The former Manchester United forward was given a wild card to play in the Uruguay Open in Montevideo, a tournament on the Challenger Tour that sits just below the elite ATP Tour.

Forlan and his Argentinian partner Federico Coria, ranked 101, suffered a 6-1 6-2 defeat to Bolivian duo Boris Arias and Federico Zeballos in front of a large crowd, but the result was immaterial for the 45-year-old, who represented his country at football more than 100 times.

“I’m grateful for the opportunity to play with Fede,” he said in quotes on claytenis.com.

“It’s not easy for him to enter these tournaments with an amateur beside him. I hadn’t even imagined, let alone dreamed of this. It’s wonderful to have played against professionals – it takes courage to do it.

“The atmosphere on this court that I love so much was incredible; my friends, my family were here. It was very special, and I enjoyed it. I felt like a tennis player for a moment.”

Both teams held serve to start the match, but Arias and Zeballos quickly pulled away after earning a break in the third game of the first set.

The second set followed in similar fashion, with Forlan and Coria struggling to contain the high-powered serving of their opponents, while the former was unable to hold serve during the contest, which lasted only 47 minutes.

“I’ll take with me a few volleys, a good smash, and some forehands during the exchanges. Overall, I’m pleased,” he said.

Forlan signed for Manchester United from Argentinian club Independiente in 2002 and was part of Sir Alex Ferguson’s squad that won the 2003 Premier League title and the 2004 FA Cup.

After making 98 appearances and scoring 17 goals, Forlan joined Spanish side Villarreal and later played for Atletico Madrid as well as Inter Milan before spells in Brazil, Japan, Uruguay, India and Hong Kong.

He scored 36 goals in 112 appearances for his country, finishing as joint top goalscorer at the 2010 World Cup as Uruguay secured a third-place finish in South Africa, and won the 2011 Copa America.

Forlan was a promising junior tennis player and has continued to play since hanging up his boots in 2019.

He has had some success on the seniors tennis circuit and said he would focus his efforts on court now on tournaments in the over-45s category.