DEL POTRO OPTIMISTIC

Del Potro is hopeful that his career can rescale the heights reached when he won the US Open in 2009 and thinks that Wimbledon could be the start of his true return to form. The Argentine has struggled with injury for a couple of years now, undergoing a major wrist operation in 2010.

He played just 2 matches in the next 22 months but finally returned to playing on a regular basis in 2011, even winning two minor tournaments. The pain associated with the wrist injury came and went during these encounters though, and at the top of the game the players must have absolute confidence in their fitness before producing their best – its just not possible to beat Nadal or Federer if you are busy thinking of whether your wrist will last the whole match.

However, after playing Nadal in last year’s Wimbledon Juan Martin Del Potro sensed that his time of injuries and pain was nearing its end. “It took a long time,” Del Potro said. “I’d been playing on clay and hard courts and I felt OK. At Wimbledon I said to myself: ‘OK, I’m not scared any more.’ After Wimbledon I felt like I had made my comeback.” After returning to full fitness he rocketed back up the rankings,  taking 6 months to rise from 485^th position  to 20^th but the climb from that position to the top ten was more difficult, and he now sits in 9^th. “I was watching the top-20 players and they were playing at a high level, much better than me, and I didn’t know if I could get to that level,” said the Argentine. “But my coach, my friends and my family gave me confidence to work hard, to improve and after Wimbledon I said: ‘OK, I will be there. I don’t know when, but my game is starting to be dangerous for other players again’.”

In the French Open earlier this month, Del Potro put in his best run of performances for years, finally succumbing in the quarterfinals to Federer, but only after winning the first two sets and then suffering the recurring knee problem that has plagued him in the past. He remains ambitious, and dreams of the number one spot someday,  but for the moment has a different objective. “Now I’m trying to find a way to win another Grand Slam,” he said, “maybe this year or next year, I don’t know.”