BUENOS AIRES, ARMENIA – “A farewell more than a comeback”: Argentina’s Juan Martin Del Potro has hinted that he could retire after this week’s Buenos Aires tournament.

The former winner of the United States Open, who has not played in the circuit for almost three years due to a knee injury, said crying during a press conference in the capital on Saturday, that the Argentine gave him “a nightmare”.

“It’s a farewell’s more than a comeback. I have been trying treatments for years, seeing doctors and I could not imagine retiring without playing. There is no better tournament than Buenos Aires to do that. “After this week, I will think about the future,” said the 33-year-old former No. 3 in the world.

Nicknamed the Tandil Tower, Del Potro (1.98m) won the US Open in 2009 defeating Rafael Nadal in the semifinals and then Roger Federer in the final, in five sets, becoming the first Argentine after Guillermo Villa, in 1977, won a Grand Slam tournament. The only one of his career.

“Delpo” also helped give Argentina their first Davis Cup in 2016, winning a crucial point, that of a 2-2 draw on Sunday, against Croatian Marin Cilic. Then Federico Delbonis scored the third point, that of the historic victory.

The best Argentine player of the last 20 years also won two tough Olympic medals. Bronze in London 2012, defeating Novak Djokovic, then silver in Rio 2016, after beating Djokovic and Nadal, but relegated to the final against Andy Murray.

Wrist and knees, the weak links

He is at the age of miracles, 33, but he has not played a single official match since the Queens tournament in June 2019, long before the global coronavirus pandemic. On the English turf, he was injured again in his knee, eight months after a fracture of a patella in his right knee during the Masters 1000 in Shanghai.

Since then, the Argentine has undergone four more knee surgeries, the last in 2021, and is now ranked 757th in the world. On Tuesday, he will start the thread of his career again, against Delbonis (41st in the world). But for how much?

“To be honest, I have to say that I am not coming for a miraculous return like in other cases. “I know the limits of my body,” he said.

In recent weeks, “Delpo” had expressed on social media his desire to return to play in Buenos Aires, where he had only lined up once in 2006. And possibly continue next week in the Rio ATP 500 (14-20 February ). But nothing is less certain.

In 2018, Del Potro was a semifinalist at Roland-Garros, then a finalist at the United States Open three months later, taking the world podium for the first time between these two big results.

Since his ATP Tour debut, Del Potro has won more titles (22) than has undergone surgery, fortunately for him, but has often been betrayed by his large body (1.98m), which testifies, as a matter of priority, of his wrists and knees.

In the big injury ball, the wrists give the tone first. The right first, operated in the spring of 2010, then the left specifically, operated three times in fifteen months, between March 2014 and June 2015. Until it plummeted beyond 1000th place in the world in early 2016.

The knees underwent, specifically this patella fracture in October 2018 in Shanghai, then the numerous stoppage, perhaps final, in Queens 2019, eight months later.