Juan Martin del Potro - Only number one was missing
Juan Martin del Potro can look back on his career with satisfaction. Only one dream could never come true for the Argentine.
by Nikolaus Fink
last edit: Mar 16, 2023, 08:46 pm
Juan Martin del Potro was one of the few players able to break the dominance of Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic in Grand Slam tournaments. In 2009, the "Tower of Tandil" stormed to the title at the US Open - despite its great potential, it was to remain the Argentine's only major trophy.
While del Potro was able to fulfill his dream of Grand Slam triumph, another remained unattainable. The 34-year-old revealed at an event in Sao Paolo that he had always worked hard to become number one in the world. The explanation why it should never work was relatively simple: "I'm proud of my career, but I never made it because there was always Federer, Nadal or Djokovic."
Del Potro reached his career high in 2018 when he was ranked third in the world behind Nadal and Federer. He considers it "nice" that what are probably the three best players of all time prevented him from dreaming of number one, said the 2016 Olympic bronze medalist, who had to end his career last season due to persistent knee problems.
Djokovic and Nadal, meanwhile, continue to fight for the most important titles. In addition, the man from Belgrade is currently leading the world rankings. According to del Potro, he believes that Carlos Alcaraz, Jannik Sinner and Holger Rune are capable of great things in the coming years: "But for me there will be nothing in the next few years that can be compared to the Big Three."