Daniel Nestor

Daniel Mark Nestor (Данијел Нестор; born September 4, 1972) is a Canadian former professional tennis player.

He was a member of the Canadian Davis Cup team from 1992 to 2018.

He first came to prominence in the public eye that year by defeating then world number one Stefan Edberg in a hard-fought singles match in Vancouver.

He was continuously ranked in the top 100 in doubles from April 1994 to April 2018, a total of 1134 consecutive weeks.

Nestor won his first doubles title in Bogotá, Colombia with Mark Knowles in 1994.

They defeated French Open champions Luke and Murphy Jensen in the final.

He and Knowles also reached the final of the 1995 Australian Open, the 1998 French Open and US Open, the 2002 French Open and Wimbledon and the 2003 Australian Open.

Nestor won 91 men's doubles titles (with 11 different partners), including an Olympic gold medal at the 2000 Sydney Olympics, four Tour Finals titles, and twelve major doubles titles attained with seven different partners (eight in men's doubles and four in mixed doubles).

Nestor was the first man in history to win every major and Masters event, the Tour Finals, and an Olympic gold medal, an achievement since matched by the Bryan brothers.

At the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia, Nestor and partner Sébastien Lareau won a gold medal, the first and only medal so far in tennis for Canada.

The duo won four more titles together during their career, which was highlighted by an ATP Masters 1000 win in Canada.

After the Olympics, Nestor won one title with Kevin Ullyett in November 2000 and two with Sandon Stolle in 2001.

Nestor and Zimonjić had actually won an ATP World Tour 250 Series event together back in 2001.

He was part of the ATP Doubles Team of the Year in 2002 and 2004 (with Mark Knowles), and 2008 (with Nenad Zimonjić).

Nestor became the world No. 1 doubles player for the first time in August 2002.

Nestor is widely considered one of the foremost doubles players in history, due to his longevity and continued success at the top of the game.

The tandem won the 2002 Australian Open, the 2004 US Open and the 2007 French Open.

In mixed doubles, he reached his first final at the 2003 US Open with Lina Krasnoroutskaya.

On July 5, 2006, he participated in the second-longest match in Wimbledon history, lasting 6 hours and 9 minutes.

Nestor won three Grand Slam doubles titles together with longtime partner Mark Knowles of the Bahamas.

He made it to the 2006 Australian Open and 2006 French Open finals, as well as winning the mixed doubles event at the 2007 Australian Open with partner Elena Likhovtseva.

2007 was a year of change for Nestor.

He and long-time doubles partner Knowles announced that they were parting ways after the 2007 US Open (the two won 40 titles together, including 3 Grand Slams, 1 ATP year-end finals, and 15 ATP Masters 1000 titles), as Nestor began a new partnership with Nenad Zimonjić.

They won the first title of their official partnership at the 2007 St. Petersburg Open, then advanced to the 2007 Paris Masters final as the second seeds, where they lost to No. 1 doubles team Bob and Mike Bryan.

Nestor and Knowles partnered once more at the 2007 Tennis Masters Cup after having qualified for the year-end event as the top seed.

Their finals win over Simon Aspelin and Julian Knowle earned them their first Tennis Masters Cup title at the year-end doubles tournament, and was a fitting end for one of the most successful doubles teams to ever play the game.

Nestor had chosen to partner with Zimonjić because he felt as though the game had transformed into a more powerful and physical version of doubles.

The New York Times reported that "on the tour, it's known that they (Nestor and Zimonjić) joined up, after years in the top 5 with other partners, specifically to usurp the Bryans."

In 2008 (their first full season), Nestor and Zimonjić won the first major title of their partnership at the Hamburg Masters.

They reached the final of the French Open a week later.

Nestor and Zimonjić then captured the 2008 Wimbledon title, winning over Jonas Björkman and Kevin Ullyett.

This was Nestor's first Wimbledon title, and in doing so, he completed a Career Grand/Golden Slam.

The pair also captured the 2008 Tennis Masters Cup that year.

In 2009, the pair won Wimbledon again and eight additional titles, five of which were Masters 1000 events – personal bests for both in terms of numbers of Masters 1000 and overall titles won in a single year.

, he is 10th for the most ATP Tour titles in Open Era history, and has the third-highest tally for doubles titles.

In 2010, Nestor and Zimonjić won the French Open and were runners-up at the Australian Open.

In October 2010, the duo announced that they would split up at the end of the 2010 season.

He was part of the squad who made history for Canada in 2013 as they were the first Canadian team in the Open Era to reach the World Group semifinals.

In January 2016, Nestor became the first doubles player in ATP history to win 1000 matches.

Nestor retired at the end of the 2018 season, ending a 27-year career.