Del Potro: An Argentine Top Ten
Juan Martin Del Potro, born September 23 1988, is an Argentine tennis player currently ranked inside the top 10 of the ATP rankings. He achieved a career-high ranking of four in January 2010 but has dropped ever since due to a wrist injury that has kept him on the sidelines for the most part of this year.
Playing Style
Del Potro’s playing style resembles that of many other fellow players who’ve begun to trouble the likes of Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer. A strong serve seconded by a ferociously powerful forehand tends to punish even the best defensive players on the circuit.
Despite his towering figure, Del Potro has little difficulty in moving across the court and his double-handed backhand is probably the most efficient and powerful in the game. In essence, Del Potro belongs to that group of players that relies on their power play to unsettle opponents.
Praise From Federer
However, besides his ‘power play’, Del Potro is blessed with a good all-round game that has allowed him to make steady progress over the past two seasons especially. Such is the impact of the player that when Federer lost in the quarter-final of the 2010 French Open and was asked later whether he’d seen anyone hit the ball harder than Robin Soderling, his conqueror in that match, the Swiss didn’t take much time to name Del Potro.
In Federer’s opinion, Del Potro could hammer the ball harder than anyone including Soderling. Journalists had all but forgotten about Del Potro at that point, as the Argentine was lying low owing to his wrist injury.
Injury Woes
Del Potro’s injury woes first struck him in the early part of 2010, and people started to compare him with Nadal, another player whose body was taking a toll on account of his playing style. In Potro’s case, his wrists and shoulders were taking the brunt of the effort. Unfortunately, injury struck him in a year in which he was expected to consolidate on the solid progress that he had made in the previous season.
Embarassing Start To 2009
The 2009 season started off on a horrendous note for the player. In the Australian Open that year, Potro suffered one of his worst and most embarrassing losses of his career as Federer defeated him 6-3, 6-0, 6-0 at the Rod Laver Arena. At that point in time, he looked like another of those youngsters who was good enough to be inside the Top 10 without being able to trouble the very best, such as Federer and Nadal.
Impressive End
All that would change in the latter half of the year, starting with his duels against Nadal. Potro had lost to the Spaniard in their first four meetings but in the next three encounters, Potro triumphed in each of them. His most sensational win came in the semi-final of the US Open that year wherein he defeated and deflated Nadal 6-2, 6-2, 6-2; that loss marked Nadal’s worst ever defeat in a Grand Slam.
Consecutive Wins Over Federer
Despite those heroics, few expected him to win the Open, especially because he was to face five-time defending champion, Roger Federer in the final. But the Argentine was prepared for his first major tour win as he overpowered the then-world no. 1 in a five-set thriller.
It was also the first time that a player had won a Grand Slam after having beaten both Nadal and Federer on the way. Potro’s win over Federer was followed by another win over the Swiss in that year’s season-ending Tennis Masters Cup at London, a tournament where the Argentine finished runner-up to Nikolay Davydenko.
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