Juan Martín del Potro

Juan Martín del Potro
Del Potro 2016 at Wimbledon
Nickname:	Delpo, The Tower of Tandil
Nation:	Argentina
Birthday:	23rd September 1988 (age 31)
Size:	198 cm
Weight:	97 kg
1st professional season:	2005
Playing hand:	Right, two-handed backhand
Trainer:	Sebastian Prieto
Prize money:	$ 25,889,586
singles
Career record:	439: 173
Career title:	22nd
Highest ranking:	3 (August 13, 2018)
Current placement:	123
Grand Slam record
Double
Career record:	41:44
Career title:	1
Highest ranking:	105 (May 25, 2009)
Current placement:	445
Grand Slam record
Olympic games
Last update of the infobox: November 25, 2019
Sources: official player profiles at the ATP / WTA and ITF (see web links )

Juan Martín del Potro (born September 23, 1988 in Tandil ) is an Argentine tennis player . So far he has won 22 singles tournaments and a double title. His greatest success was winning the US Open in 2009. In August 2018, he reached his best position in the world rankings with third place.

Career

Beginning of professional career (2006-2007)

In February 2006, del Potro played his first ATP tournament in Vina del Mar . He won his first game against Albert Portas and then lost to Fernando González . At the age of 17, he qualified for his first Grand Slam tournament, the 2006 French Open . In the first round he lost to the former French Open winner Juan Carlos Ferrero . In the same year he also qualified for the US Open , but failed in round one to Alejandro Falla . This was followed by the first Masters tournament of his career in Madrid . He also lost there in the first round against Joachim Johansson . Thanks to an invitation from Roger Federer , he took part in the tournament in Basel and reached the quarter-finals, in which he failed at the later finalist Fernando González.

Del Potro started 2007 in Adelaide with his first semi-final in an ATP tournament. He was defeated there by the Australian Chris Guccione . At the Australian Open he had to give up in the second round in the fifth set against Fernando González. On February 11, 2007, he had his Davis Cup debut in the first round against Austria, in which he won the fourth match and thus secured the third point for Argentina for the quarter-finals. He reached the round of 16 of the Sony Ericsson Open in Miami by defeating Jonas Björkman , Marcos Baghdatis and Michail Juschny , but was then stopped by Rafael Nadal . At the eventual winner Nadal, he also failed in the first round of the French Open . Again it was Nadal, against whom del Potro was eliminated in his first tournament on grass at the Queen's Club in London . In his first appearance at Wimbledon , he had to admit defeat to world number one and eventual winner Roger Federer in the second round. On July 23, 2007 he won the doubles in Indianapolis on the side of Travis Parrott . At the last Grand Slam tournament of the year, del Potro lost in the third round against the eventual finalist Novak Đoković . The Masters in Madrid also ended in the third round when he lost to his compatriot and eventual winner David Nalbandian .

Entry into the top ten of the world rankings (2008)

After he had to give up in the second round against David Ferrer at the Australian Open in 2008 and lost to Stanislas Wawrinka in the second round at Wimbledon , he finally made his breakthrough in the summer. On July 13, 2008, del Potro won his first ATP title at the Mercedes Cup in Stuttgart with a final victory over Richard Gasquet . A week later he reached his second final; at the Austrian Open in Kitzbühel he defeated local hero Jürgen Melzer in less than an hour. He won his third consecutive title against Andy Roddick in the Los Angeles final . A week later he also won the fourth consecutive tournament; in the final in Washington he defeated Viktor Troicki . Del Potro went down in history as the first player to win his first four titles in consecutive tournaments.

At the US Open he reached the second round by beating Gilles Simon . It was the first five-set win of his career. In the quarterfinals, Andy Murray stopped him in four tight sets after almost four hours. It was his best result so far in a Grand Slam tournament. Murray also ended del Potro's streak of 23 straight wins, the second-longest streak by a player in 2008, the second-longest streak by a teenager in the Open Era, and the third-longest winning streak by an Argentine in history.

In September del Potro led Argentina with clear three-set wins over Nikolai Dawydenko and Igor Andrejew, who started for Russia, in the final of the Davis Cup. There Argentina was defeated by Spain in front of their home crowd. Del Potro lost his match against Feliciano López and had to cancel his second match due to a thigh injury. At the end of the season, del Potro was able to qualify for the Tennis Masters Cup for the first time . He won his match against Jo-Wilfried Tsonga , but lost to Novak Đoković and Nikolai Dawydenko. The 2008 season was his most successful to date. He finished her in 9th place in the world rankings and thus in the top ten for the first time in his career. He established himself as the Argentine number 1 and became the top ranked player from South America.

Victory at the US Open (2009)

By winning the Heineken Open in Auckland earlier this year, del Potro won the fifth tournament of his career. At the Australian Open , the eighth-placed Argentine failed in the quarter-finals to Roger Federer. At the BNP Paribas Open, del Potro was still defeated by Rafael Nadal before he was able to defeat him for the first time in his career at the Sony Ericsson Open in Miami. Despite the semi-final defeat against Andy Murray, he collected enough points to achieve the best position of his career in the ATP ranking with 5th place. At the beginning of the clay court season he failed in Monte Carlo in round two to Ivan Ljubičić , but was able to improve and only lost to defending champion Novak Đoković in the quarter-finals of Rome and to eventual winner Roger Federer in the semi-finals of Madrid . In Madrid, however, he was able to defeat Andy Murray for the first time in the quarter-finals.

Del Potro at the French Open

At the French Open in 2009, after successes over Michaël Llodra , Viktor Troicki, Igor Andrejew, the number 9 seeded French Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and the three-time quarter-finalist Tommy Robredo, he reached the semifinals, in which he played a close five-set match against the eventual winner Roger Federer failed. At the tournament in Wimbledon , as in the previous two years, he did not get past the second round. He was defeated by the unset former Wimbledon winner Lleyton Hewitt from Australia . Just a month later, at the tournament in Washington , where del Potro was defending champion, he was able to return the favor for the defeat he suffered against Hewitt at Wimbledon. He beat him in three sets and made it to the semi-finals against Fernando González. In the duel of the best-placed South Americans in the world, the Argentine had the upper hand and now had the opportunity to defend his title in the final against Wimbledon finalist and local hero Andy Roddick. Del Potro succeeded in doing this in three competitive sets. It was his second tournament win in the calendar year and the first successful title defense in the Washington tournament since Andre Agassi in 1999.

In the following week, on August 16 in Montreal, he made his first entry into the finals in a master’s tournament. Seeded at number six, he beat Rafael Nadal, who had returned from his injury break, in the quarter-finals. It was his second win in a row against the Spaniard. In the semi-finals, del Potro was able to prevail again against Andy Roddick, even fending off a match point from the American and increased his personal record against him to 3-0. In the final, he finally had to admit defeat in three sets to the new number 2 in the world, the British Andy Murray. He then canceled the Cincinnati tournament due to fatigue.

Del Potro on his way to victory at the US Open

At the last Grand Slam tournament of the year, the US Open in New York, del Potro reached the final of a tournament of the highest category for the first time. In the semifinals, he eliminated world number three Rafael Nadal and inflicted his most significant defeat at Grand Slam level on the Spaniard with the 6: 2, 6: 2 and 6: 2. In the final, del Potro beat world number one and fifteen-time Grand Slam winner Roger Federer, who had won five titles and 40 games in a row at the US Open. After losing the first set and breaking deficit in the second set, the Argentine was able to win the game after five sets and more than four hours of play with 3: 6, 7: 6, 4: 6, 7: 6 and 6: 2. After six years, Del Potro became the first player since compatriot David Nalbandian to beat Federer at the US Open. This makes him one of three players alongside Nadal and Đoković who could defeat Federer in a Grand Slam final. He was also the first to succeed in defeating Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal in the same Grand Slam tournament. At 1.98 meters tall, he was the tallest player to ever win a Grand Slam tournament. It was the second victory of an Argentine at the US Open after Guillermo Vilas , who still won on clay in 1977, and thus the first ever Argentine Grand Slam success on hard court. In November del Potro took part in the 2009 ATP World Tour Finals . He lost his first round match against Andy Murray, but then defeated Fernando Verdasco and was able to preserve his chances for the semi-finals. The decisive game was against Roger Federer, whom del Potro was able to defeat again. With only one game ahead of third party Andy Murray, he reached the semi-finals, in which del Potro defeated Robin Soderling. However, he lost the final against Nikolai Dawydenko smoothly. Del Potro ended 2009 as the youngest player in the top ten, best placed Argentinian and highest placed South American, as in the previous year.

Injury break and return to the top (2010-2013)

Del Potro started the year at the AAMI Classic , in which he could not contest the semifinals against Jo-Wilfried Tsonga due to a wrist injury. Nevertheless, he climbed one place in the world rankings to achieve the best position of his career to date with fourth place. He went to the Australian Open still battered by his injury. He beat Michael Craig Russell and already met James Blake in round 2 , whom he was able to bring down in five sets despite major problems with his wrist. In the match against Florian Mayer he struggled with persistent fatigue, but managed to assert himself this time too. In the round of 16, del Potro finally failed in five sets against the Croatian shooting star Marin Čilić . After that, his wrist pain increased, which is why he has not played another tournament since the Australian Open. On May 4, he had surgery on his right wrist in Rochester, Minnesota. He returned to the tour at the end of September in Bangkok, although he held his wrist, but retired in the first round, like a week later in Tokyo, without winning a set. After that, he canceled the remaining tournaments of the season to work on his fitness in his home country and in Europe.

Without points from the ATP World Tour Finals 2009 and the Australian Open 2010 , he even dropped to 485th in the ranking. His comeback attempt began very hesitantly: both at the tournament in Sydney and at the Australian Open , del Potro failed in the second round. After that, the momentum changed. In the two indoor tournaments in San José and in Memphis he reached the semifinals and won a tournament in Delray Beach for the first time since his triumph at the 2009 US Open . In the final, he defeated the Serbian Janko Tipsarević in two sets and reached the top 100 again thanks to the world ranking points he won.

In the first two Masters tournaments in 2011, del Potro achieved 450 points (semi-finals at the BNP Paribas Open 2011 and round of 16 at the Sony Ericsson Open 2011 ) and 45th place in the world rankings. He opened the clay court season in Estoril , for the first time since the French Open 2009 on this surface; he secured his second title of the season against Fernando Verdasco clearly in two sets and reached 32nd place in the world rankings. At the French Open 2011 he moved confidently into the third round, where he lost in four sets against the number 2 seeded Novak Đoković . At Wimbledon he reached the second week for the first time after three second round defeats. In a hard-fought four-set match, he lost to defending champion Rafael Nadal in the round of 16 . He then returned to wintry Buenos Aires for a match on the clay court, where he won his single straight against Kazakhs Michail Kukuschkin in the Davis Cup quarter-finals . The following tournaments in North America were disappointing for del Potro. In Los Angeles, Montréal and Cincinnati he won only one match each, at the US Open he lost in the third round to Gilles Simon . At the Davis Cup semifinals in Belgrade, however, he showed himself to be greatly improved shortly afterwards and helped to reach the final against Spain with his individual victories against Janko Tipsarević and the decisive against Novak Đoković (by giving up).

In the European indoor season the results were mixed. After a surprising opening defeat in Stockholm against James Blake , he lost the final in Vienna against Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in three sets. The following week he lost to Marcel Granollers in the semi-finals of the Valencia 500 tournament . He skipped the Masters 1000 from Paris-Bercy because of the Davis Cup final in Seville against Spain. Despite largely strong performances, he lost both singles on clay against David Ferrer in five and Rafael Nadal four sets; Argentina lost 1: 3 overall and del Potro ended the 2011 season in eleventh place in the world rankings.

He began his preparation for the Australian Open 2012 at the tournament in Sydney, where he lost to Marcos Baghdatis 6-7 , 4-6 after a bye in the first round and a victory over Poland's Łukasz Kubot . At the Grand Slam tournament in Melbourne, he beat Adrian Mannarino in the first round , but against whom he made the first set. He then defeated Blaž Kavčič , Lu Yen-hsun and the German Philipp Kohlschreiber in three sets. In the subsequent quarter-finals he had no chance against Roger Federer and lost 4: 6, 3: 6, 2: 6.

Juan Martín del Potro, 2012

The following three hard court events were very successful for del Potro. At the 500 tournament in Rotterdam he scored victories against Viktor Troicki and Tomáš Berdych , among others , before he had to face Federer again in the final and lost 6-1, 6-4. In the following week in Marseille del Potro was able to book his tenth tournament victory. After a bye in round one and a close three-set win over Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the semifinals, he defeated French Michaël Llodra 6: 4, 6: 4 in the final . In his second 500 tournament of the season in Dubai , he was able to prevail against Tsonga in the quarter-finals - this time 7: 6, 6: 2 - before he suffered his third defeat in the third duel of the year against Federer. At 6: 7, 6: 7, however, he was much better than the first two games with the Swiss and played consistently at eye level.

Then del Potro played the two Masters tournaments on the hard courts in Indian Wells and Miami . In the Californian desert he made it to the round of 16 after a bye in round one with two-set wins over Marinko Matosevic and Fernando Verdasco , where he won 7: 6, 6: 7, 6: 2 after a tough fight against Denis Istomin . He then faced Federer in the quarterfinals for the fourth time in the season and lost for the fourth time without winning a set. In Miami he met Ivo Karlović after a bye in round two , whom he defeated 7: 5, 6: 4 without major problems. In the third round he faced Marin Čilić , whom he beat 6: 3, 7: 6. Then David Ferrer waited in the round of 16 , who defeated del Potro 6: 3, 6: 3. Del Potro met the Croatians Čilić and Karlović again two weeks later in the Davis Cup . In the quarter-finals held on clay in Buenos Aires, he clearly won both of his singles despite illness. On Friday he first beat Karlović 6: 2, 7: 6, 6: 1 and then on Sunday Čilić 6: 1, 6: 2, 6: 1. Argentina won 4-1 in the end.

Del Potro began his preparation for the French Open at the tournament in Estoril , where he was able to defend his title from the previous year without losing a set. After a bye in round one, he defeated Rui Machado and Albert Montañés before he prevailed in the last two rounds against Stanislas Wawrinka 7: 6, 6: 4 and against Richard Gasquet 6: 4, 6: 4. It was his eleventh tournament victory. He then played at the Masters of Madrid , which was played on blue sand for the first time. Here he won his first rounds without losing a set and without major difficulties. In round one he defeated the German Florian Mayer 6: 4, 6: 2, then Michail Juschny 6: 2, 7: 6. In the round of 16 he met Marin Čilić for the third time this season, against whom he again clearly won. In the quarter-finals he defeated Oleksandr Dolhopolow 6: 3, 6: 4 and was only eliminated the next day in a tight semi-final against Tomáš Berdych 6: 7, 6: 7. Immediately afterwards, del Potro played the last major preparatory tournament for the French Open in Rome . Here he won against Michaël Llodra 7: 5, 3: 6, 6: 4. In the second round he played again against Juschny and this time won more clearly with 6: 4, 6: 2. In the round of 16 against Jo-Wilfried Tsonga he was initially ahead with a break in the first set, but then lost 4: 6, 1: 6.

Seeded at number nine, he faced Montañés again in round one of the French Open, whom he finally defeated 6: 2, 6: 7, 6: 2, 6: 1. Especially in the second sentence he was handicapped by knee pain and had to be treated by a physiotherapist. In his subsequent game against Édouard Roger-Vasselin he just got the upper hand with 6: 7, 7: 6, 6: 4, 6: 4. In the third round he met the first seeded opponent; Again it was Marin Čilić, against whom he won this time without losing a set. The round of 16 - again against Tomáš Berdych - had to be canceled due to darkness when the score was 7: 6, 1: 6, 6: 3 for del Potro; the next day he won the fourth set 7: 5. In the quarter-finals there was the fifth duel of the current season against Federer. Unlike in the previous games, del Potro took the lead 6: 3, 7: 6. However, Federer was able to win the game 6: 2, 6: 0 and 6: 3. For the first time del Potro had lost after a 2-0 set lead.

Del Potro (right) at the 2012 Olympic Summer Games award ceremony

After he had to cancel the tournament at the Queen's Club because of his knee injury , he entered Wimbledon without any real preparation for grass . In the first two rounds he won against Robin Haase and Go Soeda in four sets. He then stayed at 6: 3, 7: 6 and 6: 1 over Kei Nishikori without losing a set and moved into the second round of Wimbledon for the second time in a row. There he lost to David Ferrer 3: 6, 2: 6 and 3: 6. A few weeks later, the Olympic tennis tournament also took place on the grass pitches of Wimbledon. After two-set successes over Ivan Dodig and Andreas Seppi , he prevails in a hard-fought match against Gilles Simon with 6: 1, 4: 6, 6: 3. He then defeated Nishikori again in the quarterfinals, this time 6: 4 and 7: 6. In an almost four and a half hour long semi-final, he lost to Roger Federer 6: 3, 6: 7, 17:19 and thus in the sixth game of the year against the Swiss for the sixth time. In the game for the bronze medal he defeated Novak ovoković 7: 5 and 6: 4 and secured Argentina the first medal of this Summer Olympics.

Immediately afterwards, del Potro began his preparation for the US Open at the Masters in Toronto . There he lost to the Czech Radek Štěpánek in the first game . The following week he played in Cincinnati at the second Masters tournament of the US Open Series . After victories over Tommy Haas , Viktor Troicki and Jérémy Chardy , he clearly lost 3: 6, 2: 6 in the semifinals against Novak Đoković. At the US Open, del Potro first won against the lucky loser Florent Serra in three sets. This was followed by victories against Ryan Harrison and his compatriot Leonardo Mayer . Andy Roddick ended his career in the round of 16 after del Potro won 6: 7, 7: 6, 6: 2, 6: 4. In the quarterfinals, however, he lost to Novak Đoković 2: 6, 6: 7, 4: 6.

In 2013, del Potro entered the season directly with the Australian Open . He won in the first two rounds against Adrian Mannarino and Benjamin Becker without losing a set, before surprisingly lost in five sets to Frenchman Jérémy Chardy . He then moved into the final in Rotterdam , which he won against Julien Benneteau 7: 6 ² and 6: 3. After a quarter-final defeat against Gilles Simon in Marseille , he reached the semifinals in Dubai , which he lost in straight sets against the number one in the world, Novak Đoković . At the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, he reached the final. On the way there he defeated both number three and number one in the world with Andy Murray and Novak Đoković, but lost in three sets against Rafael Nadal in the final . Then he was surprisingly eliminated from the Sony Open in Miami in two sets against Tobias Kamke in the second round . He also failed early in Monaco (third round against Jarkko Nieminen ). He then paused for a month, but lost again in the third round in Rome , this time against Benoît Paire . At the French Open , he did not appear due to a virus disease. At the preparatory tournament for Wimbledon , the AEGON Championships at the Queen’s Club in London , he lost in the quarter-finals to Lleyton Hewitt . Despite many early defeats in the previous months, he was able to reach the semi-finals at Wimbledon without losing a set. He defeated number four in the world, David Ferrer , in the quarterfinals. In the semifinals against Novak Đoković he lost after 4 hours and 43 minutes with 5: 7, 6: 4, 6: 7 (2: 7), 7: 6 (8: 6) and 3: 6. It was the longest semifinal in Wimbledon history.

At the US Open Series he started with a tournament victory in Washington . In the final he beat John Isner . It was his third tournament victory at the Citi Open, with which he could triumph there as often as Andy Roddick , Jimmy Connors and Guillermo Vilas . The following week he lost in Montreal in the third round against the eventual finalist and local hero Milos Raonic in straight sets. At the Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati, he again reached the semifinals, which he lost in three sets against John Isner. At the US Open he struggled with wrist problems from the start and lost in the second round in five sets against Lleyton Hewitt. A month later, he defeated Milos Raonic in two sets in the final of the 2013 Rakuten Japan Open Tennis Championships in Tokyo . With this tournament victory, he moved up to 5th place in the world rankings. He also reached the finals at the Shanghai Rolex Masters . There he lost to Novak Đoković in three sets. Before that, he had clearly beaten Nadal 6: 2 and 6: 4 in the semifinals. Then del Potro won the Swiss Indoors in Basel . In the final, he defeated local hero Federer in three sets. At the BNP Paribas Masters 2013 in Paris , however, Federer was able to return the favor, he also defeated del Potro in three sets. With position five in the season ranking, he qualified for the season finale . However, he was eliminated in the group stage. Richard Gasquet could be beaten, but he lost to both Roger Federer and Novak Đoković, although he had managed to force both into a third set. He finished the 2013 season with 5255 points on position five in the world. So 2013 was his second most successful year on the ATP World Tour after 2009 .

Lengthy injury problems and comeback (2014-2017)

Del Potro started the 2014 season with a tournament victory . At Apia International Sydney he beat Bernard Tomic 6: 3 and 6: 1 in the final . At the Australian Open , he failed in the second round to Roberto Bautista Agut . In Rotterdam the quarter-finals were over for him. At the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships , he had to give up the game due to renewed wrist problems in the first round. As a result, he canceled the tournaments in Indian Wells and Miami . At the end of March it became known that del Potro had to undergo another wrist operation and therefore ended the season prematurely.

In 2015 he only took part in two tournaments. At the start of the season in Sydney in January , he reached the quarter-finals. He then underwent another minor surgery on his wrist. The second tournament participation took place in Miami in March , where he was eliminated in the opening round. Three months later, del Potro had a third wrist operation.

He made his comeback in the 2016 season in Delray Beach in February , where he immediately reached the semi-finals. In his next two tournaments he reached the second round at the Masters in Indian Wells and Miami . At Wimbledon he moved into the third round, beating Stan Wawrinka in his second game . At the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro , he surprisingly defeated the highly favored Novak Đoković in two sets in his opening game . After three more victories, he also defeated Rafael Nadal in the semi-finals and met Andy Murray in the final . Murray managed to repeat his 2012 Olympic victory. Del Potro lost the game 5: 7, 6: 4, 2: 6 and 5: 7 and won the silver medal.

Del Potro next to the Argentine President Mauricio Macri and with the Davis Cup replica

At the US Open 2016 , del Potro started with a wildcard. With four wins he reached the quarter-finals, making him the first player since James Blake 2005 to reach the round of eight players at the US Open as a wildcard participant. There he had to admit defeat in four sets against the eventual tournament winner Stan Wawrinka. Del Potro achieved another sense of achievement in the Davis Cup semifinals against the British team. In his individual against the world number two Andy Murray, he prevailed in five sets and thus created the basis for the 3-2 success of his Argentine team. After 2008 and 2011, he made it into the Davis Cup final for the third time in his career. In the final, del Potro won his two singles, against Ivo Karlović and Marin Čilić, and thus had a decisive role in the 3-2 win against Croatia. It was the first overall victory of the Argentine selection in the history of the Davis Cup. In Stockholm del Potro reached the second final of the season. There he defeated Jack Sock in straight sets and celebrated his first tournament victory in almost three years. After his 19th tournament victory, he was listed among the top 50 players in the world for the first time since October 2014.

Del Potro decided to skip the Australian Open early in the 2017 season and started his season in Delray Beach . There he reached the semifinals, where he lost to Milos Raonic . Next, del Potro took part in the Mexican Open , where he was eliminated in the second round against Novak Đoković. Also in Indian Wells he was defeated by Đoković in the second round, at the Miami Open against Roger Federer in the second round. In Rome he reached the quarter-finals of a Masters for the first time since 2013. There he was eliminated against Đoković. At the French Open 2017 he reached the third round, placed 29th, where he was defeated by Andy Murray. At Wimbledon he was eliminated in the second round. In the fourth round of the US Open 2017 , del Potro was able to win the game against Dominic Thiem after a 2-set deficit. In the subsequent quarter-finals, he also defeated Roger Federer. It was the first win against Federer since the final of the US Open 2009. In his first Grand Slam semi-final since Wimbledon 2013, however, he was defeated by the top seeded Rafael Nadal . At the Shanghai Masters , del Potro met Federer again in his first Masters semi-final since 2013, to whom he was defeated this time. In Stockholm , del Potro defended his 2016 victory, making it the 20th tournament victory of his career. At the end of the year he was eleventh in the world rankings.

Return to the top ten and Grand Slam final (from 2018)

Del Potro started the 2018 season in New Zealand at the ASB Classic 2018 . By participating in the semi-finals in this tournament, he achieved a top ten place in the world rankings for the first time since 2014. He also moved into the final, in which he was defeated by Roberto Bautista Agut . At the Australian Open , he was eliminated in the third round against Tomáš Berdych . In Acapulco he won his 21st career title against Kevin Anderson . At the immediately following Masters in Indian Wells , he reached the final again, in which he inflicted Roger Federer's first defeat of the season. In Miami his streak of 15 victories in the semifinals against eventual tournament winner John Isner tore .

At the French Open 2018 del Potro reached the semi-finals, in which he was defeated by the eventual winner Rafael Nadal. He had previously defeated John Isner and Marin Čilić, among others. After the tournament he moved up to fourth in the world rankings, his previous career high. At the next Grand Slam tournament, the Wimbledon Championships , he reached the quarter-finals. There he lost again to Nadal, this time in five sets. On August 13, 2018, del Potro reached a new career high in the world rankings with third place.

At the US Open 2018 , del Potro reached a Grand Slam final for the first time in nine years. On the way there he lost only one sentence; in the semifinals he was able to defeat world number one Rafael Nadal, who from his point of view had to give up when the score was 0: 2 sets. In the final he lost to Novak Đoković , who had previously also won the Wimbledon tournament, 3: 6, 6: 7 (4: 7), 3: 6.

By moving into the quarter-finals at the tournament in Beijing, del Potro qualified for the ATP Finals for the first time since 2013 . He missed the rest of the season due to a right kneecap fracture sustained in the Shanghai round of 16.

He also had to cancel the Australian Open in early 2019 for this reason. At the second Grand Slam tournament of the season, the French Open , he was eliminated in the round of 16 against Karen Khachanov in 1: 3 sets. Shortly before the tournament in Wimbledon he injured his right knee again. At the end of October he wanted to compete in the ATP tournament in Vienna again, but on the advice of the doctors, he decided to postpone his comeback to early 2020.

Play style

Del Potro, who always competes with a headband, is an offensive baseline player with a powerful serve and hard, flat basic strokes. His forehand can reach more than 160 km / h.

He had a constant and powerful two-handed backhand which became his greatest weakness in play due to injuries and operations on his wrist. For this reason, del Potro has made changes to his backhand and plays a one-handed backhand with slice more often , even if he does not see this as "his natural game".

Personal

Juan Martín del Potro was born in Tandil, Argentina. His father Daniel del Potro was a rugby player and now works as a veterinarian, his mother Patricia is a teacher. He has a younger sister named Julieta. Del Potro speaks Spanish, Italian and English. In addition to tennis, he also likes to play soccer and supports Boca Juniors and Juventus Turin .

He started playing tennis at the age of seven. His role model is Pete Sampras , but he also admires Marat Safin and Lleyton Hewitt . His talent was discovered early on by the Italian ex-tennis professional Ugo Colombini , who accompanied him at the beginning of his career and is still an agent and a close friend for him today.

Awards

• 2009: Argentina's Sportsman of the Year
• 2011: Comeback Player of the Year
• 2016: Argentina's Sportsman of the Year
• 2016: Comeback Player of the Year

Tournament victories

singles

Number of tournament victories and finals in different tournaments and court coverings
	Tournament victories			Lost finals
	Tournament categories *	Course coverings		Tournament categories *	Course coverings
	Grand Slam (1)	Hard Court (18)		Grand Slam (1)	Hard Court (13)
	Olympic Games (0)	Lawn (0)		Olympic Games (1)	Lawn (0)
	ATP World Tour Finals (0)	Sand (4)		ATP World Tour Finals (1)	Sand (0)
	ATP World Tour Masters 1000 (1)	Carpet (0)		ATP World Tour Masters 1000 (3)	Carpet (0)
	ATP World Tour 500 (9)			ATP World Tour 500 (3)
	ATP World Tour 250 (10)			ATP World Tour 250 (4)
Detailed presentation of the tournament victories
No.	date	competition	Topping	Final opponent	Result
01.	0July 7, 2008	Stuttgart	sand	Richard Gasquet	6: 4, 7: 5
02.	July 14, 2008	Kitzbühel	sand	Jürgen Melzer	6: 2, 6: 1
03.	0August 4, 2008	los Angeles	Hard court	Andy Roddick	6: 1, 7: 6 2
04th	August 10, 2008	Washington (1)	Hard court	Viktor Troicki	6: 3, 6: 3
05.	January 17, 2009	Auckland	Hard court	Sam Querrey	6: 4, 6: 4
06th	August 10, 2009	Washington (2)	Hard court	Andy Roddick	3: 6, 7: 5, 7: 6 6
07th	September 14, 2009	US Open	Hard court	Roger Federer	3: 6, 7: 6 5 , 4: 6, 7: 6 4 , 6: 2
08th.	February 27, 2011	Delray Beach	Hard court	Janko Tipsarevic	6: 4, 6: 4
09.	0May 1, 2011	Estoril (1)	sand	Fernando Verdasco	6: 2, 6: 2
10.	February 26, 2012	Marseille	Hard court (i)	Michaël Llodra	6: 4, 6: 4
11.	0May 6, 2012	Estoril (2)	sand	Richard Gasquet	6: 4, 6: 2
12.	October 21, 2012	Vienna	Hard court (i)	Grega Žemlja	7: 5, 6: 3
13.	October 28, 2012	Basel (1)	Hard court (i)	Roger Federer	6: 4, 6: 7 5 , 7: 6 3
14th	17th February 2013	Rotterdam	Hard court (i)	Julien Benneteau	7: 6 2 , 6: 3
15th	04th August 2013	Washington (3)	Hard court	John Isner	3: 6, 6: 1, 6: 2
16.	0October 6, 2013	Tokyo	Hard court	Milos Raonic	7: 6 5 , 7: 5
17th	October 27, 2013	Basel (2)	Hard court (i)	Roger Federer	7: 6 3 , 2: 6, 6: 4
18th	January 11, 2014	Sydney	Hard court	Bernard Tomic	6: 3, 6: 1
19th	October 23, 2016	Stockholm (1)	Hard court (i)	Jack Sock	7: 5, 6: 1
20th	October 22, 2017	Stockholm (2)	Hard court (i)	Grigor Dimitrov	6: 4, 6: 2
21st	March 3, 2018	Acapulco	Hard court	Kevin Anderson	6: 4, 6: 4
22nd	18th March 2018	Indian Wells	Hard court	Roger Federer	6: 4, 6: 7 8 , 7: 6 2
Detailed representation of the lost finals
No.	date	competition	Topping	Final opponent	Result
01.	0October 5, 2008	Tokyo	Hard court	Tomáš Berdych	1: 6, 4: 6
02.	August 16, 2009	Montreal	Hard court	Andy Murray	7: 6 4 , 6: 7 3 , 1: 6
03.	November 29, 2009	London	Hard court (i)	Nikolai Davydenko	3: 6, 4: 6
04th	October 30, 2011	Vienna	Hard court (i)	Jo-Wilfried Tsonga	7: 6 5 , 3: 6, 4: 6
05.	19th February 2012	Rotterdam	Hard court (i)	Roger Federer	1: 6, 4: 6
06th	17th March 2013	Indian Wells	Hard court	Rafael Nadal	6: 4, 3: 6, 4: 6
07th	October 13, 2013	Shanghai	Hard court	Novak Đoković	1: 6, 6: 3, 6: 7 3
08th.	August 14, 2016	Rio de Janeiro	Hard court	Andy Murray	5: 7, 6: 4, 2: 6, 5: 7
09.	October 29, 2017	Basel	Hard court (i)	Roger Federer	7: 6 5 , 4: 6, 3: 6
10.	January 13, 2018	Auckland	Hard court	Roberto Bautista Agut	1: 6, 6: 4, 5: 7
11.	5th August 2018	Los Cabos	Hard court	Fabio Fognini	4: 6, 2: 6
12.	September 9, 2018	US Open	Hard court	Novak Đoković	3: 6, 6: 7 4 , 3: 6
13.	October 7, 2018	Beijing	Hard court	Nikolos Bassilashvili	4: 6, 4: 6

(*) Names of the tournament categories up to 2008:
ATP World Tour Finals = Tennis Masters Cup,
ATP World Tour Masters 1000 = ATP Masters Series (2004–2008), Tennis Masters Series (2000–2003),
ATP World Tour 500 = International Series Gold
ATP World Tour 250 = International Series

Double (1)

Number of tournament victories and finals in different tournaments and court coverings
	Tournament victories			Lost finals
	Tournament categories *	Course coverings		Tournament categories *	Course coverings
	ATP World Tour Masters 1000 (0)	Hard Court (1)		ATP World Tour Masters 1000 (0)	Hard Court (0)
	Olympic Games (0)	Lawn (0)		Olympic Games (0)	Lawn (0)
	ATP World Tour 500 (0)	Sand (0)		ATP World Tour 500 (0)	Sand (0)
	ATP World Tour 250 (1)	Carpet (0)		ATP World Tour 250 (0)	Carpet (0)
Detailed presentation of the tournament victories
No.	date	competition	Topping	partner	Final opponent	Result
01.	July 23, 2007	Indianapolis	Hard court	Travis Parrott	Ivo Karlović Teimuras Gabashvili	3: 6, 6: 2, [10: 6]

(*) Designation of the tournament categories up to 2008:
ATP World Tour Masters 1000 = ATP Masters Series (2004–2008), Tennis Masters Series (2000–2003)
ATP World Tour 500 = International Series Gold
ATP World Tour 250 = International Series

statistics

singles

Tournament 1	2019	2018	2017	2016	2015	2014	2013	2012	2011	2010	2009	2008	2007	2006	2005	total
Australian Open	-	3R	-	-	-	2R	3R	VF	2R	AF	VF	2R	2R	-	-	0
French Open	AF	HF	3R	-	-	-	-	VF	3R	-	HF	2R	1R	1R	-	0
Wimbledon	-	VF	2R	3R	-	-	HF	AF	AF	-	2R	2R	2R	-	-	0
US Open	-	F.	HF	VF	-	-	2R	VF	3R	-	S.	VF	3R	1R	-	1
ATP Finals 2	-	-	-	-	-	-	RR	HF	-	-	F.	RR	-	-	-	0
Indian Wells Masters	-	S.	3R	2R	-	-	F.	VF	HF	-	VF	-	2R	-	-	1
Miami Masters	-	HF	3R	2R	1R	-	2R	AF	AF	-	HF	2R	AF	-	-	0
Monte Carlo Masters	-	-	-	-	-	-	AF	-	-	-	2R	-	-	-	-	0
Madrid Masters 3	2R	AF	-	2R	-	-	-	HF	AF	-	HF	VF	AF	1R	-	0
Rome Masters	VF	AF	VF	-	-	-	AF	AF	-	-	VF	1R	-	-	-	0
Hamburg Masters 4	not carried out											-	-	-	-	0
Canada Masters	-	-	2R	-	-	-	AF	2R	2R	-	F.	-	1R	-	-	0
Cincinnati Masters	-	VF	AF	-	-	-	HF	HF	2R	-	-	-	AF	-	-	0
Shanghai Masters	-	AF	HF	1R	-	-	F.	-	-	-	2R	not carried out				0
Paris Masters	-	-	VF	-	-	-	VF	AF	-	-	VF	AF	2R	-	-	0
Olympic games	not carried out			F.	not carried out			B.	not carried out			-	not carried out			0
Davis Cup 5	-	-	-	S.	-	-	-	HF	F.	-	VF	F.	VF	-	-	1
Tournament participation 6	5	15th	18th	14th	2	4th	19th	20th	19th	3	18th	19th	24	12	0	191
Finals reached	0	6th	2	2	0	1	6th	5	3	0	5	5	0	0	0	35
Individual titles won	0	2	1	1	0	1	4th	4th	2	0	3	4th	0	0	0	22nd
Hard court wins / defeats	2: 1	36: 9	30:12	24: 7	2: 2	7: 3	42:12	40:12	33:13	3: 3	41:11	27:11	21:19	3: 4	0-0	311: 119
Sand victories / defeats	5: 3	7: 3	7: 3	3: 2	0-0	0-0	2: 2	17: 3	10: 3	0-0	12: 4	15: 3	1: 2	5: 7	0-0	84:35
Turf wins / defeats	1-0	4: 1	1: 1	5: 3	0-0	0-0	7: 2	8: 2	5: 2	0-0	1: 1	4: 2	4: 3	0-0	0-0	40:17
Carpet wins / defeats 7	0-0	0-0	0-0	0-0	0-0	0-0	0-0	0-0	0-0	0-0	0-0	0-0	2: 1	2: 1	0-0	4: 2
Overall wins / defeats 8	8: 4	47:13	38:16	32:12	2: 2	7: 3	51:16	65:17	48:18	3: 3	54:16	46:16	28:25	10:12	0-0	439: 173
World ranking points	460	5300	2595	1110	55	385	5255	4480	2315	180	6785	1945	690	445	265	N / A
Year-end position	123	5	11	38	590	137	5	7th	11	258	5	9	44	92	157	N / A

Explanation of symbols: S = tournament victory; F, HF, VF, AF = entry into the final / semi-finals / quarter-finals / round of 16; 1R, 2R, 3R = elimination in the 1st / 2nd / 3rd main round; RR = Round Robin (group stage)

¹ tournament result in brackets means that the player has not yet finished the tournament; it shows its current tournament status. After the player finishes the tournament, the bracket is removed.
² before 2009 Tennis Masters Cup .
³ Before 2002 the Masters tournament in Madrid was held in Stuttgart, Essen and Stockholm. In 2009 there was a change of surface from hard court to sand.
⁴ The Hamburg tournament has not been part of the Masters series since 2009.
⁵ PO = playoff (promotion and relegation round in the Davis Cup world group).
⁶ In contrast to the ATP ranking , only tournaments of the ATP World Tour as well as the four Grand Slam tournaments and the ATP World Tour Finals are counted here (as well as for the number of finals and titles won) . H. no Challenger or Future tournaments or team competitions ( Davis Cup or World Team Cup ). However, the latter count in the win / lose statistics.
⁷ No more ATP tournaments have been held on carpet since the 2009 season.
⁸ As of November 18, 2019

Web links

Commons : Juan Martín del Potro  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• ATP profile of Juan Martín del Potro (English)
• ITF profile of Juan Martín del Potro (English)
• Davis Cup stats by Juan Martin del Potro (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ shock! End of the season for Juan Martin del Potro. In: tennisnet.com. March 22, 2014, accessed July 15, 2016 . 
2. ↑ Juan Martin del Potro operated on his wrist again. In: tennisnet.com. January 21, 2015, accessed August 15, 2016 . 
3. ↑ The Never Ending Story - Juan Martin del Potro goes into surgery. In: tennisnet.com. June 15, 2015, accessed August 15, 2016 . 
4. ↑ Olympic madness! “Delpo” sends the “Djoker” home! In: tennisnet.com. August 8, 2016. Retrieved August 15, 2016 . 
5. ↑ Juan Martin del Potro remains confident. In: tennisnet. October 17, 2019, accessed October 21, 2019 . 
6. ↑ Paul Newman: Murray insists on doing the talking against Del Potro. In: independent.co.uk. September 2, 2008, accessed April 1, 2018 . 
7. ^ William Johnson: Del Potro turning up the heat. In: thenational.ae. August 11, 2009, accessed April 1, 2018 . 
8. ↑ Associated Press: Federer stunned by del Potro. In: New York Post. November 30, 1999, accessed July 25, 2017 . 
9. ↑ Del Potro: "I need to improve my backhand as soon as I can". In: tennis.com. February 19, 2016, accessed April 1, 2018 . 
10. ↑ Biography of Juan Martin Del Potro. In: atpworldtour.com. Retrieved April 1, 2018 . 
11. ↑ Del Potro Honored Once More For Comeback Year. In: atpworldtour.com. December 21, 2016, accessed December 21, 2016 .