1 The 20-year-old Argentinian is the first player to reach the men's singles final at the first attempt in the Open era. The previous best performance was an 18-year-old John McEnroe reaching the semi-finals in 1977.

2 His father is a salesman and his mother is a housewife. His brother Dario is a tennis coach and his other brother Javier used to coach.

3 He is a big fan of rallying which is something of a tradition in his home city of Cordoba.

4 He also enjoys fishing and playing football, while he supports Argentinian soccer club River Plate.

5 He won the Wimbledon junior doubles title with countryman Guillermo Coria in 1999.

6 He has never lost a match at Wimbledon in senior or junior tennis - although he was defaulted for turning up late to a junior semi-final three years ago.

7 Nalbandian is only the second ever South American to reach the final - and the first beat an Australian to win the title. Peru's Alex Olmedo defeated Rod Laver in the 1959 final.

8 He has reached the final in only his fourth Grand Slam event. He reached the third round as a qualifier at the 2001 US Open; reached the second round at this year's Australian Open and the third round at the French Open.

9 He enjoyed a breathtaking year in 2001, improving his world ranking from 248 to 47 - an astonishing rise of 201 places. Coming into Wimbledon he was ranked 32 in the world and the number 28 seed at the championships.

10 He has only won one ATP Tour title going into the final, at Estoril, whereas opponent Lleyton Hewitt has won 15 - including last year's US Open.