Can Delpotro make it big again?

Juan Martin del Potro is not only one of the greatest players to have graced the game of tennis but is also one of the most popular players the game has ever seen. The talk of Del Potro making his comeback had been in the talks way before it was announced. Finally, Del Potro made his comeback in the Delray tournament and made an impressive showing of reaching the semifinals of the tournament. In this article, we look at if Delpotro has what it takes to challenge the likes of the top guns as Novak.

First things first, it takes a lot of grit to comeback after having 4 surgeries on the same wrist within a very short period of time. It also takes a toll on a person both physically and mentally. Del Potro was destined to become the king of tennis after he defeated Roger Federer in the US open final of 2009  which is considered the greatest grand slam final ever, not because of the scoreline, not because it had out of the world hitting but solely due to the fact that it signalled to the world that two of the greatest gladiators (Roger and Rafa) could be beaten in the same tournament and weren’t invincible. Shortly after the magnificent win Del Potro got injured, which was to haunt the rest of his playing career.

Yes, Del Potro came back to the tour after that blow. He came back strong and beat the likes of Novak Djokovic,Roger Federer, and Rafael Nadal and also took his country to the Davis Cup final. His career high ranking reached no.4, but, in that rise the sheer ferocity of his game that won him win his first grand slam was missing. 

Meanwhile, another injury meant that he was out of the game for the good. But, in 2016, he decided to give the game perhaps a decisive shot. Del Potro having reached the semis of Delray and the second round of Indian Wells reminded us somewhat of his old days. His second round match against Tomas Berdych was a great encounter which made us believe that perhaps we will be rescued off the single-handed domination of tennis. But he suffered majorly in one department:the backhand. His reluctance to bot the double hander and relying on slices means that at this moment he is a modified version of someone like Ivo Karlovic but has a better forehand and a weaker serve. Secondly, his movement was not as good as it used to be before and finally, in the Miami masters first round match up ( which he lost against  Delboinas) the wrist seemed to give him trouble which raised questions if Delpo had actually recovered from the injury.

For Delpotro to do well in the coming weeks it is essential that the wrist holds good, the courts play fast and his backhand again starts to produce the goods. We hope that all these things happen and Delpo could regain the throne which he won as a 20-year-old lad in 2009.