Thirteen years have now passed since Juan Martin Del Potro‘s historic victory at Flushing Meadows. An undertaking, that of the Argentine talent, comparable perhaps only to that of Robin Soderling against Rafa Nadal on the land of Bois de Boulogne the same year.
The Swede, however, had slammed into Roger Federer in the final. Juan Martin Del Potro has always had a special relationship with the US Open: so much so that even in 2018 after nine years he had risked an unlikely encore in a season as a protagonist.
He was understandably blocked only by an extraordinary Novak Djokovic, forced to skip the New York Slam against his will in 2022 but probably not to give up the appointment with the ATP Finals in Turin. In short: in the mosta amazing wins of Delm Potro there are also two Olympic medals (a bronze in London in 2012 and a silver in Rio in 2016), the perfect synthesis of a career as extraordinary as it is unfortunate.
The giant-good-Argentine found himself forced to hang up his racket this year, after a handful of seasons of substantial absence, due to the chronic knee problem. In the course of a very long interview with ESPN, in New York, where he is in these days, Del Potro has however confessed that he has not yet abandoned the idea of returning to the ATP Tour and above all of giving himself another chance in the tournament that exactly thirteen years ago he consecrated it.
Juan Del Potro could come back on the Tour!
He explained: “I continue to try treatments to improve the condition of my knee, if I were to find success I would like to return to the circuit to play a few more tournaments and the organization of the US Open has proposed that I retire here permanently next year.”
Del Potro then explained with a hint of hope and a lot of clarity.My priority is certainly to live without pain, but at this moment I honestly only continue to seek the right treatment that can leave me an open window on tennis.
I still feel like a tennis player: when I see my colleagues competing on the pitch I think to myself that I should be there too. I still don’t think of myself as a former player.”
