Is Juan Martin del Potro Starting a Career Resurgence in Madrid?
Juan Martin del Potro is ready to work his way back up the ATP World Tour rankings after an impressive first-round win over Dominic Thiem on Madrid’s red clay.
The Argentine has been a feel-good story in coming back to play matches after wrist injuries kept him out of all but a handful of matches in 2014-15, but he just scored his biggest victory since defeating Roger Federer for the Swiss Indoors Basel title in late October 2013.
"I have just played my best match since I came back to tennis after my surgeries," Del Potro told the ATP World Tour website. "I've had a great test against a very high-level player."
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Ben Rothenberg of the New York Times tweeted:
Meanwhile, tennis fans hold their collective breath, hoping Del Potro can have a few healthy years to compete after being robbed of his prime years. Surely the tennis gods owe him this. He has more than paid with the nightmare of “what could have been.”
Is it too much to expect Del Potro to climb the long ladder back into the ATP top 10, where he was once a stalwart, peaking as high as No. 4 at intermittent periods from 2010-14? Could he contend this summer for a second career major title?
Unfulfilled Promise
It was last decade that Del Potro nearly changed history. In the 2009 French Open semifinals he led 6-3, 6-7 (2), 6-2 over Federer. Then, the Swiss Maestro picked himself off the red dirt and rolled to his history-defining title, the one that put him with Pete Sampras and gave him the career Grand Slam.
Few people reflected much on the scare Del Potro gave him.
Three months later, the South American stared down Federer in the U.S. Open final, trading thunderous groundstrokes and overpowering the Swiss legend. He was only 20 years old with a major title, and the future was as bright as the emblem on his country’s flag.
The wrist problems came when the calendar turned to 2010 in Australia. It was symbolic fate, and he would need a couple years to rebuild his ranking and competitive best.
By early 2013, Del Potro was a renewed force, defeating Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic at Indian Wells by mixing in plenty of forehand slice and two-fisted backhands to complement his big strokes.
And then he was unwilling to deal with slice in the Indian Wells final against Rafael Nadal, perhaps underlying that not everything was strong.
Del Potro’s last truly epic battle was that summer’s Wimbledon semifinal loss to Djokovic, a match that nearly went five hours and perhaps wore down the Serb for his eventual defeat to Andy Murray in the final.
By February 2014, Del Potro’s weakness would put him out, and it was questionable that he would ever return. He became a footnote, all but forgotten as other new contenders stepped into the top 10, but few with the Argentine’s potential and proven ability to win a major.
Tennis can be cruel but to sit helplessly on the sidelines is agony. Del Potro could not be unbound from his tragic fate, and perhaps in the history of myths and legends, only Prometheus could commiserate with the whiskered tennis titan.
Last Chance
He’s now 27 years old with the kind of tortured wisdom that can only be experienced. He admitted that he almost quit professional tennis, per Reuters (h/t the Daily Mail).
Maybe, ultimately, it’s too hard to give up on a world-class talent that had been a major part of his life.
If he had dreamed of being a tennis star since the time he could swing a racket, the Argentine can no doubt appreciate he is in Madrid after a stunning victory over hard-hitting Dominic Thiem—a youngster who brashly hits with the kind of verve that propelled the young Del Potro to his flirtations with stardom.
Del Potro is still not expected to go far in Madrid, Rome or Roland Garros, but every match is a step forward, as long as the pain stays away.
The future is more uncertain, and time is part of the equation in wondering if Del Potro can be a star once again.
A tennis player like Del Potro needs both wrists to snap off topspin or killer flat shots with his double-fisted grip. It’s a repeated drop, lag and snap motion that violently seeks to punch through any defense. It’s everything for racket-head speed, as vital as a player’s legs.
Tennis broadcaster David Law tweeted:
There’s just little certainty that Del Potro can hold up after this perpetually chronic condition and surgeries.
History is rarely kind to players who come back from long layoffs, with unusual exceptions for Thomas Muster’s car accident, Andre Agassi’s three lost years and Nadal’s ability to play with significant knee injuries nearly his entire career. That’s about it.
Even a gamer like Tommy Haas had recent moderate success, but nothing that substantially changed the face of the ATP.
The odds are seriously against Del Potro storming into the French Open and running to the semifinals, especially with trying to move up draws when his ranking hovers in the 200s.
It still seems impossible that he can crash into the final weekend at Wimbledon, win another Olympic medal and bag a second U.S. Open trophy.
There’s always the chance—and this is probably all Del Potro would ask to have—but it’s a long road to get back to where he once was. A long return journey to where he should be now instead of this injury-plagued alternative history that should be taking place in a parallel universe.
These days, Del Potro is still more of a reminder of his past than a legitimate hope that he could be dueling Djokovic for the rights to No. 1.
If only the tennis gods let him play at his best. Just for a few years.
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