There is no doubting that both Juan Martin del Potro and Milos Raonic have had excellent careers thus far. The Argentine has reached a career-best No. 4 in the ATP Rankings and won 21 tour-level titles while the Canadian has climbed to No. 3 and claimed eight trophies. Del Potro triumphed at the 2009 US Open at age 20, while Raonic made the Wimbledon final two years ago.
But neither player has triumphed at the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 level.
The pair will battle in the semi-finals at the BNP Paribas Open on Saturday to move within one victory of doing just that. And while both men have reached the Top 5 of the ATP Rankings, they were in far from the same boat when they arrived in the Coachella Valley.
Del Potro has been one of the hottest players on the ATP World Tour in 2018. The 29-year-old is fresh off a victory at the Abierto Mexicano Telcel presentado por HSBC in Acapulco, his first ATP World Tour 500-level title since 2013 Basel. And while he remained between No. 28 and No. 42 in the ATP Rankings from 24 October 2016 until 28 August 2017, Del Potro has soared into the Top 10 since then, and can move up to No. 6 for the first time since February 2014 if he beats Raonic, which would give him 400 career wins.
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It has been a long road back from multiple left-wrist surgeries for the Argentine. But with the help of his missile-like forehand, the right-hander has earned eight Top 10 wins since the start of last year’s US Open. He is not thinking about the injury and recovery that kept him outside the Top 100 for 22 months from the end of 2014 until August 2016, which he said Friday made him consider quitting the sport.
“I got depressed at home for a long while, and I wasn't happy doing the effort to recover,” Del Potro said. “In that moment of my life, I was trying to find a different way of my life. That's what I was thinking about, quitting tennis. But thank God I'm here and healthy, and I'm playing tennis again. I'm in the Top 10 again. I have too much love from the crowd, for my fans, and I'm doing this because I love it.”
Raonic can empathise with Del Potro, whom he has beaten in two of their three FedEx ATP Head2Head meetings, as the No. 32 seed has struggled with his health lately, too. The Canadian dealt with injuries to his right adductor, left glute, hamstring, and wrist last year, and was forced to start his offseason later than he wanted to due to a meniscus injury, meaning he could only begin training right before the 2018 Australian Open. Raonic started the season 1-3 before arriving at the BNP Paribas Open.
“I don't know what I expected,” Raonic said of his performance at Indian Wells. “I knew I could play much better than I did over the last weeks.”
After he outlasted Sam Querrey in a three-set quarter-final, a reporter asked him if his last year-plus has been a mess. “It's been a catastrophe,” the 30-year-old said.
But now both men have an opportunity to reach a Masters 1000 final. And there will be no shortage of big-hitting — off the serve and the ground — between these two players. According to Infosys ATP Scores & Stats, Raonic was third (90.8 per cent) and Del Potro 22nd (84.5 per cent) in career service games won all-time heading into this tournament, so don’t expect many breaks of serve.
It will be interesting to see where Raonic will serve in the ad court, as he consistently hit a slice out wide against Querrey, which against Del Potro would mean serving to one of the most devastating shots in the game — the Argentine’s forehand on the full stretch. Expect the Canadian — who will only be playing his eighth match since the beginning of October — to target Del Potro's backhand and sneak into net as the World No. 8 predominantly slices off that wing.
No matter the result, both players are clearly working their way back to peak form. But only one will move into a Masters 1000 final as they seek their first trophy at this level. And Saturday’s semi-final is another opportunity to continue the upward trajectory of their respective comebacks.
“I'm in the semis. I'm happy with that,” said Raonic, a finalist in 2016 at Indian Wells. “I know I can play better, and hopefully I can do that tomorrow.”