Juan Martin Del Potro to return to the ATP Tour in January
It seems as if the Christmas season comes bearing glad tidings for fans of Argentine tennis player Juan Martin Del Potro, who has announced that he will stage his comeback next year.
His first tournament will be the Medibank International Sydney in January, where he has qualified as a wild card. He showed a great amount of talent since he first turned pro, but his injuries came as a shock and loss to his fans, as well as fellow players.
He is the only man ever to defeat the world's top two players Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer in the same Grand Slam tournament, a goal he accomplished at last year’s U.S. Open tournament in Queens.
The 2009 U.S. Open champion will attempt to kick start his career once again, as he has not progressed far in any tournaments for the past 12 months due to wrist injuries. The Argentine pro, who was once ranked fourth in the world, has slipped to Number
259 during his prolonged absence from the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) tour. He will be returning to the ATP World Tour after an absence of over three months.
Juan Martin Del Potro was forced to undergo surgery on his right wrist on 19 May. In the year 2010, Del Potro played a total of just three tournaments. The player was seeded fourth at the Australian Open, and made it to the fourth round after defeating Michael
Russell, James Blake and Florian Mayer. He was knocked out of the year's first Grand Slam by fourteenth seed Marin Cilic.
He then withdrew from professional tennis due to his surgery and subsequent rehab, and was also forced to pull out of the U.S. Open. He lost his chance to defend the title he won in 2009. The next tournament Del Potro played in was the PTT Thailand Open,
where he was seeded fifth. Olivier Rochus defeated him in the first round of the hard court event. He then took part in the Rakuten Japan Open Tennis Championships, where he was defeated in the first round again, this time by sixth seed Feliciano Lopez. After
back-to-back first round exits, Del Potro decided to concentrate on fully recovering from his wrist injury.
Now, he is planning to make a definitive comeback in the new year, starting with the Sydney tournament which begins on the 9 January. This tournament will also feature players such as Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis, who will be fighting to defend last year’s title.
American tennis pro Sam Querrey, who is known for his big serve, will also participate; the player has a good chance of reaching the quarter-finals at the very least, as he won four tournaments this year.
Other players include Jarkko Niemenin, who is a former Medibank International Sydney finalist. French players Richard Gasquet and Gilles Simon will also compete in the event. In addition to this Viktor Troicki, another Davis Cup participant is also slated
to participate in the tournament. Although ranked 39th, Troicki stands a good chance of winning – especially after his epic Davis Cup match against Michael Llodra - where he helped Serbia win their maiden Davis Cup crown 3-2.
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