Juan Martin del Potro's comeback season got even better earlier this week. The Argentine was named the Sportsman of the Year in Argentina on Tuesday night during a ceremony at the Premios Olimpia in Buenos Aires. It's the second time del Potro has received the Golden Olimpia. He also received the honour in 2009, the year he won two ATP World Tour titles – Auckland and Washington – and the US Open, his first and to date only Grand Slam title. This season, the 6'6” right-hander hoisted another ATP World Tour trophy, his first in nearly three years after wrist injuries caused him to miss most of the 2014 and 2015 seasons. Del Potro beat American Jack Sock to win...
Continuing our Season In Review series, ATPWorldTour.com revisits the fiercest rivalries of 2016. Today we feature Juan Martin del Potro vs. Andy Murray & Stan Wawrinka: Juan Martin del Potro was a man on a mission in 2016. The Comeback Player of the Year in the 2016 ATP World Tour Awards Presented by Moët & Chandon, del Potro turned in multiple watershed moments of magic in his return to action from wrist surgery. Indelible images of the emotional Argentine with tears of joy came early and often. After reaching the semi-finals in his debut in Delray Beach, he would streak to the third round at Wimbledon with an upset of Stan Wawrinka, claim the silver medal at the Rio Olympics...
Juan Martin del Potro has endured more pain than most tennis players during his injury-stinted career, including four wrist surgeries during the past seven years. So of course he wasn't going to let a broken left pinky finger stop him during his final match of the season on Sunday. Del Potro and Marin Cilic were tied two sets a piece during their Davis Cup match when the Argentine broke his smallest left finger while trying to catch a missed Cilic serve off the bounce. Del Potro played through the injury, though, and improved upon his already impressive 2016 by coming back from two-sets down for the first time in his career to beat Cilic 6-7(4), 2-6, 7-5, 6-4, 6-3 in four...
Twenty years ago was the golden age of the big server. Players such as Goran Ivanisevic, Pete Sampras, Richard Krajicek and Boris Becker dominated during an unprecedented period of first-serve dominance, the mid- to late 1990s. Today, it’s superiority behind the second serve that has risen to prominence as players look to climb the Emirates ATP Rankings. An Infosys ATP Beyond The Numbers analysis of first- and second-serve win percentages beginning in 1991, when such statistics were first kept in tennis, to the 2016 season, shows a clear and dramatic transition of where players are excelling to begin the point. Performance categories were created with the following criteria: First-serve points won at 80 per cent or higher; Second-serve points won...
CROATIA 2, ARGENTINA 3 Arena Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia Davis Cup Final Argentina completed an improbable comeback to claim its first Davis Cup title, storming back from the brink of elimination to defeat Croatia on Sunday. The South American nation was one set from defeat in the fourth rubber, with Marin Cilic leading Juan Martin del Potro two sets to love, and they would mount a historic rally to lift the trophy. Del Potro turned in his first career two-set comeback 6-7(4), 2-6, 7-5, 6-4, 6-3, followed by a clutch 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 win for Federico Delbonis over Ivo Karlovic. Argentina is the eighth nation to rally from 1-2 down and first since Serbia completed the comeback in 2010. Having captured...
