The former US Open winner Juan Martin del Potro of Argentina will return to the ATP Tour for the very first time in more than three months after accepting a wild card to take part at the Medibank International Sydney tournament in 2011.
The 22-year-old Argentinean who made his debut on the ATP tour back in 2005 contested in just three competitions this season after undergoing a wrist surgery back in May.
The right hander started his 2010 campaign by playing at the AAMI Kooyong Classic in Melbourne. He triumphed in his first match with a comfortable 6–3, 6–3 win over Ivan Ljubicic of Croatia. Juan. Because of this victory, del Potro rose to a career-high
ranking of world number four in the world. He was scheduled to meet Jo Wilfried Tsonga in the next match of the Kooyong Classic but withdrew due to injury.
The Tandil native then participated at the year’s opening Grand Slam, the Australian Open with the injury not completely healed. In his opening round clash, Potro posted a four set victory over Michael Russell. In the second round, the right hander struggled
with the injury however still managed to emerge victorious in the end against the American James Blake in five sets.
After surviving in his third round battle against Florian Mayer of Germany, del Potro eventually fell to the ultimate semi-finalist Marin Cilic in a five setter epic.
After his fourth round exit at the Australian Open, del Potro skipped Masters championships in Miami and Indian Wells due to his persistent wrist injury. Despite the fact that he pulled out of the Monte Carlo Rolex Masters, the 1.98-meter tall regained the
number four ranking due to Andy Murray’s early departure in round two. Del Potro then pulled out from Barcelona as well as Rome Masters.
Currently ranked number 259 in the ATP World Rankings, the Argentinean tennis ace was expected to make a comeback on the tour during the second week of May. However, on 4th May, Potro underwent through a surgery to fix the injury and thus withdrew
from the US Open as well.
The right hander at last returned on the tour at the 2010 PTT Thailand Open where he lost his opening match to Olivier Rochus in two sets. He next played at the 2010 Rakuten Japan Open and once again couldn’t even win his opening match as he was toppled
by Feliciano Lopez in straight sets. Considering his lack of readiness and poor form, Potro decided to remain absent for the rest of the year and vowed to be back more prepared and ready in 2011.
The Medibank International Sydney tournament begins on 9 January. Besides del Potro, it will feature last year’s winner Marcos Baghdatis as well as hard hitting Sam Querrey from the US.
Former runner up Jarkko Nieminen, Viktor Troicki, member of Serbian winning Davis Cup side and French players Gilles Simon and Richard Gasquet will also feature in the event.
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