Sali Nallbani, born on May 5, 1915, in an old Tirana family, was the first Albanian tennis player.
In the early 1930s, Sali received his first tennis lessons from a French high school professor. In 1933, a Swede, the honorary consul of Albania in Stockholm, Franklin Gardlund, at his own expense, took a group of high school students to Stockholm, among whom, besides Sali Nallbani, were also Vedat Kokona, Sadik Kaceli, Xhemal Kallçiu, etc.
Here Sali played his first matches and his talent fell in the eyes of foreign specialists, inviting him to the official tournaments. Thus in 1934 in Stockholm, he reached the final of the student championship taking first place and winning the cup which is the first cup of any Albanian athlete in the international arena.
Afterward, he successfully participates in other tournaments in Berlin and Copenhagen, everywhere with excellent results. In July 1935 at the Stockholm International Tournament, Nallbani reaped a sensational victory by defeating the Swedish champion in the final with the result 7:5 / 8:6, thus winning the big silver cup, for which he was congratulated by the King of Sweden Gustav V-th himself.
Here in this important international tournament, the Albanian national anthem was played for the first time. When he returns home, he and his family build three tennis courts in Tirana and Sali begins with the training of the new generations of tennis players.
In Tirana, he is known as the “father of tennis” and appears in the golden book of S.C. Tirana, as the only tennis player. In the photo (I apologize for the poor quality) Sali Nallbani with his Italian wife Juli in Tirana during the 1930s.