“Delpo” himself, an innate super athlete, had already anticipated it: this was not a return to competition but the concrete possibility of a goodbye. If the mere presence of the former number 3 in the world was reason to unleash a hurricane of fans, the fact of being one of his last functions caused a hysteria that refers to the height of the popularity of the Beatles. And all this took shape at the very moment that the idol went out to the Central Court Guillermo Vilas to make his debut in the Argentine Open.
Little does it matter at this point the formal result of the match, which was on the side of Federico Delbonis 6-1 and 6-3. The answer to the recurring question of the last three years, when Del Potro returns, finally materialized this Tuesday. Gone are the ghosts. The pain is there and the lack of mobility and competition timing was very evident (his strident blows from him were in the past), but the “Rook” removed that thorn that ate him up inside: that the inevitable epilogue be on a court.
It took 965 days for the 2009 US Open champion to officially pick up a racket again. On June 19, 2019, he was skating at Queen’s against Denis Shapovalov and the injury to his right knee that he had suffered in October 2018 worsened. Since then he has undergone four surgeries to try to compete again.
The last time Del Potro played in the country for points was on September 14, 2012, for the Davis Cup semifinals. That Friday he beat Czech Radek Stepanek in three sets. Those were times when the injury to his left wrist began to decimate him. The Sunday that closed the series he could not go out to play the last point and the internal one broke out with the then captain Martín Jaite and fundamentally with Héctor Romani, who held the power.
When “Delpo” left the stadium once the defeat against the Czech Republic was complete, remote-controlled whistles came down from some sectors of Parque Roca. In February 2014, in Mar del Plata, Argentina faced Italy and the boos grew, encouraged from certain sectors of the Argentine tennis establishment, still in the AAT administration.
After those episodes of 2012, the ace of spades of the Argentine team decided not to play in the National Team anymore. It was no longer a sporting issue, but an ideological one, which confronted him with the leaders. He called for structural changes in vernacular tennis, which came later, when the Association suffered the death of President Arturo Grimaldi and there was a rotation of names. The mission, then, was to recover the connection with the maximum exponent.
In the midst of that fight, Del Potro went through his second big break, when his left wrist said enough and had to be operated on three times. His resilience and his desire to be again struck a chord with the Argentine public, who were already whistling for messages of recovery. As the saying goes, there is no evil that lasts 100 years.
It was made clear on Tuesday that the winner of 22 titles is not one more for the world of tennis. The public, eager to once again see his forehands full of gunpowder, did the impossible to be at his debut at the Argentina Open. And they made it clear to him once the man from Tandil stepped on the mythical Buenos Aires brick dust. His compelling figure overshadowed everything at the Argentina Open.
Architect and superhero of the Davis Cup title in 2016 -the materialization of the changes made in 2014-, “Delpo” became the most precious value for every fan of the sport of rackets. During that season he starred in some of the most epic battles in Tandil mythology. If getting the Salad Bowl is at the cusp, the silver medal at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics – triumphing over Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal through – emerges as the other great moment of the year. There was no turning back: hearing whistles again was something fanciful.
Juan Martín’s band of friends, those who arrived from Tandil, entered minutes before the start of the match with great fanfare and gave a very noisy and soccer-loving atmosphere to the previous one, almost as if it were the recital of one of the most popular bands on the national level. Shouts from one side and the other in encouragement to the current 753 in the ATP ranking to encourage him and lift him up after each lost point.
Not only was it filled with celebrities of all origins. A while before the little balls come and go, the queue to enter the BALTC exceeded five blocks. Even the venue was packed and the epicenter was the giant screen located at one end of the food court.
Only Del Potro himself -fundamentally his health- will determine if there is another chapter in his story. His intention is to play the ATP 500 in Rio de Janeiro next week, although everything remains to be confirmed. His time in Buenos Aires was etched in the annals of the tournament. Just like him in the most glorious pages of Argentine tennis.
Source: Ambito
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