Despite Slow Start, Juan Martin del Potro Advances to 3rd Round

Written by: Staff on 11th March 2012

Despite Slow Start, Juan Martin del Potro Advances to 3rd Round

Juan Martin Del Potro of Argentina returns during his men's singles match against Philipp Kohlschreiber of Germany at the Australian Open Grand Slam tennis tournament in Melbourne, Australia, 22 January 2012. EPA/AHMAD YUSNI |

Juan Martin del Potro played careful tennis in the first set of his opening around match against Australian qualifier Marinko Matosevic. The big-hitting Argentine looked to be struggling, still getting used to playing on Stadium 1. Maybe he was feeling the affects of daylight savings time. But it was uncharacteristic to not see DelPo unleashing his massive strokes upon the qualifier. Instead it was Matosevic who looked comfortable, moving the Argentine and playing decent tennis. It wasn’t until a tight service game from DelPo at 30all 4-5 that he finally opened up his shoulders and blasted a forehand down-the-line winner, then an ace to close out the game. Although Matosevic was playing good tennis all set, he was left shrugging his shoulders and helplessly calling out to his seating area.

Matosevic’s body language is definitely a weakness, he flails his racket childishly after misses and keeps a running negative conversation with himself. Tony Roche, who’s sitting in Matosevic’s player seating area right next to DelPo’s coach Franco Davin, must be agitated by these behaviors. At 5all in the first set, Matosevic donated his service game, dumping a routine volley and committing errors from the back court. His body language was terrible the entire game. Another aspect of Matosevic’s game that Roche could comment on would be his net play. Matosevic is not comfortable nor solid up there. Del Po broke early in the 2nd set simply by luring Matosevic to net and letting him do damage to himself. He doesn’t possess the characteristic net play skills that so many Aussies have developed. Again, at 2-4 down in the 2nd set, Matosevic was caught at net and punched a volley wide to give Del Po a chance to serve out the match. Del Po, using his vast experience playing at the highest level, didn’t play his best tennis but got past a streaking Matosevic 7-5, 6-2.