Juan Martin del Potro: The sad story of the former US Open winner

Juan Martin del Potro was once one of the best tennis players in the world, but injuries hampered his career until the end. Let's take a look at the Del Potro's story.

From the age of 18, the Argentine has been showing his face on the ATP circuit, demonstrating the extent of his power from an early age.

He confirmed his talent fairly quickly, winning titles in his first few years on the circuit, even though his physical fragility was sometimes worrying.

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In 2009, he dazzled the tennis world by winning the biggest title of his career: the US Open. It was an exceptional victory that raised the prospect of many great titles to come.

However, the career of the man nicknamed the 'Tower of Tandil' never took the course he might have imagined, not least because of recurring injuries.

In 2010, Del Potro began to feel pain in his right wrist, which kept him off the courts for several months. Despite an operation, his season was a complete failure.

Between 2014 and 2015, the Argentine suffered another setback, this time with pain in his left wrist.

He underwent his first operation in March 2014 and was out of action for more than 10 months. He tried to make a comeback in 2015, but the pain was still present, and he underwent another operation in June.

He then made his comeback in February 2016 and gradually got back into the swing of things. After that, he had an exceptional run at the Olympics, losing to Andy Murray in the final.

Del Potro then managed to return to more or less normal form on the circuit and even secured his ticket for a second and final Grand Slam final, at the US Open in 2018.

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However, at the end of the season, he fell on his knee during a match at the Shanghai tournament and fractured his kneecap. It was the most serious injury of his career.

He tried to make a comeback the following season, but during a match against Denis Shapovalov in Queens, the Argentine fell and fractured his kneecap again, forcing him to undergo another operation.

From 2019 onwards, he announced his return several times on specific dates, but was unable to honour the public with his presence.

With the pain still present at every training session, Del Potro underwent a third knee operation at the end of 2020 to finally make his comeback.

Unfortunately for him, his knee was still bothering him, forcing him to undergo a fourth and final knee operation, with his objective being the Tokyo Olympics in August 2021.

As always, however, Del Potro was left disillusioned and never came back. He announced that he would play one last tournament in Buenos Aires in 2022, where he was eliminated in the first round by Federico Delbonis and ended his career in tears in front of his home crowd.

However, despite his announced retirement, a bet launched by the Argentine before the 2022 World Cup stipulated that if Argentina won, he would do everything in his power to return to the 2023 US Open.

Once again, however, the pain got the better of him. Not at 100%, Del Potro withdrew from the only Grand Slam tournament he ever won. Disabled in his day-to-day life by his knee, the Argentine said on Twitter he would try to look for "the best alternatives to regain my quality of life".

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