Juan Martín del Potro

Juan Martín del Potro ( born September 23, 1988 in Tandil ) is an Argentine tennis player. In his career he won 18 tournaments in singles and a double in the tournament. His greatest success was about winning the U.S. Open in 2009. Potros Del highest ever placing in the tennis world ranking position was 4, which he first reached in January 2010.

Personal

Juan Martín del Potro was born in Tandil Argentina. His father, Daniel del Potro was rugby player and now works as a vet, his mother Patricia is a teacher. He has a younger sister named Julieta. Del Potro speaks Spanish, Italian and English. In addition to tennis, he also enjoys playing football and supports the Boca Juniors and Juventus.

Del Potro began at the age of seven years with the tennis games. His idol is Pete Sampras, but he also admires Marat Safin and Lleyton Hewitt. His talent was very early discovered by Italian ex-tennis professional Ugo Colombini, who accompanied him in the early stages of his career and is still today his agent and close friend.

Career

Beginning of the professional career (2006-2007)

In February 2006, Del Potro played his first ATP tournament in Vina del Mar. He won his first match against Albert Portas and then lost to Fernando González.

At age 17, he qualified for his first Grand Slam tournament, the French Open in 2006. During the first round he was defeated here the former French Open champion Juan Carlos Ferrero.

In the same year he also qualified for the U.S. Open, but failed in round 1 against Alejandro Falla. Subsequently, the first Masters Tournament followed his career in Madrid. He lost again in the first round against Joachim Johansson. Thanks to an invitation from Roger Federer, he took part in the tournament in Basel and reached the quarterfinals, where he was denied by the eventual finalists Fernando González.

Del Potro began the year 2007 in Adelaide with his first semi-final appearance in an ATP tournament. He defeated Chris Guccione there the Australians. At the Australian Open, he was forced to retire against Fernando González in the second round in the fifth set.

On 11 February 2007 he made ​​his Davis Cup debut in the first round against Austria, where he won the fourth match and thus for Argentina won the third point for a place in the quarter-finals.

He reached the second round of the Sony Ericsson Open in Miami, after he had defeated Jonas Björkman, Marcos Baghdatis, and Mikhail Youzhny before he was stopped by Rafael Nadal. At the eventual winner Nadal he also failed at the French Open in the first round. Nadal was also against Del Potro at his first tournament on grass, in the tournament at Queen 's Club, was eliminated.

In his first appearance at Wimbledon, he was beaten in the second round, the world number one and eventual champion Roger Federer.

On 23 July 2007 he won at the side of Travis Parrott the double in Indianapolis.

In the last Grand Slam tournament of the year, del Potro lost in the third round to eventual finalist Novak Djokovic. Also at the Masters tournament in Madrid in the third round was the end, when he defeated his compatriot and eventual champion David Nalbandian.

Way into the top ten in the world rankings (2008)

After he was forced to retire at the Australian Open in the second round against David Ferrer in 2008 and in Wimbledon defeated Stanislas Wawrinka in the second round, he finally succeeded in this summer break.

On July 13, 2008 Del Potro won the Mercedes Cup in Stuttgart, his first ATP tournament. He defeated Richard Gasquet in the final. A week later, Del Potro reached his second final. At the Austrian Open in Kitzbühel he defeated the local hero Jurgen Melzer in less than an hour to win the second title in just two weeks. The third straight consecutive title he won in the final in Los Angeles against Andy Roddick. A week later he won the fourth consecutive tournament. When ATP tournament in Washington, defeating Viktor Troicki. Del Potro went down in history as the first player to one who brought his first four titles in four straight consecutive tournaments.

At the U.S. Open he reached the second round with a victory against Gilles Simon. It was the first five - set victory of his career. In the quarterfinals, he stopped Andy Murray in four sets tight after almost four hours. It was his best performance at a Grand Slam tournament. Murray also finished Del Potros series of 23 consecutive victories, a player in 2008, the second-longest winning streak, the second longest winning streak of a teenager in the Open Era and the third- longest winning streak in the history of Argentine.

In September, Del Potro led Argentina with significant three-set victories against the starting of Russia Nikolay Davydenko and Igor Andreev in the final of the Davis Cup. There, Argentina defeated on home turf Spain. Del Potro lost his match against Feliciano López and had to cancel his second match due to a thigh injury.

At the end of the season, Del Potro qualified for the Tennis Masters Cup for the first time. He won his match against Jo -Wilfried Tsonga, Novak Djokovic and but lost to Nikolay Davydenko.

The 2008 season was Del Potros most successful. He finished in 9th place in the world rankings and the first time in his career in the top 10. He established himself as Argentine number one and was the best-placed players from South America.

Victory at the U.S. Open (2009)

With the win the Heineken Open in Auckland at the beginning of Del Potro won the fifth tournament of his career. At the Australian Open, the set number 8 Argentines failed in the quarter finals to Roger Federer.

At the BNP Paribas Open Del Potro defeated Rafael Nadal still before he could defeat in his career at the Sony Ericsson Open in Miami him the first time. Despite the semi-final defeat against Andy Murray Del Potro collected enough points to reach the best result of his career in the ATP rankings to No. 5.

At the start of the clay season failed Del Potro in Monte Carlo already in round 2 of Ivan Ljubičić, but could be increased and only lost in the quarterfinals by defending champion Novak Djokovic Rome and Madrid in the semifinals of the eventual winner Roger Federer. In Madrid, however, he was able for the first time Andy Murray defeat in the quarterfinals.

At the French Open 2009 Del Potro came after wins over Michaël Llodra, Troicki Viktor, Igor Andreev, the set of number 9 Frenchman Jo- Wilfried Tsonga and three times quarter-finalists Tommy Robredo reached the semifinals. Here he failed in a close match over five sets to eventual winners Roger Federer.

At the tournament in Wimbledon, he came meanwhile, as in the previous two years, does not have the second round also. He defeated the unseeded former Wimbledon champion Lleyton Hewitt of Australia.

Just one month later, at a tournament in Washington, in which del Potro took to defend his title, he could avenge their defeat suffered against Lleyton Hewitt at Wimbledon. He beat him in three sets and moved into the semi-final against Fernando González. In the battle of the top ranked in the world ranking South American Argentine retained against the Chileans the upper hand and now had the opportunity to defend his title in the final against Wimbledon finalist and local hero Andy Roddick. This was Del Potro in three competitive sets. It was his second tournament victory in the calendar year and the first successful title defense at the Tournament of Washington since Andre Agassi in 1999.

As early as the following week he reached on August 16th in Montreal his first finals in a Masters tournament. Placed at number 6, he hit the quarter-finals of the returning from injury Rafael Nadal. It was his second consecutive victory against the Spaniard. In the semi-final, Del Potro was able to prevail again against Andy Roddick, even resisted doing a match from the American and increased his personal balance sheet against him to 3-0. In the final, he eventually had to be divided into three sets of the new world No. 2, the Briton Andy Murray, beaten. Then he canceled the tournament Cincinnati due to fatigue.

At the last Grand Slam tournament of the year, the U.S. Open in New York, Del Potro reached the final of a tournament first of the highest category. In the semifinals, he had previously turned the world ranking third parties Rafael Nadal and added the Spaniard with the 6:2, 6:2 and 6:2 his most obvious defeat at Grand Slam level. In the final, Del Potro defeated the world number one and five ten -time Grand Slam winner Roger Federer, who won the U.S. Open until then five titles and 41 consecutive matches. After losing the first set and break residue in the second set, the Argentine won the match in five sets and more than four hours of play time even with 3:6, 7:6, 4:6, 7:6 and 6:2 for themselves. Del Potro was after six years, the first player since countryman David Nalbandian, who beat Federer at the U.S. Open. In addition, he managed to conquer in the same Grand Slam tournament as the first, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal. Del Potro is the greatest player to ever win a Grand Slam tournament with a size of 1.98 meters. It was the second victory at the U.S. Open an Argentinian Guillermo Vilas according to which, however, still won on clay in 1977, and hence are the first Argentine Grand Slam success on hard court.

In November, Del Potro took part in the ATP World Tour Finals 2009. He lost his first round match against Andy Murray, but won the second match against Fernando Verdasco and could thus preserve his chances for the semi-finals. However, it was in the decisive match against Roger Federer, but Del Potro won and qualified for the semifinals. This was done with a game lead, the least possible lead, before the third-ranked Andy Murray. In the semifinals, Del Potro Robin Soderling defeated and met in the finals to Nikolay Davydenko, against whom he defeated smooth. Del Potro finished 2009 as the youngest player in the top 10 best-placed Argentineans and highly -placed South American, as in the previous year.

Injury and return to the world top (2010-2012)

Del Potro began the year at the AAMI Classic, in which he, however, due to a wrist injury could not contest the semi-final against Jo -Wilfried Tsonga. Nevertheless, he climbed in the world rankings by one place in order to achieve the best finish of his career with rank 4. In the Australian Open, he was still struck by his injury. He beat Michael Craig Russell, and met in round 2 already on James Blake, he could wrestle in five sets, despite major problems with his wrist. In the match against Florian Mayer he struggled with persistent fatigue, but managed this time to prevail. In the second round Del Potro eventually failed in five sets in the Croatian Marin Cilic Shooting Star. After that reinforced his wrist pain, which is why he played no further more tournament since the Australian Open. On May 4, he underwent in Rochester (Minnesota) an operation on his right wrist. His re-entry on the tour he gave the end of September in Bangkok, and which, although held the wrist, but he like a week later in Tokyo without set win in the first round was eliminated. Then he said from his shows, remaining tournaments of the season to work in his home country and Europe on his fitness.

Without points from the ATP World Tour Finals 2009 and the 2010 Australian Open del Potro fell in ranking in the meantime even to the position 485 back, his comeback attempt started very hesitant: both the tournament in Sydney and at the Australian Open failed del Potro already in the second round. Then the momentum changed: The two indoor tournaments in San José del Potro reached Memphis and in each case the semi-finals and won in Delray Beach for the first time since his triumph at the 2009 U.S. Open, a tournament again. In the final he beat Janko Tipsarevic the Serbs in straight sets and reached through the gain world ranking points again the top 100

In the first two Masters tournaments of 2011 del Potro won 450 points ( semi-finals at the BNP Paribas Open 2011 and second round at the Sony Ericsson Open in 2011 ) and No. 45 in the world rankings. The clay court season, he opened in Estoril for the first time since the French Open in 2009 again on this surface; Del Potro clinched his second season title against Fernando Verdasco clear in two sets and reached the world ranking 32 In the French Open in 2011, he moved confidently into the third round, but where he lost in four sets against the set of number two Novak Djokovic. At Wimbledon, he reached after three second-round defeats for the first time the other week. In a hard-fought four- set match he lost to defending champion Rafael Nadal in the second round. He then returned in wintry Buenos Aires back for a match on the clay court, where he won his single smooth against the Kazakh Mikhail Kukushkin in the quarterfinals of the Davis Cup.

The following tournaments in North America were disappointing for del Potro: In Los Angeles, Montreal and Cincinnati, he won only one match at the U.S. Open, he lost in the third round against Gilles Simon.

Shortly afterwards, at the Davis Cup semi-final in Belgrade, he was found, however greatly improved and helped by his individual wins against Janko Tipsarevic and the decisive, against Novak Djokovic ( by task) to reach the final against Spain.

In the European indoor season del Potros were mixed results. After a surprising opening defeat in Stockholm against James Blake he lost the final of Vienna against Jo -Wilfried Tsonga in three sets. The following week he lost in the semifinals of the 500 Tournament of Valencia Marcel Granollers. The Masters 1000 Paris -Bercy he dropped out because of the Davis Cup final in Seville against Spain. Despite largely strong performances he lost both single on sand against David Ferrer in five or Rafael Nadal four sets; Argentina was subject to a total of 1-3 and del Potro ended the 2011 season in World No. 11

Del Potro began his preparation for the Australian Open 2012 at the tournament in Sydney, where he. According to a bye in the first round and a win over Poland Łukasz Kubot with 6:7, 4:6 lost to Marcos Baghdatis At the Grand Slam tournament in Melbourne he beat Adrian Mannarino in the first round, but against whom he gave the first set. Then he defeated Blaž Kavčič, Lu Yen - hsun and the German Philipp Kohlschreiber in three sets. In the subsequent quarter-final he had no chance against Roger Federer and lost with 4:6, 3:6, 2:6.

The following three hard court events ran very successfully for del Potro. At 500 tournament of Rotterdam, he scored victories against Viktor Troicki, among other things, and Tomáš Berdych, before he had to start again against Federer in the final and won with 1:6, 4:6. In the following week in Marseille del Potro was able to record his tenth tournament victory. After a bye in round one and a tight three-set victory over Jo -Wilfried Tsonga in the semi-final he beat Michaël Llodra in the final the Frenchman 6-4, 6-4. In his second 500 tournament of the season in Dubai, he was able to prevail in the quarterfinals against Tsonga again - this time with 7:6, 6:2 - before he had to put in the third duel of the year against Federer, the third consecutive defeat. At 6:7, 6:7 he was found, however compared to the first two games greatly improved with the Swiss and played consistently at eye level.

Then del Potro played the two Masters tournaments at the hard courts in Indian Wells and Miami. In the California desert, he managed according to a bye in round one with a two- set victories over Marinko Matosevic and Fernando Verdasco to the knockout round, where he won after a hard fight against Denis Istomin 7-6, 6-7, 6-2. Then he stood in the quarter-final against the fourth time in the season Federer and lost for the fourth time without winning any set. In Miami he met after an initial walk-through in round two on Ivo Karlović he defeated without major problems with 7:5, 6:4. In the third round he had to deal with Marin Cilic, he could beat 6-3, 7-6. Then waited in the second round David Ferrer, del Potro of 6:3, 6:3 defeated.

On the Croats Cilic and del Potro Karlović met again two weeks later in the Davis Cup. In the Buenos Aires discharged on sand quarterfinals he won despite his illness two individual significantly. On Friday, he struck first Karlović 6:2, 7:6, 6:1, and then on Sunday Cilic 6-1, 6-2, 6-1. Argentina won a total of 4-1.

Del Potro began his preparation for the French Open at the tournament in Estoril, where he was able to defend his title from last year without dropping a set. After a bye in the first round, he defeated Rui Machado and Albert Montanes, before he was able to put in the last two rounds against Stanislas Wawrinka 7-6, 6-4, against Richard Gasquet 6-4, 6-4. It was his eleventh tournament victory. He then played in the Masters of Madrid, which was first held on a blue sand. Here he won his first round without dropping a set, and also greater difficulties. In round one, he defeated the Germans Florian Mayer 6-4, 6-2, Mikhail Youzhny then 6:2, 7:6. In the second round he met for the third time this season on Marin Cilic, against whom he clearly won again. In the quarterfinals, he defeated Alexander Dolgopolov 6-3, 6-4 and was eliminated next day only in a narrow semi-final against Tomas Berdych with 6:7, 6:7 from. Immediately afterwards denied del Potro, the last major warm-up tournament for the French Open in Rome. Here he defeated Michaël Llodra just under 7:5, 3:6, 6:4. In the second round he played again against Youzhny and won much smoother this time 6-4, 6-2. In the next round against Jo -Wilfried Tsonga he was first with a break in the first set forward, then lost but still 4:6, 1:6.

Placed at number nine he was in Paris at the French Open in the first round again Montanes against whom he defeated ultimately 6:2, 6:7, 6:2, 6:1. Especially in the second set, he was hampered by knee pain and had to be treated by a physiotherapist. In his subsequent match against Edouard Roger -Vasselin he kept with 6:7, 7:6, 6:4, 6:4 just the upper hand. In the third round he met the first set opponents; it was again Marin Cilic. This time he won against the Croats without dropping a set. The second round - again against Tomáš Berdych - had at 7:6, 1:6, 6:3 are canceled for del Potro due to darkness, it day he won the fourth set 7-5 and. In the quarterfinals, it came to the fifth duel of the season against Roger Federer. Unlike the games before del Potro went 6-3, 7-6 in the lead. Federer, however, succeeded yet, the game with 6:2, 6:0 and 6:3 to decide for themselves. For the first time del Potro had lost after a 2-0 set lead.

After del Potro had to cancel the tournament of Queen's because of his knee injury, he stepped on without any real preparation on grass at Wimbledon. In the first two rounds, he won against Robin Haase and Gō Soeda each in four sets. He then remained at 6:3, 7:6 and 6:1 over Kei Nishikori without dropping a set and retired for a second time in a row in the second round of Wimbledon. There, he lost to David Ferrer with 3:6, 2:6 and 3:6. A few weeks later, the Olympic tennis tournament was also held on the grass courts of Wimbledon. After two- set wins over Ivan Dodig and Andreas Seppi he sits down in a hard-fought match against Gilles Simon 6-1, 4-6, 6-3 by. He then defeated again in the quarterfinals Nishikori, this time with 6:4 and 7:6. In an almost four and a half hour long semi-finals he lost to Roger Federer 6-3, 6:7, 17:19, and thus in the sixth game of the year against the Swiss for the sixth time. In the bronze medal match, he defeated Novak Djokovic 7-5, 6-4 and Argentina secured by the first medal of these Olympic Games.

Right after del Potro began his preparation for the U.S. Open at the Masters in Toronto. There he was defeated in the first game of the Czech Radek Stepanek. The following week, he played in Cincinnati in the second Masters tournament of the U.S. Open Series. After victories over Tommy Haas, Viktor Troicki and Jérémy Chardy he lost in the semi-final against Novak Djokovic clear 3:6, 2:6. At the U.S. Open del Potro won against the first lucky loser Florent Serra in straight sets. This was followed by victories against Ryan Harrison and his compatriot Leonardo Mayer. In the second round Andy Roddick ended his career after del Potro 6:7, 7:6, 6:2, 6:4 won. In the quarterfinals, he lost to Novak Djokovic, however, with 2:6, 6:7, 4:6.

In 2013, del Potro increased directly with the Australian Open in the season. He won the first two rounds without dropping a set against Adrian Mannarino and Benjamin Becker before he surprisingly lost against Frenchman Jérémy Chardy in five sets. He then moved to Rotterdam to the final, which he won against Julien Benneteau with 7:62 and 6:3. After a quarter-final loss to Gilles Simon in Marseille, he reached the semifinals, but which he lost in straight sets against the then No. 1 Novak Djokovic in the world in Dubai. At the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, he reached the final. He defeated on the way there with Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic both the number three and number one in the world, but lost in the final in three sets against Rafael Nadal. He then lost in Miami at the Sony Open surprisingly early as the second round in straight sets against Tobias Kamke. Also in Monaco ( third-round Jarkko Nieminen from against ), he left early. Then he paused for a month lost in Rome, however, again in the third round, this time against Benoit Paire. At the French Open he joined not because of a viral illness. In the warm-up tournament for Wimbledon and the AEGON Championships in London's borough of Queens, he lost in the quarter- final against Lleyton Hewitt. Despite many early defeats in the months before he could reach the semifinals at Wimbledon without dropping a set. Previously, he had beaten the number four in the world, David Ferrer in the quarterfinals. In the semi-final against Novak Djokovic, he lost after 4 hours and 43 minutes by 5:7, 6:4, 6:7 ( 2:7 ) 7:6 ( 8:6 ) and 3:6. This was the longest semi-finals in the history of Wimbledon. At the U.S. Open Series, he started with a tournament victory in Washington. In the final he beat John Isner. It was his third tournament victory in the Citi Open, which he there as often as was Andy Roddick, Jimmy Connors and Guillermo Vilas triumph. The following week he lost in Montreal in the third round to eventual finalist and local hero Milos Raonic in straight sets. At the Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati, he again reached the semi-final, which he lost in three sets against John Isner. At the U.S. Open he struggled from the beginning with wrist problems and lost in the second round against Lleyton Hewitt in five sets. A month later, he won in Tokyo at the Rakuten Japan Open Tennis Championships 2013 in the final against Milos Raonic in straight sets. This tournament victory he moved into the world rankings prior to fifth place. Also at the Shanghai Rolex Masters, he reached the final. There, he lost to Novak Djokovic in three sets. He had previously beaten in the semi-finals Rafael Nadal significantly 6:2 and 6:4. After del Potro won the Swiss Indoors in Basel. In the final, he defeated home favorite Roger Federer in three sets. At the 2013 BNP Paribas Masters in Paris, however, Federer was able to then return the favor and defeated del Potro also in three sets. With five position in the season rankings, he qualified for the season finale. He resigned, however, in the group phase. Although he was able to defeat Richard Gasquet, but although he both Roger Federer Novak Djokovic and could force into a deciding set, he lost to both. He finished the season 2013 world ranking with five points from 5255. Thus, it was 2013 after 2009 his second successful year on the ATP World Tour.

Re- injury (2014)

Del Potro started with a tournament victory in the 2014 season. During Apia International Sydney he beat Bernard Tomic in the final with 6:3 and 6:1. At the Australian Open he failed already in the second round by Roberto Bautista Agut. In Rotterdam was for him in the quarterfinals statements. In the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships he had in the first round to give up the game due to unpredictable behavior on the wrist. As a result, he said from the tournaments in Indian Wells and Miami. The end of March it was announced that Del Potro has to undergo surgery again on the wrist and therefore must end the season prematurely.

Game style

Del Potro, who always competes with headband, is an offensive baseliner with a powerful serve and hard, flat groundstrokes. His forehand is more than 160 km / h. Furthermore, he has a constant and powerful two-handed backhand. Despite his height del Potro moves quickly and efficiently. It facilitates his good first serve and helps him to returnieren high topspin. Del Potro is mentally very strong, which finds expression in it, that he can play for long periods of consistently good and retrieve important moments in his best tennis. His favorite pads are hard and clay courts. With the start of the turf season 2011 he put increasingly on network attacks and so improved his volleys.

Del Potros biggest weakness is his often lethargic appearance, making it sometimes difficult to come in the way. Against strong opponents he gets often in arrears. In addition, he is very injury prone and could yet play through no professional season symptom-free.

Tournament Win

(*) Names of the tournament until 2008 Categories: ATP World Tour Finals = Tennis Masters Cup ATP World Tour Masters 1000 = ATP Masters Series (2004-2008), Tennis Masters Series (2000-2003) ATP World Tour 500 = International Series Gold ATP World Tour 250 = International Series

(*) Names of the tournament until 2008 Categories: ATP World Tour Masters 1000 = ATP Masters Series (2004-2008), Tennis Masters Series (2000-2003) ATP World Tour 500 = International Series Gold ATP World Tour 250 = International Series

Statistics ( Single)

Legend: S = tournament victory; F, HF, VF, AF = finals / semifinals / quarterfinals / knockout stages; 1R, 2R, 3R = eliminated in the first / second / third main round; RR = Round Robin ( Group Stage )

1 tournament result in brackets means that the player has not finished the tournament; it displays its current tournament status. After the player has finished the tournament, the clamp is removed. 2 prior to 2009 Tennis Masters Cup. 3 The Masters tournament in Madrid was held before 2002 in Stuttgart, Essen and Stockholm. In 2009 took place a pad change from hard court to sand. 4 The tournament Hamburg Masters is no longer part of the series since 2009. 5 PO = Playoff ( promotion and relegation round of the Davis Cup World Group ). 6 In contrast to the ATP rankings are here (as well as runners-up and won titles in the number ) counted only tournaments on the ATP World Tour and the four Grand Slam tournaments and the ATP World Tour Finals, ie no Challenger or Futures tournaments or team events ( Davis Cup and World Team Cup). However, the latter count in the win / loss statistics. 7 Since the 2009 season, no ATP tournaments are more played on carpet. 8 Stand: March 17, 2014