Juan Martin del Potro: "I wronged myself"
Juan Martin del Potro announced his emotional departure from professional tennis in the spring. In an interview with La Nacion, the Tower of Tandil now talks about his motives.
by Michael Rothschädl
last edit: Sep 21, 2022, 06:39 pm
In modern tennis you are almost used to the great heroic stories. The sometimes inhuman performances of Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic play a significant role in this. It is all the closer when the wondrous comeback fails to materialize, when the body lets go of the exertions and the pain becomes too great.
Memorable example: Juan Martin del Potro. The Argentine worked for almost three years for a comeback on the ATP tour, only to realize in the spring: It won't work out anymore. And so the return to the big tennis stage at the ATP 250 event in Buenos Aires was not a return, but a farewell. An emotional farewell in front of a home crowd.
del Potro about farewell
"It was a very difficult decision for me to play in Buenos Aires," del Potro said today of the weeks leading up to the home event. "It was a turning point in my life. I never thought about those almost three years at the time, I always had in mind to recover and come back until I saw it less and less possible," explained the South American in an interview with La Nacion .
In general, these were drastic moments for the tower of Tandil. Weeks in which the former US Open winner realized that he had taken the wrong approach in the past few months: "I'm looking for treatment to improve my quality of life, not to compete again. I've wronged myself. I went outside and people asked me when I was going to play instead of worrying about how I was doing."
del Potro sees room for improvement at Sinner and Alcaraz
This also prevents the South American from standing on the court against two of the greatest hopes in tennis: "I would have liked to compete against them, but now they are in shape," said del Potro, who finished third in 2018 best position in the ATP world rankings. Overall, del Potro won 22 career titles.
However, the Argentine still sees a lot of room for improvement when it comes to men Alcaraz and SINNER: "I saw Alcaraz against Sinner in the quarterfinals of the US Open and thought: 'An experienced or top player could mess them up'. It's similar to my first ones Encounters with Roger Federer. They never varied the shots. That's part of learning, it's two phenomena."