaching the semifinal in both events and finally claim another title at the Masters 1000 event in Cincinnati, before making an unlucky quaterfinal exit at the US Open against Mirnyi/Ram. The following indoor season is once again dominated by three first round exits before Daniel and Nenad get once again back on track to win the tournament in Basel, followed by the Masters 1000 event in Paris. At the end of the season 2009, Daniel and Nenad can't defend the number one ranking against the Bryan brothers due to an early Round robin loss at the deciding ATP Tour final, but Daniel is now the active titles leader on the ATP World Tour with 64 titles and surpassed $1 million in a season for the first time.
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| all pictures and contents are © by danielnestor.com/ Edition 11-2007(08-2004)
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