Perhaps mobilized by Lionel Messi or by Angel Di Maria who hit a wall a thousand times to cross it, Juan Martín Del Potro keeps trying. The tandilense returned to speak to the press after a long time and left phrases of all kinds. Like which ones? Note. "I was number three in the world, I fell, I broke my knee and I'm still consulting with doctors to see how I can heal." "Sometimes I ask why it happened to me and other times, why not me." "My time in tennis is not locked and locked."
Del Potro held a press conference as part of the launch of a campaign by the international logistics company DHL Express, called "Open for Us", for which he was chosen as a brand ambassador for his incredible story of resilience, positivity and the passion he always put into his extraordinary tennis career.
"I don't have my stage in tennis locked and locked. It is an internal desire to step on the court for the last time at the US Open, but my physique sends me messages that are not compatible with that desire," explained the 34-year-old from Tandil.
Despite the desire, Del Potro admitted that it will be difficult to fulfill his desire to play the next US Open in New York, after having officially closed his career in February last year due to a chronic right kneecap injury.
Del Potro, in full recovery of his knee. Photos: Disney
"At some times of the day I feel like an active tennis player and on my social media it still says 'tennis player', but it's very difficult the day after. In my case, life put this on my path and I could not do a process like that of Nadal, for example, who announced that next is going to be his last season: he can already think about where he is going to live and plan other types of things, "analyzed the Tower of Tandil.
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In my case, I was number three in the world, I fell, broke my knee and I'm still consulting with doctors to see how I can heal. I didn't do the process like any normal tennis player and I feel like an active athlete," Del Potro added.
The 2009 US Open champion injured his knee in June 2019 and despite his repeated attempts (and surgeries through) he never recovered, his last appearance on the circuit being in February 2022 when he lost in the opening round of the Argentina Open to Federico Delbonis 6-1, 6-3 on the Guillermo Vilas center court of the Buenos Aires Lawn Tennis Club.
"I live with two sensations. On the one hand I have anger, I feel annoyed and I wonder why this happened to me. Then it happens to me the other way around and I think, 'Why not me?', "Delpo" reflected.
"There are many other athletes who suffer, at the recent Roland Garros Alcaraz suffered cramps and that cost him the defeat with Djokovic, and he is 20 years old. When I was 20 years old, I won the final of the US Open against Federer, so all athletes suffer, sometimes it is for and sometimes against," he compared.
In 2019 Delpo won the US Open final against Roger Federer.Photos: Disney
Del Potro explained at the press conference that he trains daily to try to say goodbye to tennis in the Grand Slam that he conquered brilliantly in 2009 after winning the final over the Swiss Roger Federer, and announced that next week he will travel to China for an exhibition tournament in which he will take part with three former tennis players: the Spaniards David Ferrer and Carlos Moyá, and the Russian Marat Safin.
However, the US Open, fourth and last Grand Slam tournament of the year to be played in New York from August 28 to September 10, looms far on the horizon and despite his desire is not encouraged to say that he can fulfill it.
The Tandilense, an exclusive figure of the Davis Cup team of Argentina that was champion for the only time in history on November 27, 2016 after winning the final against Croatia, in Zagreb, by 3-2, carries out a set-up to be able to fulfill that objective that was raised when Lionel Messi and the Argentine national team lifted the World Cup in Qatar last December.
"Now Lionel Messi and the team put me to train," was the phrase launched on December 18 by the "Tower of Tandil", when Argentina lifted the World Cup.
With the premise of fulfilling that objective, Del Potro trained in Miami with Douglas Cordero, a physical trainer with a recognized career in the world of tennis, and in Argentina he does it at the facilities of the Argentine Tennis Club in the Buenos Aires neighborhood of Palermo.
Del Potro and his last trophy: BNP Paribas in Indian Wells, where he beat Federer in the final.Photo: AFP
To be able to play the US Open, the tandilense will need a special invitation from the organization of the tournament, since he has been without a ranking for more than a year.
Del Potro, who was number 3 in the world in 2018 and won 22 titles on the ATP circuit (the most important being the US Open in 2009), also won the Davis Cup and was a bronze medalist at the London 2012 Games and a silver medal at the Rio 2016 Games, to complete an extraordinary career.
The illusion of the tandilense to play the US Open is for now a desire and surely in mid-July he will decide if he can fulfill it and offer what would be the last function of an outstanding career.
With information from Télam