Del Potro Still Has Wrist Pain

Written by: Bob Larson Tennis on 14th February 2014

Del Potro Still Has Wrist Pain

epa04072319 Argentina's Juan Martin Del Potro reacts after beating France's Gael Monfils in their first round match at the ABN Amro World Tennis Tournament in Rotterdam, Netherlands, 12 February 2014. EPA/KOEN SUYK |

Juan Martin Del Potro is still feeling pain in the wrist injury that hampered him at last month’s Australian Open and subsequently sent him for consultations and treatment at the famed Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota.

The world no.4 who is top seed in the ongoing ABN/Amro World Tennis Tournament in Rotterdam admitted to feeling extreme discomfort in his two wins so far against the French duo of Gael Monfils and Paul-Henri Mathieu.

Del Potro beat Mathieu 6-2, 7-6 last night but had to save two set-points on serve and the 2012 runner-up and 2013 champion at the Ahoy Stadium, admitted: “Sometimes I get frustrated.

“It’s not easy when I want to close the point and hit hard but I have to hit slices. But I have done this for the past month on the tour and I have to deal with it. If the pain goes away I will start to hit the backhand harder again.”

Del Potro now has to face another exacting work out against the potentially dangerous Ernests Gulbis in the quarterfinals. He acknowledged: “ I recovered myself well when I was in trouble against Mathieu the tiebreak. But I made too many mistakes in the second set and probably that was because I was still feeling pain in the left wrist.

Pain in Del Potro’s left wrist flared up during the summer hard-court season in 2012 and the spring hard-court season last year. He also required injections and treatment at last year’s U.S. Open, where he lost to Lleyton Hewitt in the second round.

A similar combination of injections and treatment allowed Del Potro to progress to the title at the Apia International Sydney, just before the Australian Open. However after switching to Melbourne for the year’s first Grand Slam event, the pain worsened and he lost, surprisingly to many fans, in the second round to Roberto Bautista Agut.

The 2009 US Open champion returned home to Tandil in Argentina to rest, but Del Potro then decided to fly to Minnesota to consult with Dr. Richard Berger, who performed career saving surgery on his right wrist in 2010.

Topics: 10sballs, Australian Open, Ernests Gulbis, Gael Monfils, Juan Martin Del Potro, Paul Henri Mathieu, Roberto Bautista Agut, Sports, Tennis, Tennis News