Juan Martín del Potro ( ; born 23 September 1988) is an Argentine professional tennis player who is the current highest-ranked Argentine and the fifth-ranked player in the world. Del Potro achieved a top 10 ranking by the Association of Tennis Professionals for the first time on October 6, 2008. In April 2009, he reached a career-high ranking of World No. 5.
Having started playing tennis at the age of seven, del Potro won his first senior match in 2004 at the age of 15. In 2008, he became the first player in ATP history to win his first four career titles in as many tournaments. He also completed the second longest winning streak in 2008, and the second longest by a teenager in the Open Era, behind Rafael Nadal—with his winning sequence spanning 23 matches over five tournaments. Del Potro captured his maiden Grand Slam title at the 2009 US Open defeating Roger Federer in the final. He became the second Argentine and the fifth youngest man to win the US Open title in the Open Era.
Early life
Juan Martín del Potro was born in Tandil, Argentina. His father, Daniel del Potro, played semi-professional rugby union in Argentina and is a veterinarian. His mother, Patricia, is a teacher and he has a younger sister named Julieta. Del Potro speaks Spanish and knows some Italian and English. Aside from tennis, he enjoys playing football and supports the Boca Juniors team in Argentina and Juventus in Italy. He would often dedicate time to both sports during his childhood, and Argentinian-Italian international footballer Mauro Camoranesi remains a close friend of del Potro.
Del Potro began playing tennis at the age of seven with coach Marcelo Gómez (who also coached Tandil-born players Juan Mónaco, Mariano Zabaleta and Máximo González). Del Potro’s talent was discovered by Italian ex-tennis professional Ugo Colombini, who accompanied him through the initial phases of his young career, and is still today his agent and close friend. When questioned about his ambitions in tennis he replied, "I dream of winning a Grand Slam and the Davis Cup."
Tennis career
2002–2005
As a junior in 2002, del Potro won the Orange Bowl 14s title, beating Marin Čilić en route to a 6–2, 7–6(5) victory over Pavel Tchekov in the final. In 2003, at the age of 14, del Potro received wild cards to three ITF Circuit events in Argentina, where he lost in straight sets in the first round of each.
In May 2004, del Potro won his first senior match, at the age of 15, at the ITF Circuit event in Buenos Aires by defeating Matias Niemiz, he then went on to lose in three sets to Sebastian Decoud in the second round. His next victory came over five months later against the Chilean Alvaro Loyola in a tournament in Antofagasta. Later that year, del Potro reached the quarter-finals of the ITF Circuit event in Campinas, Brazil; recording victories over Henrique Mello and Alessandro Camarco. Del Potro won two more matches before the end of the year and saw his world ranking rise from 1,441 in August to 1,077 in November. He also reached the finals in the Argentina Cup and Campionati Internazionali D'Italia Junior tournaments.
Del Potro reached his first final of the ITF Junior Circuit on 11 January 2005, the "Copa del Café" (Coffee Bowl) in Costa Rica, which he lost to Robin Haase in three sets. He was involved in a dispute with the umpire during this match, who decided to stop the play because of rain which del Potro believed favoured Haase. Because of the rain delays, the final set had to be played indoors; this was the first time the indoor courts had been used in the 44-year history of the youth tournament.
At the age of 16, del Potro reached his first senior singles final at the Futures tournament in Berimbau Naucalpan, Mexico where he lost to Darko Madjarovski 6–3, 4–6, 4–6. He then went onto win consecutive titles at two Junior ITF Circuit events in Santiago, Chile, including the 26th International Junior tournament. In the first tournament, he beat Jorge Aguilar 6–4, 7–6(6) and in the second, he did not drop a set in the whole tournament and defeated Thiago Alves 6–1, 6–1 in the final, a player ranked more than 400 places higher at the time. He won his third title in his home country by defeating Damian Patriarca, who forfeited the match, at the ITF Circuit event in Buenos Aires.
Del Potro turned professional after the Italy F17 event in Bassano and in his first professional tournament, the Lines Trophy in Reggio Emilia, he reached the semi-finals where he lost to countryman Martín Vassallo Argüello in three sets. Two tournaments later, he reached the final of the Credicard Citi MasterCard Tennis Cup in Campos do Jordão, Brazil where he lost to André Sá 4–6, 4–6. After turning 17, he won the Montevideo Challenger by defeating Boris Pašanski in the final in three sets. That same year, he failed in his first attempt to qualify for his first Grand Slam, at the US Open, losing in the first round to Paraguayan Ramón Delgado. Throughout 2005, del Potro jumped over 900 positions to finish with a world ranking of 158, largely due to winning three Futures tournaments. He was the youngest player to finish in the year-end top 200.
2006
In February, del Potro played his first ATP tour event in Viña del Mar where he defeated Albert Portas before losing to Fernando González in the second round. Later, seeded seventh, he won the Copa Club Campestre de Aguascalientes by defeating the likes of Dick Norman and Thiago Alves before beating Sergio Roitman 3–6, 6–4, 6–3 in the final.
Del Potro qualified for the main draw of his first Grand Slam in the 2006 French Open, at the age of 17. He lost in the opening round to former French Open champion and 24th seed Juan Carlos Ferrero. Having received a wild card, in July, he reached the quarter-finals of the ATP event in Umag, Croatia where he lost in three sets to the eventual champion, Stanislas Wawrinka. In Spain, he participated in the Open Castilla y León Challenger tournament held in Segovia, defeating the number one seed Fernando Verdasco in the quarter-finals and Benjamin Becker in the final.
Del Potro qualified for his first US Open in 2006 after being seeded ninth in the qualifying stages where he beat Brian Vahaly, Wayne Arthurs and Daniel Köllerer in straight sets. In the US Open, he lost in the first round to fellow qualifier Alejandro Falla of Colombia in four sets. He went on to qualify for his first ATP Masters Series tournament in Spain, the Mutua Madrileña Madrid Open, where he lost 4–6, 4–6 in the first round to Joachim Johansson. After receiving a wild card thanks to Roger Federer, he reached the quarter-finals of the 2006 Davidoff Swiss Indoors in Basel, Switzerland; defeating lucky loser Tobias Clemens in the first round and George Bastl in the second round before losing to the eventual runner-up Fernando González 7–5, 4–6, 4–6. Del Potro finished 2006 as the youngest player in Top 100 at 18 years, 2 months.
2007
Del Potro began the year by reaching his first semi-final in ATP Adelaide, Australia, where he lost to Chris Guccione 7–5, 3–6, 5–7 having beaten Igor Kunitsyn 6–2, 6–0 earlier in the day. He would then reach the second round of the Australian Open, where he had to retire because of injury in his match against eventual finalist Fernando González in the fifth set, with the score being 6–7(7), 6–4, 7–6(3), 4–6, 0–4 at the time of his retirement. In February, del Potro played for Argentina in the first round of the Davis Cup against Austria winning the fourth and definite match against Jürgen Melzer 7–6(4), 3–6, 6–4, 4–6, 6–2, allowing Argentina to qualify for the quarter-finals.
Del Potro defeated Feliciano López 6–1, 6–2 before losing to eventual semi-finalist Mardy Fish 1–6, 6–7(9) in the second round of the indoor Regions Morgan Keegan Championships. In his next ATP Masters event, he reached the second round of the Pacific Life Open, he beat Gustavo Kuerten in the first round but then lost to Richard Gasquet by a similar margin 6–7(2), 2–6. Del Potro went further in the Sony Ericsson Open, reaching the fourth round after he defeated three top 50 players; Jonas Björkman, Marcos Baghdatis, and Mikhail Youzhny before falling to Rafael Nadal 0–6, 4–6. In May, he lost in the first round of the French Open to eventual champion, Nadal 5–7, 3–6, 2–6.
In his first grass court event, del Potro beat Thomas Johansson in two sets and reached the second round at Queen's Club where he lost to Nadal. He also reached the quarter-finals in Nottingham the following week; there he beat British qualifier Jamie Baker and Kunitsyn in the first two rounds but lost to Ivo Karlović 6–7(10), 5–7 at the quarter-final stage. At his inaugural Wimbledon Championships, he defeated Davide Sanguinetti 3–6, 6–3, 6–4, 6–4 in the first round before losing 2–6, 5–7, 1–6 to eventual champion Roger Federer in the second round, after a rain delay in the third set.
Del Potro lost to Frank Dancevic in three sets in the second round of the singles at the ATP event in Indianapolis. At the same event, partnered with Travis Parrott in doubles, he won his first doubles tournament defeating Teimuraz Gabashvili and Karlović 2–6, 6–2, 10–6 in the final. He regards this as a special victory, "It was fantastic to play doubles with Parrott. I'm so happy
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