The tennis legend Juan Martin del Potro announced his decision to back to the tennis court after a three-year-long pause.
The athlete will make his first competitive appearance since 2019 next week after it was announced he had accepted wildcards to compete in the Argentina and Rio Opens. Due to multiple severe injuries, including two injuries to his wrist where one of which ruled him out of action for two years, del Potro’s career has been heavily hampered. However, the COVID-19 pandemic, lockdown and other sports challenges made Juan Martin to restart in 2022.
Due to his multiple injuries, tennis coach Toni Nadal label del Potro “the unluckiest man in tennis.”
Del Potro, the former No 1, got three’s most recent injury during the Queen’s Club Championships in 2019 when he injured a knee. The athlete has since undergone a total of four knee surgeries since Queen’s, in June 2019, January 2020, August 2020 and March 2021.
These surgeries saw the Argentine hero miss a total of three years worth of tennis, and he also missed out on the opportunity to represent Argentina at the rescheduled 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
Although, del Potro now looks set to make his long-anticipated return on home soil after he has accepted a wildcard to compete at the Argentina Open in Buenos Aires next week.
This will then be followed up by Rio Open in Brazil the week after to complete his South American swing, also known as the ‘Golden Swing.’
Last month, del Potro announced “it’s going to be so special to come back to the tour in Buenos Aires and also play Rio. I worked at lot and made every effort to be with you during the coming weeks.
“Rio de Janeiro has a special place in my heart and I look forward to being with you and play the Rio Open for the first time,” he added in tthe statement in December.
The Argentina Open takes place between February 7th and February 13th, whilst the Rio Open goes from February 14th to February 20th, TennisHead reports.
