The Argentinian, whose last game dates back to a year and a half, has just undergone a new operation. At 32, his morale is at its lowest.
Juan Martín Del Potro has not played a match on the ATP Tour since June 2019.
KEYSTONE
Like Roger Federer, another tennis icon has been struggling with his physical problems for many months: Juan Martín Del Potro. But where the Balois does not yet consider stopping his career, the 32-year-old Argentinian may have already played son last professional match.
His last appearance on the circuit dates back to at June 2019 and its abandonment at Queen’s. The “Colossus of Tandil” is undermined by a sore knee since a fracture of the right patella suffered in October 2018, in Shanghaiï, and from which he never recovered.
True to its reputation, Del Potro did not let himself be defeated and had three operations in Barcelona, Miami and Bern (where he was taken care of by the doctor of Roger Federer and Stan Wawrinka, Dr Roland Biedert). But none of these interventions had the desired effect.
According to the Argentinian daily The nation, the winner of the US Open 2009 still feels “a friction in the kneecap” which hinders his practice of tennis and to perform simple actions on a daily basis, such as going up or down stairs.
In order to relieve his pain and improve his lifestyle, he decided to repass on billiards, this time in Brazil, in Porto Alegre. He was given modern stem cell therapy.
However, his morale is seriously damaged. The nation says he has appeared “more introverted and suspicious than ever” of late. Tired of all these operations, he lost confidence in the doctors and “is no longer willing to undergo treatment and long periods of rehabilitation”. “Today, his threshold of resistance to pain is very low,” says the newspaper. So much so that “the flame of his tennis career is only fueled by his resilience because he is determined to be the master of his own end.”
“The flame of his tennis career is only kept alive by his resilience because he is determined to be the master of his own end”
For now, Juan Martín Del Potro has one final goal. More than coming back to the circuit, the one who now ranks 127th player in the world dreams of participating in the Olympic Games in Tokyo this summer.
Only the success of his treatment will allow this scenario to occur.realize. If so, the Argentinean will likely bow out.
It would be a sad loss for the world of the little yellow ball.
