Juan Martin Del Potro Calls Off The Exhibition Match Against Roger Federer in Argentina

The Argentine, Juan Martin del Potro, and the Swiss legend, Roger Federer were scheduled to play an exhibition match in Buenos Aires, Argentina, but unfortunately, Del Potro isn’t fully fit to play a tennis match due to the on-going rehabilitation of his knee surgery in June this year.

Lately, he has been swinging his tennis racquets on the practice court, but certainly is not ready to risk is recovery by playing high-level tennis against the Swiss maestro. However, the exhibition match will still be conducted in Buenos Aires, Argentina on November 20, 2019, and Alexander Zverev will be replacing the ‘Tower of Tandil’, Del Potro. Zverev and Federer are scheduled to play matches in Chile and Mexico. 

“I wanted to tell you that, unfortunately, I will not be able to play the game with Roger Federer,” Juan Martin del Potro announced. “Despite having been training hard all these days, in the last practice [sessions] I felt that the knee was not ready yet for such a high-level match against the best in history.”

In June this year, Del Potro fractured his right patella at the Fever-Tree Championships at Queens while playing Denis Shapovalov. After undergoing knee surgery in Spain, Del Potro hasn’t stepped on the professional tennis courts.

“You deserve a game of a very good level, of high quality and I am not in a position to move freely today. I find it difficult to run and out of respect for the effort you made to be at the event I think it is best to go and give my space. It has been a frustrating year in general. Enjoy seeing the best in history in Argentina,” he added.

Meanwhile, on courts of ATP World Tour Finals 2019, the semifinal line-up has been sealed. The six-time ATP Finals champion, Roger Federer will play the debutant, Stefanos Tsitsipas in the first semi-finals on Saturday and followed by Dominic Thiem and Alexander Zverev will be occupying London’s O2 court in the last match of the day.