Juan Martín del Potro overcame an initial 0-2 against Marin Cilic, defeated all statistics and won the fourth point of the series against Croatia, in Zagreb, with a broken finger. Later, Federico Delbonis pulverized the giant Ivo Karlovic in straight sets and thus Argentina won the Davis Cup for the first time in the fifth final in its history.
It was on November 27, 2016 in the Croatian capital. The series was going badly: on the first day, Delbonis had lost to Cilic, number six in the world at the time (6-3, 7-5, 3-6, 1-6, 6-2), while Del Potro had beaten Karlovic 6-4, 6-7, 6-3 and 7-5.
The national team was completed by Leonardo Mayer, who with Delpo had been defeated in the doubles match by Cilic and Ivan Dodig (7-6, 7-6, 6-3), and Guido Pella. Then, the numbers of Del Potro, who became the hero, were 6-7, 2-6, 7-5, 6-4 and 6-3. And those of Delbonis, overwhelming 6-3, 6-4 and 6-2 against the giant Karlovic.
To reach the final, Argentina had defeated Poland 3-2, Italy 3-1 and Great Britain 3-2 in the semifinals. The team thus settled a great debt, because it had already lost four finals: against the United States (the tournament’s top winner) in 1981, against Russia in 2006 and against Spain twice, in 2008 and 2011.
The statistics against
The history on the computers didn’t help at all. Until then, a team had never turned around a losing result of 1-2 in the first three matches and two sets down in the fourth in the modern Davis Cup era.
For Delpo the challenge was much greater, because he had never managed to reverse any of the 14 games in which he was losing 0-2. But he beat the statistics, with a “Big Willy” included at the beginning of the match.
Read also: “Juan Martín del Potro’s curious statement after Boca’s loss in the Copa Libertadores against Fluminense.”
But there remained a slight hope on the Croatian side, as Cilic had lost two of the 66 times he had led 2-0. One had been that same year against Jack Sock, in the opening of the quarterfinals against the United States.
The Delpo fracture
It all happened in the final set of the fourth match, which Torre de Tandil had been able to lift after being 0-2 down. The Argentine player hit him with his hand when returning a serve from Cilic and fractured his little finger. Despite the pain, he continued playing.
Leonardo Mayer, Guido Pella, Federico Delbonis, Juan Martin del Potro and Daniel Orsanic kiss the Davis Cup. Photo: REUTERS.
“The fracture was in the left little finger during the fifth set, grabbing a serve from Cilic with his hand,” admitted the Argentine tennis player who, at 35, has not yet defined his definitive retirement while he battles with the recovery of the knee he injured in 2019.
Also read: “Juan Martín del Potro, Lionel Messi’s neighbor: what the impressive apartment he has in Miami is like.”
“I didn’t know anything about that and I’m very sorry,” said the Croatian, who faced the Tandil native for the first time when they were both 14 years old, in the Orange Bowl in Miami in 2002. I noticed him standing far back and looking at his hand, but he was not aware of his injury. As soon as I see it, I will apologize, since it was not intentional,” the rival said that day.
“Winning the Davis Cup is the best of my career. It’s still hard for me to understand what’s happening to us. Because of the effort and what it cost to win it, this Cup is very special,” Juan Martín del Potro said at the time. Today marks seven years since the great Argentine conquest, which still could not be repeated.
2023-11-27 15:09:19
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