TOP PERSONALITY

Juan Martin Del Potro has been named as the best Argentinean sports personality of 2013. Some other big names including the Barcelona superstar Lionel Messi were in contention for that award as well, but, Del Potro left everyone behind and won the award.

The last season was absolutely fantastic for Del Potro. He played a total of 66 games in the season and managed to win 51. He lifted 4 singles trophies and finished the season as the 5^th ranked male player in the world.

Del Potro had the opportunity to win a Grand Slam too as he had qualified for the  semi finals in the Wimbledon Championship, but, he got defeated by the World no. 1 Novak Djokovic in a marathon match which went on for 5 sets.

Talking to the reporters after being given the award of best Argentinean sports personality, Del Potro said, “It’s really a proud moment for me. I played well throughout the last season and to be honest, I hadn’t expected that kind of performance from myself.”

“I am high on confidence at this point of time. I ended the last season at a good position in the world rankings and I have already started preparing for the next season. Hopefully, I do well in the next season too.”

Messi was also a strong contender to win this award as the first half of the ongoing year was terrific for him. He had scored many goals for Barcelona, but, of late, he has spend a lot of time on the sidelines because of injuries and hasn’t featured for Barcelona often enough. That was probably the reason he missed out. He is supposed to be back playing for his club at the start of next year.

TERRIBLE START

Argentina has had a terrible start to their Davis Cup semi final clash against Czech Republic. At the end of the first day, the visitors were down by 2-0 and now, Czech Republic just needs one victory to cruise into the final.

In the first singles match of the tie, Radek Stepanek took on Juan Monaco and managed to outclass him easily.  Stepanek won the match in the straight sets by 7-6(3), 6-3, 6-2.

Stepanek has come into this tie with some great form. He has just lifted the US Open men’s doubles trophy and he is full of confidence at the moment.

He looked just a little bit rusty in the first few games of the opening set today, but, he quickly got his rhythm back and took Monaco apart.

Talking to the reporters in the evening, Stepanek said, “The start wasn’t great for me, but, after spending a bit of time there, I started timing the shots well.”

On the other hand, Monaco was of the opinion that the pace in the surface helped the Czech player.

Monaco said, “A few chances came my way in the opening set, but, I couldn’t really make the most of them.”

“Radek was fantastic today. The surface was quick and that was idle for him.”

Czech Republic’s lead got extended to 2-0 later in the day when Tomas Berdych got better of Leonardo Mayer in 4 sets. Berdych won the match by 6-4, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4.

Argentina hasn’t won the Davis Cup even once so far. Last year, they were beaten by Czech Republic in the semi finals and they are in danger of being knocked out by the same opponent this year as well.

In the press conference at the end of the day’s play, the skipper of Argentina Martin Jaite said, “It hasn’t finished yet. We can still bounce back.”

Del Potro wins Citi Open tennis

Juan Martin Del Potro has won the Citi Open tennis tournament by defeating the local boy John Isner. Del Potro won the match in three sets by 3-6, 6-1, 6-2.

This is the third time that Del Potro has won this tournament. He had done that before in 2008 and 2009. Overall, this is the 15^th WTA title won by Del Potro in his career. Read more »

DEL POTRO DEFEATED

Juan Martin Del Potro has been defeated by the local boy John Isner in the semi final round of the ongoing Western and Southern Open. Isner won the match in three sets by 6-7(4), 7-6(9), 6-3.

It was a remarkable comeback by the American lad. He was on the verge of defeat at one point of time, but, he fought back amazingly well and ended up pulling off an upset.

This is the second time that Isner has made his way into the title round of a Masters 1000 tournament. He had done that last year as well when he had reached the final of BNP Paribas Open.

Talking to the reporters in the post match interview, Isner said, “It’s fantastic to be in the final of a big tournament again. My form has been decent this season, but, I haven’t been consistent. But, in this tournament, I think I have played some very good tennis.”

In the opening set, neither of the two players managed to sneak a breakthrough in the first 12 games and the scores got tied at 6-6. As a result, the set was extended into the tie breaker.

The tie breaker was pretty tight as well, but, towards the end, Del Potro got a crucial mini break and pulled it off to win the opener.

In the second set, the first 7 games went with the serve and at the end of the 7^th game; the score was 4-3 in the favour of Del Potro.

The Argentinean player extended his lead to 5-3 with a breakthrough in the 8^th game, but, he couldn’t consolidate on that in the next game as his serve was broken for the first time in the match.

The next 3 games went with the serve and the second set went into the tie breaker too. Again, the tie breaker went all the way down to the wire, but, this time, it was Isner who held his nerve and won it to drag the match further.

In the decider, Isner was off to a flier. He broke Del Potro’s serve in the second game and took a lead of 3-0. All he needed to do after that was to win his remaining service games and he did that without having too many problems to knock Del Potro out of the tournament.

In the final match, Isner will face the Spanish superstar Rafael Nadal.

JDP BEATS MALISSE

Juan Martin Del Potro has defeated Xavier Malisse of Belgium in the second round of the ongoing AEGON Championships. Del Potro won the match in three sets by 7-6(5), 1-6, 7-5.

This was a comeback match for Del Potro. He had not taken part in the recently played French Open because of a viral infection and then, in the opening round here, he had got a bye. So, this was his first match in the last 6 weeks or so. The Argentinean superstar looked rusty at times, but, somehow, he managed to pull off the win and moved ahead.

In the post match interview, Del Potro said, “It’s nice to make a comeback with a win. I desperately want to do well in this tournament and go into the Wimbledon Championships with a positive mindset. I have started well; hopefully, I will carry the momentum on.”

In the first set, neither of the two players managed to sneak a breakthrough in the first 12 games and the set went into the tie breaker.

Both the players were going neck-and-neck in the tie breaker as well, but, towards  the end, Malisse lost his concentration a bit and Del Potro sneaked a couple of  important  points to win the tie breaker and the set as well.

In the second set, Malisse was in a furious mood. He played some exceptional strokes and bagged the first 5 games consecutively. Del Potro held his serve in the 6^th game, but, that was not enough. He required two breakthroughs to pull things back, but, he couldn’t get those. The Belgian player served out the 7^th game and that was the end of the set.

In the third set, both the players dropped their serve once in the first 10 games and the scores were equalized at 5-5 at the end of the 10^th game. In the 11^th game, Malisse got three break opportunities, but, he couldn’t take advantage of either of them. By playing some ordinary strokes, he allowed Del Potro to hold his serve and that was the turning point of the match.

Del Potro showed his class in the next game and broke Malisse’s serve to finish off the match.

In the third round, Del Potro will face the winner of the match between Jarkko Nieminen and Daniel Evans.

DEL POTRO THROUGH IN MONTE CARLO

Juan Martin Del Potro has defeated Alexandr Dogopolov of Ukraine in the second round of the Monte Carlo Masters. Del Potro won the match by 1-6, 6-4, 6-3.

This was the fourth match between these two players and Del Potro has won all those 4 matches.

Del Potro had defeated Dogopolov in straight sets in the previous three meetings, but, this time, that didn’t happen. In the opening set, the Argentinean looked completely off colour. Dogopolov took advantage of that and with breakthroughs in the 4^th and the 6^th game; he won the opening set easily by 6-1.

Del Potro bounced back and had a better start in the second set. He got a breakthrough in the second game and took a lead of 2-0. But, he lost that lead soon. He dropped his serve in the 3^rd game and then, a serve hold by Dogopolov in the next game levelled the scores.

The next 5 games went with the serve and when the 9^th game was completed, Del Potro had a lead of 5-4. The Argentinean broke Dogopolov’s serve for the second time in the set in the 10^th game and won the second set by 6-4.

In the third and final set, none of the players dropped his serve in the first three games and Del Potro was ahead by 2-1.

With a serve break in the 4^th game, Del Potro extended his lead to 3-1, but, only to be broken back in the next game. The match was becoming more and more exciting with each game.

Del Potro got another breakthrough in the 6^th game and this time, he didn’t lose the advantage. A serve hold in the next game took him ahead by 5-2.

Dogopolov served out the 8^th game to decrease the lead to 3-5, but, that wasn’t going to save him. The breakthroughs were needed, but, he didn’t get those. Del Potro held his serve in the 9^th game and that was the end of the match.