He had everything to be the first to the big three of world tennis, before Andy Murray - an outstanding serve, a perfect forehand, more than good movement and backhand, an excellent volley and a winning mentality. He had everything but the body...
Some call him the Giant from Tandil, some abbreviate his surname Delpo, and they could freely "attach" to him the epithet born baksuz.
It is, of course, Juan Martin del Potro, who will again take a long break due to another serious injury.
The Argentinean seemed to have the world at his feet when, on September 14, 2009, in the final of the US Open, he stopped the tennis king of New York, Roger Federer, and won the first Grand Slam title with a 3:2 victory in sets (3:6, 7:6, 4 :6, 7:6, 6:4). Just two days earlier, he blew away Rafael Nadal (three times 6:2 each) with "Artur Eša", but in the final he was awaited by the man who registered his 40th consecutive victory in the Big Apple against Novak Djokovic.
After that defeat, the Serb said that Federer was invincible, that no one could do anything to him in New York, but Delpo showed that he had a solution. He became the tallest champion at the biggest tournaments in history (198 centimeters, by which five years later Marin Čilić reached the same height at the same place), the first man to defeat both Nadal and Federer at the same Grand Slam, the only one besides Rafa and Djokovic who was beating Maestro from Basel in the GS finals...
It seemed that there were no limits for him, that the world had received a new giant, but then the troubles began. In the first match after the US Open, he lost to the 189th player in the world Eduard Rože-Vaslan in Tokyo, then surrendered to Jürgen Meltzer in Shanghai and Radek Stepanek in Paris due to an injury to the stomach muscles. He appeared at the first ATP Championship in London and lost to Nikolay Davydenko in the final, and then everything went downhill.
At the beginning of 2010, he reached a record 4th place on the ATP list, but unbearable problems with his wrist began. After only four matches at the Australian Open, he went on a break, and in May he finally went for surgery. He came back, won Olympic bronze in London 2012 and reached the semifinals of Wimbledon in 2013, but in 2014 and 2015 he had to go under the knife again due to the same problems with his left wrist.
Many would have given up, but he didn't want to. In Rio de Janeiro, he shocked the owner of all Grand Slam titles, Novak Djokovic, in the 1st round of the Olympic Games and reached the final, where he lost to Andy Murray. He got his revenge in the semi-finals of the Davis Cup in Glasgow, and then in the final he defeated Ivo Karlović and Marin Čilić in the "Arena Zagreb" for his first "salatara".
He started to play like he used to, to win titles, reached the final of the US Open and lost to Djokovic, who judged that Delpo plays the best tennis in his life, while Federer called him Del Tortro, because he "hits" the racket like God Tor with a mallet. But, above all, the 30-year-old is a failure - in Shanghai, he broke a bone in his knee when he fell during a match with Borno Ćorić, which is why he is waiting for another long break.
- This is an extremely difficult moment, I am very sad. It's hard for me to think about recovery again now, I didn't expect this to happen to me - Del Potro said in a wistful voice in Shanghai.
Tennis fans are left with hope that he is not tired of severe injuries and that he will have the motivation to come back again. Because, without him, the ATP caravan is not the same...
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the cup in his career was won by Juan Martin del Potro. The most important for him are the US Open in 2009 and the Davis Cup in 2016, and he also has Olympic silver from Rio in 2016 and bronze from London in 2012. This year, he won two related tournaments, in Acapulco and the Masters in Indian Wells, and lost four finals. - in Oakland, Los Cabos, at the US Open and in Beijing
Important dates and injury history
August 2009: Del Potro became the tallest Grand Slam champion - with a height of 198 centimeters, he defeated Roger Federer in New York and won the US Open. A champion seemed to be born.
February 2010: Went on a break, due to a problem with his wrist, which he tried to solve by resting.
May 2010: He finally decided to go for surgery, which separated him from the racket for a long time.
March 2014: At the tournament in Rotterdam, he lost to Ernest Gulbis, but in Dubai he had to hand over to Somdev Deverman. He underwent further wrist surgery, which caused him to miss the remainder of the 2014 season.
Meitheamh 2015: He returned at the Australian Open, but the pain immediately returned - Delpo suffered until the sixth month, when he decided to go for a new surgical intervention.
October 2016: Just one month after reaching the finals of the US Open, he broke a bone in his foot and "signed" a new longer break.
Bonus video:
