Juan Martin Del Potro Believes He’s Back To Elite Form

Written by: Staff on 9th July 2013

Juan Martin Del Potro Believes He’s Back To Elite Form

epa03776911 Juan Martin Del Potro of Argentina returns to Novak Djokovic of Serbia during their semi-final match for the Wimbledon Championships at the All England Lawn Tennis Club, in London, Britain, 05 July 2013. EPA/TOM HEVEZI |

It seems like Argentine Juan Martin Del Potro has been battling either injury or illness since he won the 2009 US Open. Shortly after that he wrecked his right wrist, which took him out of play for nearly a year. Even when he returned to the tour in late 2010 he was still feeling some pain.

The Tower of Tandil did play reasonably well in 2011, earning the ATP Comeback Player of Year award as he won two titles, returned to the top 20 and competed very well in Davis Cup, but his play was still not up to his own high standards.

In 2012, he began to make a bigger push, but although he won four titles (Marseille , Estoril, Vienna and Basel) and earned a spot in the AT World Tour Final, he was unable to keep up with the Big 4 in the Masters Series or Grand Slams. He reached three Grand Slam quarters, but lost to Roger Federer at the Australian Open and Roland Garros, and to Novak Djokovic at the US Open.

His brightest spot came at the London Olympics, when after suffering a record four hour, 26 minutes, 19-17 in third set defeat to Federer, he came back and edged Djokovic to win bronze.

The 6-foot-6 Del Potro started 2013 slowly when Jeremy Chardy upset him in the third round of Australian Open. But he picked up the pace by winning Rotterdam, and then upset Djokovic in three sets at the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Indian Wells to reach the final, where he lost to Nadal.

But then in Monte Carlo, he was struck by a nasty virus that had him vomiting and weak. He withdrew from Estoril, tried to play Rome but had no energy in his opening match so went back home to Argentina to visit with his doctors and recover. He pulled out of Roland Garros, but returned in Queen’s where he reached the quarterfinals.

Entering Wimbledon, he didn’t have his rhythm quite back yet, but he scraped through his first two matches. However, during the end of his straight-set win over Grega Zemlja he twisted his ankle and hyper extended his left knee. He was concerned he wouldn’t be able to play, but showed up and hit through Andreas Seppi in the fourth round and then did same against No. 4 David Ferrer in the quarterfinals, even though he took a nasty spill in the first set that had some commentators saying he might have to retire. His left knee looked like it was done.

“I took some anti-inflammatories to keep continue playing, but was really painful in the beginning of the match,” Del Potro said. “I just started the match and many things come to my mind, many bad things. But I try to be positive and play unbelievable tennis. I was lucky because I did everything good. But to be honest, I don’t want to retire in quarters for first time at the Wimbledon against David Ferrer. And that’s the reason for continuing play. I broke his serve early, and like this that give me confidence to take advantage in the beginning of the match. Then I play confidence, be careful all the time with my movements. But in the end I did 100% and I’m so glad to go through.”

Del Potro says that his doctors have told him that he cannot do any more damage to his knee, which is why he is continuing to play on.

©Daily Tennis News Wire

Topics: Argentine tennis news, Juan Martin Del Potro, Wimbledon Championships

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10sBalls_com says:

July 9, 2013 at 9:50 am

Juan Martin Del Potro Believes He’s Back To Elite Form – http://t.co/M3f42IrVKz #tennis @delpotrojuan @Wimbledon
tennistweeties says:

July 11, 2013 at 2:03 pm

RT @10sBalls_com: Juan Martin Del Potro Believes He’s Back To Elite Form – http://t.co/M3f42IrVKz #tennis @delpotrojuan @Wimbledon