Juan Martin del Potro loses comeback match at Thailand Open
Juan Martin del Potro made his long awaited return to tennis at the Thailand Open today – but couldn’t celebrate the occasion with a win, with Olivier Rochus ousting the fifth seed in straight sets in the first round.
Del Potro stamped his name among the current crop of the tennis elite when he defeated defending champion Roger Federer in the 2009 US Open final to win his maiden Grand Slam title, but was denied the opportunity to build on that success in 2010 as he has spent much of the current season sidelined with a wrist injury.
Del Potro was troubled by the wrist injury in the build-up to the Australian Open this year, where the 6ft 6in right-hander’s tournament ended in the fourth round. That match was to be his last until today’s meeting with Rochus, as Del Potro underwent a prolonged recovery from the injury, including undergoing surgery in May to repair the damage.
Del Potro’s enforced absence from the year’s final Grand Slam saw Del Potro shed ranking points, and he arrived at the Thailand Open with a ranking of world No. 36, after rising to a career-high of world No. 4 at the beginning of the year.
Playing his first match since January, against Rochus today, Del Potro saved both break-point chances the Belgian created against his serve but was unable to create any break-point chances of his own, as the set headed to the inevitable tiebreak. Still the pair proved tough to separate, with Rochus eventually taking it 9-7.
Holding serve proved tougher in the second set, with Rochus broken once and del Potro twice as the world No. 78 wrapped up the 7-6(7), 6-4 victory in one hour and 44 minutes.
Despite the loss there are still positives from the performance for Del Potro, who served 16 aces for the match and showed that powerful forehand is still a force to be reckoned with.
But if today’s match proves anything, it’s that reaching the heights del Potro attained in New York last year will take time for the 22-year-old and that the tail-end of the 2010 season is perhaps best regarded as a chance for the Argentinian to blow out a few cobwebs before he sets his sights on greater success next year.
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