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Is Juan Martin Del Potro Starting a Career Resurgence in Madrid?
- Updated: May 4, 2016
Juan Martin del Potro is ready to work his way back up the ATP 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,” said Del Potro in ATP World Tour. “I’ve had a great test against a very high-level player.”
Tears for del Potro after the win. Lots of emotions after beating an in-form, top player like Thiem. Only the start for delPo, we hope.
— Ben Rothenberg (@BenRothenberg) May 3, 2016
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 …
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