Injured Argentine tennis star David Nalbandian might skip Beijing Olympics

David Nalbandian (Photo by Matthew Stockman/Getty Images)Photo Gallery>>(BEIJING, July 14) -- Argentine tennis player David Nalbandian will probably miss the 2008 Olympics, which open on August 8 in Beijing, due to a severe muscular injury in his right arm, according to the official website of the Ole newspaper in Argentina.

The world number 8 single's player, Nalbandian had been selected to lead a seven-person-strong Argentine team on the Beijing Olympics tennis court, according to the official website of the Chinese government-run Xinhua news agency.

However, David Nalbandian was injured during the first round of the 2008 Wimbledon Championships on June 23, according to the Wimbledon website. The Ole newspaper reported that the Argentine tennis player is now undergoing physical therapy and is likely to be operated on. His physical therapist, Diego Rodriguez, was quoted in Ole as saying that Nalbandian hasn't played tennis for two weeks, but has worked out in the swimming pool and on a bicycle.

Winner of the 2005 Tennis Masters Cup in Shanghai, China, Nalbandian began 2008 in the top ten. He won the Copa Telmex competition in Buenos Aires, and took second place at the Abierto Mexicano Telcel in Acapulco, Mexico. Nalbandian is capable of playing with a versatile style, and his main strengths lie in his ground strokes and return game, complemented by his deft accuracy and incredible foot speed.

Nalbandian is on the way to recovery, but he might already have made a final decision on giving up the Olympics. According to the official website of Wimbledon Championships, he suggested that he will not play at the Beijing Olympics.