Juan Martín del Potr o picked up a racket again and played a professional match almost 1,000 days later. Surely it was the last of a very successful career at the beginning and crushed by injuries in recent years. Too many emotions in front of his compatriots on the clay of Buenos Aires . ‘Delpo’ burst into tears even before his defeat against Federico Delbonis was confirmed in a packed Pista Central Guillermo Vilas .
“Today is a day that I will remember for the rest of my life. I still haven’t found a happier place than inside a tennis court and now I want to be happy. I gave everything I had until the last point. I will always remember this day, but I feel like I have my whole life ahead of me and I can go in peace,” he confessed.
In theory, Del Potro was also going to play one last tournament in Rio de Janeiro , but these words sound like a farewell. This feeling is accompanied by symbolic gestures such as the one he made with his characteristic headband, which he took off and left resting on the net. It had been 965 days since his last game and four steps in the operating room for his recurring wrist and knee injuries.
“I think I made too much effort in two and a half years to come back and be able to play, like I did so many other times. Sometimes I can lose too and I don’t have the strength to move on. This time I feel that a little, “he acknowledged with his voice broken by sobs.
The 33-year-old tennis player from Tandil made his debut on the professional circuit at just 17 years of age in a match against Juan Carlos Ferrero . The highlight of his career was the title of champion at the US Open 2009 beating Roger Federer in the final. He won a total of 22 ATP titles and was left with the only thorn of not reaching world number one, as he acknowledged after receiving the applause of more than 5,000 Argentines delivered to his idol.
