Juan Martin del Potro He officially said goodbye to tennis today, in an emotional exhibition against the Serbian Novak Djokovicwhich also had the presence of Gabriela Sabatini and Gisela Dulko. At the end he confessed very excited “that the final point in my career is having a racket in my hand makes it very special.” Furthermore, He thanked his fans who “have accompanied me every step of the way.”with the world”.
The event, which was called “The last challenge”represented the final goodbye for the Tandil native, who had already retired professionally at the beginning of 2022 at the Argentina Open, after a string of knee injuries that prevented him from continuing to play at the highest level.
Del Potro surprised the public with the power of his service and his characteristic “hammer” in the drive to beat the Serbian, who currently occupies seventh place in the ATP rankings.
Despite having played at half speed, Djokovic He was surprised by his opponent’s serve, who hit a huge number of aces.
“Delpo” took the first set after maintaining all his serves and breaking his opponent’s in the tenth game to win 6-4. At that moment one of the most emotional situations occurred, when the former Argentine tennis players entered the court. Gabriela Sabatini and Gisela Dulko to play some games of doubles.
While introducing Sabatini, Del Potro was moved to tears when saying that the women’s tennis legend called him last year before surgery. “She called me and took a flight to come see me. From then on we became inseparable, she is a legend,” he said.
In turn, he thanked Djokovicwhom he beat 6-4 and 7-5, and detailed how this match came about: “This madness started in March more or less, in Miami Open. “We went to dinner together and I asked him if there was a possibility of going to Argentina.”
And he continued: “This year he had a very big challenge which was to win the Olympics and a very tight schedule, but he immediately said yes. This was possible thanks to your generosity. “He has all the tennis titles, but I think that also with these attitudes and gestures he has the title and the most difficult trophy to achieve, which is the love of the people.”
Djokovic, winner of 24 Grand Slam titles (absolute record) and that this year he achieved the last great achievement that he was missing by winning the gold medal at the Olympic Gameshe was always very funny with the publicwho he blew up with some impressive points.
After the emotional exhibition, in which Del Potro took the victory 6-4 and 7-5, the Argentine and Djokovic They melted through tears in an emotional hugas occurred in the first round of the Olympics Rio 2016 and in the final of the US Open, while the audience gave a standing ovation to the “Tower of Tandil” for more than five minutes.
Regarding the end of the match that was played at Parque Roca, Del Potro acknowledged being “emotional, but it’s not sadness. Tonight is super special.”
Del Potro, 36, was also moved by the greetings he received from figures such as Lionel Scaloni, Martín Palermo, Manu Ginobili, Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Carlos Alcaraz and Gael Monfils: “It is a privilege that such athletes remember me and say such nice things,” he said.
In this way, and with a farewell worthy of his great career, Del Potro says goodbye to a successful career in which He won 22 titles, including the 2009 US Open, the 2018 Indian Wells Masters 1000, the 2016 Davis Cup and his two Olympic medals (bronze in London 2012 and silver in Rio 2016).
Source: Ambito
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