Brilliant but fragile giant, Del Potro aims for yet another comeback

The former world number 3 (still) wants to believe it.

In agreement with his doctor, he therefore made the decision to accept a new surgery.

This will be his fourth knee operation in a career marked by hard knocks, he who had previously undergone ... four surgeries on the wrist.

“I consulted doctor Jorge Chahla and I will have another knee operation tomorrow (this Tuesday).

The doctor knows that I want to replay and compete in the Olympics (July 23-August 8), so we decided to perform the operation as soon as possible.

Of course, the past few weeks have not been easy.

Everything has been so hard since my father passed away but I also feel the strength he sends me from up there.

[…] I hope to overcome this painful situation.

I won't stop trying. ”

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Out of the circuit since a right knee injury on Queen's turf in 2019, Del Potro wants to believe in a new comeback.

Since his patella fracture of his right knee during the Queen's tournament, he has undergone an operation in January 2020, then several months of rehabilitation.

Not enough to become a tennis player again: “I tried a lot of conservative and alternative treatments.

They didn't give good results, the pain is still there. "

Last November, the 2016 Davis Cup winner told

ESPN Argentina

 : “I'm standing because I want to keep playing.

I'm going to keep fighting as long as I feel like it's not over. "

The former winner of the US Open 2009 has only one dream: to play the Olympic Games in 2021. Bronze medalist in London in 2012, silver in Rio in 2016, Del Potro has always been transcended by the Olympics: “The The Olympic Games train me, that's my motivation ”.

Leave, come back

The spell is bitter against him.

It's the right knee that's been playing tricks on him in recent years.

Eight months after breaking his kneecap during the Masters 1000 in Shanghai, the Argentinian was again affected in the same place in June 2019. Previously, Del Potro had been operated on three times on his left wrist (2010, 2014 and 2015) .

Each time, the winner of the US Open 2009 returned to his best level.

He even reached third place in the world in August 2018. But injuries caught up with him again.

Leave, come back.

After his operation in 2010, the Argentine had taken two long seasons before approaching the level which was the breast.

Falling to 485th in the world in January 2011, he returned to the top 10 in January 2012. He had managed to qualify for the Masters at the end of 2012 during a season in which he had gleaned four titles.

In 2013, he even found the top 5. Before another relapse ...

Winner of the US Open 2009

Titled 22 times on the circuit, the native of Tandil, a city of 100,000 inhabitants located 250 km from Buenos Aires, had been promised a great career.

In New York, he then dominated Roger Federer in the final after a sumptuous showdown (3-6, 7-6, 4-6, 7-6, 6-2).

One of the most impressive ball strikes of recent years had previously dominated Rafael Nadal.

No one before him had beaten the two huge champions in the same major tournament.

He also put an end to four years of unchallenged domination of the "Big Four" on the Grand Slams.

As a steamroller.

The one who displays a quick draw, transformed into a relentless warrior on the court.

The new Argentinian hero was in the process offered a lap of honor at the Bombonera stadium, that of his football club of heart, Boca Juniors.

A star was born, launched towards the first place in the world.

But his too fragile body decided otherwise ... At 32, time is running out for Del Potro, in what looks like a last-ditch operation, before a final comeback that all tennis lovers are hoping for.

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