Juan Martín del Potro

Star? Or Tragic Story?

He’s six-and-a-half feet tall. He’s rangy, like a hero in a Western movie. He walks slowly and purposefully at changeovers. He’s been called the gentle giant. He has been described as shy, self-effacing, diffident, lacking in self-confidence. He has been plagued by injuries. He’s suffered intolerable physical setbacks—intolerable for anyone else. But Delpo, as they affectionately call him, has persevered. He has not given up. His big, devastating, forehand (Novak Djokovic has called it “lethal”) has survived multiple wrist surgeries (one on his right wrist, three on his left). His two-handed backhand has not; it is a shadow of what it once was.

Is del Potro a star, or a tragic story? Is he an unlucky giant of the game, or an also-ran who happened, as a very young man, to play one great tournament, the 2009 US Open? In June 2016 the New York Times described him as “the great lost talent of this bright and shiny tennis decade.” Said the newspaper: “If you mention Juan Martín del Potro to most of the game’s leading men, their expressions do not lie. There is usually a slight wince, sometimes even a full shake of the head. There is genuine, unmistakable sympathy and the feeling that no champion . . . deserves to have to deal with this.”

By the way, del Potro is not always gentle. Jacob Steinberg in the Guardian newspaper has described “the bloodcurdling, guttural snort from Juan Martín del Potro whenever he unleashes one of the trademark bone-crunching forehands . . . a snort so dismissive that it could earn him the role of most terrifyingly muscle-bound henchman in the next James Bond film. With his mighty 6ft 6in frame, the hulking Argentinian would look and sound the part.” And he can be bad-tempered. In 2008 he is said to have insulted Andy Murray’s mother at a changeover in Rome. Murray reacted badly in what became known as the “Mamma mia” incident. “I wasn’t great friends with him before,” said Murray afterward. “I don’t need to be friends with him now.” On another occasion, at Wimbledon in 2016, del Potro and the Frenchman Lucas Pouille exchanged angry words in a match marked by unusual ill will and tense looks. At one point, Del Potro told Pouille to “shut up.” (Pouille won the match.)

Del Potro has one of the most accomplished forehands on the ATP Tour.

Del Potro comforts a ball girl hit by the powerful serve of Marin Čilić during the 2016 Davis Cup Finals in Zagreb.

But incidents like these are few and far between. Del Potro’s essential nature is gentle and playful. He hams it up with the spectators, particularly when he has lost a close point. The consensus is that he’s one of the most likable players on the tour. At the 2016 Davis Cup he comforted a ball girl accidentally hit by a Marin Čilić serve. That was typical Delpo. At 2017 Roland Garros, he comforted Nicolás Almagro after Almagro burst into tears when he had to withdraw in the third set because of a left knee injury. The New York Times reported: “As they walked together toward their chairs, Almagro, still disconsolate, turned back to embrace del Potro. When Almagro sat down in his chair and again put his head in his hands, del Potro sat down next to him, rubbed his head and tried to say consoling words.” Sports Illustrated called what de Potro did “the true definition of sportsmanship.”

So how did this great sporting figure find his way onto the big stage? Juan Martín del Potro, an Argentinian, son of a veterinarian, and devout Catholic, achieved a place in the ATP Top 10 in October of 2008, but wasn’t considered a top contender because he was still a teenager (just). Things changed dramatically at the 2009 US Open, his moment of glory. At twenty years old, to general surprise, del Potro won the title, defeating Roger Federer in the final. (As if it mattered, commentators, trying to find something interesting to say, noted that he was the tallest person ever to win a Grand Slam.)

Del Potro had the world at his feet. In January of 2010, going into the Australian Open, he was ranked No. 4 in the world. But after the 2010 Australian Open, where Marin Čilić beat him in the fourth round, he had to pull out of the tour because of a left wrist injury. In May, he had surgery. He hoped for a speedy recovery, saying that he would defend his US Open title in September. But after only two weeks of practice in August, and recurring problems with his wrist, he decided not to play in New York. The year 2010 was depressing and unfruitful for Juan del Potro. In early 2011 he had to rely on wild cards to enter tournaments. Following a second-round defeat in the 2011 Australian Open (by Marcos Baghdatis), his ranking slipped to No. 485. But then he started a steady climb back, winning in Delray Beach (February) and Estoril (April) and doing well in other tournaments. Del Potro finished 2011 ranked No. 11 and was named 2011 ATP Comeback Player of the Year. In 2012 he continued to do well, again winning Estoril, and three other titles, and beating Roger Federer in Basel. He ended the year ranked No. 7. By 2013, del Potro was ranked No. 5. At Wimbledon he reached the semifinals. All seemed well. Delpo was back.

2009 was del Potro’s first big year on the ATP Tour. After reaching the quarterfinals at the Australian Open, he advanced to the French Open semifinals (pictured here).

Then came calamity. In 2014, after winning the first round at the Australian Open, del Potro had more problems with his left wrist and was beaten by Roberto Bautista Agut in the second round. He had surgery in March and skipped the rest of the season. His second comeback, in 2015, was highly anticipated and ended almost before it began. In January, he reached the quarterfinals in Sydney. Next stop the Australian Open, but del Potro decided to take another break from tennis. “My wrist is bothering me again and I have to fix this problem,” he said in a press conference. He had surgery in June 2015. By January 2016 his ranking had dropped to a stunning 1,041. How could he recover? He thought of giving up tennis, perhaps to study architecture, a subject that had long interested him.

But by April 2016, in his third comeback, del Potro had clambered back up to an astonishing No. 166. In the June Olympics, he won the silver medal, beating Djokovic (who burst into tears when he lost) and Nadal. He reached the quarterfinals in the US Open. In November he led Argentina to a Davis Cup championship; his home country was ecstatic at winning the Davis Cup for the first time ever. He gave his medal to his grandfather, Francisco Lucas, who passed away in May 2017. In a Facebook post, del Potro thanked him for leading the way with his “humility and fighting spirit.” Exhausted after his Davis Cup effort, he decided not to play in the 2017 Australian Open.

By February 2017 he’d climbed to No. 32. Del Potro, “desperate for a second act” as one journalist put it, was definitely back. The New York Times wrote: “At 28, del Potro has found a tennis contentment he never thought possible when he was home in 2015, watching The Simpsons and Breaking Bad on television instead of playing tennis.” Many have said that del Potro’s dramatic 2016–2017 return to the tennis courts is a greater achievement than Federer’s astonishing 2017 renaissance. But at Wimbledon 2017, del Potro was beaten in the second round, in straight sets, by Ernests Gulbis, ranked No. 589.

During the 2016 Davis Cup finals, del Potro broke the little finger of his left hand (important for his two-handed backhand). It didn’t stop him from winning.

Del Potro was the key to Argentina’s first-ever Davis Cup title. He beat Andy Murray in the semifinals, then Marin Čilić in the finals after being down two sets to love.

Then came the 2017 US Open. In his fourth-round match against Dominic Thiem, del Potro lost the first two sets. Louisa Thomas of the New Yorker wrote it was at that point that she turned off the television and went to dinner. She described what happened after that: “I missed the greatest comeback of the year—a 1–6, 2–6, 6–1, 7–6 (7–1), 6–4 thriller. I missed del Potro erasing two match points, and the thunderous ground strokes that drove Thiem back during the tiebreaker in the fourth set. I missed the New York crowd chanting ‘Olé!,’ and del Potro flinging his arms out as if to embrace it.” The journalists raved: “Unforgettable,” “The stuff of legend,” “Magic.” Then, del Potro beat Roger Federer in four sets in the quarterfinal (one wag commented, “he killed Bambi”). Del Potro lost to Nadal in the semifinal, but the tennis world won’t forget his victory over Thiem and Federer. Olé!

At the end of 2017, del Potro was ranked No. 11 in the world.

Del Potro at his happiest—with the 2016 Davis Cup trophy.