A “sad” Juan Martin del Potro might miss the rest of the tennis season because of a knee injury he suffered during the Shanghai Masters. What that means is he could also be ruled out of the year-ending ATP World Tour Finals that will be played in November.
Del Potro has revealed the fall he suffered during his match against Borna Coric resuled in a fracture of his patella bone on the right knee and he will take some time to recover from his injury.
The Argentine world number four had qualified for the World Tour Finals but it looks like that appearance would be most unlikely.
He said: “It’s a very difficult moment. I feel very sad. It’s a hard blow which leaves me without any strength. It’s very difficult for me to think about recovery again. I did not expect this to happen.”
It had been an excellent season for del Potro, who was on a comeback trail from his wrist surgery, was a US Open finalist where he went down to Novak Djokovic. That had followed a semi-final appearance at the French Open and quarter-finals at Wimbledon, but his biggest title came at the Indian Wells Masters where he beat Roger Federer in a tough final.
Unfortunately for del Potro, he lost his footing and fell clumsily during his third round match against Borna Coric and that ended not just his match but also looks like his entire season.
Del Potro, who has had injury issues for some years now, is a former Grand Slam champion, having won the US Open title in 2009. He was just 20 at that stage. However, since then he has had four wrist surgeries and his ranking had fallen to nearly outside the top 600 in 2015, prompting thoughts of quitting.
A solid return to competitive tennis in 2018 propelled him to the number three ranking in the world, but this latest injury would make him re-evaluate his options.
Having been all but ruled out of the World Tour Finals, del Potro will need to target a rehabilitation that helps him through to the first Grand Slam of the new year. Del Potro has never reached the semi-final of the Australian Open before and was knocked out in round three of the 2018 edition.
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