WIMBLEDON, England — Just off the court from beating a top 5 player for the first time in nearly four years and fresh out of breath, Juan Martin del Potro had this to say to the BBC: “I’m playing good tennis again. I feel alive.”
It’s been a while since del Potro, the 2009 U.S. Open champion, felt alive. Once the next big thing in tennis having beaten Roger Federer in that New York final, he has dealt with a series of injuries over the last few years, most recently needing surgery on his left wrist.
But Friday he was back at Wimbledon for the first time since 2013, the 6-foot-6 Argentine lumbering around the court, moving with some quizzical kind of grace and bashing his forehand with fierce intent. He beat Stan Wawrinka, a two-time Grand Slam champion in the time that del Potro had three surgeries, on Centre Court.
“I did not see this coming,” commentator and coach Darren Cahill said on ESPN.
Added John McEnroe on BBC: “Talk about a guy that deserves it; I know everyone in that locker room is happy for him. We wondered after the most recent surgery, ‘Are we ever going to see this guy again?’”
Del Potro wondered the same.
“I'm feeling so glad just to be playing tennis again,” said the 27-year-old. “Of course, when you beat these guys, everything changes in a good way. I'm excited to go far in this tournament. I think I'm very pleased with my success at the moment.”
Del Potro has long been a fan favorite. He is an imposing figure, the size of a NBA player and with focused, glaring eyes. But his appeal is in his loveable Teddy Bear sort of aura. Wherever he goes, the crowd seems to be on his side.
“I like to share moments (with the crowd),” he told the BBC. “I didn’t expect to be in the third round.”
It’s the first time del Potro has been as far at a major since Wimbledon in 2013, when he made a resurgent run at the All England Club in a previous comeback from another injury – the right wrist – and pushed Novak Djokovic to five sets in a classic semifinal.
“As we all say, it's great for tennis to see him back,” a disappointed Wawrinka said Friday. “He's a great guy, a really good player, a big champion.”
The curiosity of his run here is held in his form: Still recovering in his left wrist, he’s taken to slicing his backhand more often, and said that he feels as if he’s at 80 percent, not yet his best. But that backhand – opposite of the walloping forehand that has made him so great – can prove frustrating for opponents. It did for Wawrinka.
“You can see already he played few matches this year and beat some good guys,” Wawrinka noted. “Today he was playing really good. I think he was serving really well. His forehand is there. His backhand, he's still struggling a little bit because he cannot play free completely with what he wants, so he's slicing a lot. But on the slow grass, it's tough to do something.”
He was trending worldwide on Twitter after the win and set his sights on Lucas Pouille, a young Frenchman seeded No. 32, later Saturday. Can the magic continue? He was 11-7 on the season entering Wimbledon.
“I'm doing a big effort in every match; I only played five or six tournament on this year,” he said. “It's not easy to manage all of the things (I have to), but I'm starting to feel better every day.”
Del Potro has enlisted Dani Vallverdu, the former coach of Andy Murray and Tomas Berdych, as his temporary advisor having worked with Marcelo Gomez since childhood. It’s another change he has had to manage – including that backhand – as he’s attempted what he calls a “third career.”
“It was really tough to come back on the sport after my third (surgery),” he said. “But now I'm enjoying tennis again. I don't know if I can be (ranked) in the top positions again. But if not, I will be happy just to be playing tennis. If I'm still doing the good things, maybe I have chance to be better in the future because I can play in the same level as the top guys in all surface. That's means something good to me.”
Del Potro has also been one of the few players to be added to the Federer-led boutique agency, Team 8. He shares an agent and manager with Federer, needless to say the best team in the business. But not even Federer can fathom the second and third phases of a career. He’s never been away that long.
“I can't comment very much on that because he's been injured so long and so much,” the 34-year-old said. “He had to go through an entire getting used to hitting a different type of a backhand when he comes over it. It looks different, so it must feel different. I think it's a huge win for him. It will be interesting to see how far he can go now.”
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