Juan Martín del Potro

Juan Martín del Potro: The Forehand That Broke the Big Three

On 14 September 2009, a twenty-year-old from a small Argentine city did what almost no one else managed for nearly a decade. Having already beaten Rafael Nadal in the semifinal, Juan Martín del Potro fell a set and a break behind Roger Federer, the five-time defending champion, in the US Open final—and then, powered by the most fearsome forehand in tennis, came storming back to win in five sets. He would be the only man outside Federer, Nadal and Novak Djokovic to win a Grand Slam across a thirty-tournament span. What almost no one knew that night was that it would also be, in effect, the summit of a career the body would spend the next fifteen years dismantling.

Tandil

Juan Martín del Potro was born on 23 September 1988 in Tandil, a city on the Argentine pampas. His father Daniel was a rugby player and veterinarian; his mother Patricia a teacher. He picked up a racket at seven under the coach Marcelo Gómez and was soon spotted by the Italian former professional Ugo Colombini, who became his agent and mentor. He turned professional in June 2005 at sixteen, and by late 2006, at eighteen, was the youngest man in the world's top hundred.

The Rise

His arrival was emphatic. In mid-2008 he won four consecutive ATP titles—Stuttgart, Kitzbühel, Los Angeles and Washington—becoming the first player ever to make his first four career titles a clean run. Standing 1.98 metres, he hit the ball with a violence the tour had rarely seen, and the 2009 US Open confirmed that the giant could think as well as bludgeon. At twenty he was the tallest man ever to win a major and the first Argentine champion since Guillermo Vilas in 1977. Over 2009 to 2013 he gathered 22 tour titles and became one of the most feared ball-strikers in the game. The tennis world assumed it was watching the beginning of a long reign.

The Body Rebels

It was not. Wrist trouble surfaced within months of the title. He had surgery on his right wrist in May 2010 and lost nine months. Then, between 2014 and 2015, his left wrist required three separate operations, each absence tearing him from the rankings he had earned. The wrist damage was especially cruel because it struck the two-handed backhand, forcing him for long stretches to slice that wing and rely on the forehand alone. The recurring injuries meant that del Potro's career became less a straight ascent than a series of returns from the dead—each comeback greeted with genuine emotion, because the tour had come to love him.

The Great Comeback of 2018

The most complete of those resurrections came in 2018. Del Potro won the Indian Wells Masters, his only Masters 1000 title, beating world No. 1 Federer in the final. He reached the French Open semifinals, climbed to a career-high No. 3 in August, and made the US Open final again, losing this time to Djokovic. For one season the healthy version of him was visible once more. He accumulated ten career wins over reigning world No. 1s—the most by any man who never held the top ranking himself. It was proof, if any were needed, that the ceiling on his career was set by his body and not by his opponents; when fit, he beat the best in the world as a matter of routine.

Argentina's Standard-Bearer

If the Grand Slam count stalled at one, del Potro's other ambitions were fulfilled in the colors of his country. He took bronze in singles at the 2012 London Olympics, beating Djokovic for it, and silver at Rio in 2016. Months after Rio he dragged Argentina to its first-ever Davis Cup title, beating Croatia's Marin Čilić from two sets down in the decisive rubber. "I dream of winning a Grand Slam and the Davis Cup," he had said. He got both. For a country that reveres its footballers above all, del Potro made tennis briefly the national obsession, and the Davis Cup run in particular united Argentina behind a single towering figure carrying an entire team on his back.

Why Juan Martín Is Called a Genius

Del Potro's genius is emphatically physical, and it lives almost entirely in one shot. The forehand was not merely powerful; it was, in the judgment of the American Frances Tiafoe, "the best forehand of all-time, honestly"—a stroke that flattened out to unreturnable speed and remained lethal even on the dead run, functioning, as the ATP put it, as an equalizer against anyone. Around it he built a serve to match his 1.98-metre frame and a competitive nerve proven by ten wins over world No. 1s and that 2009 final comeback against Federer. This is craft and athletic gift, not intellect, and the word "genius" applies to the shot-making, not the man's ideas. The counter-case is unavoidable and poignant: a single major, a career-high of only No. 3, and a résumé permanently truncated by wrists and a knee that betrayed him. Had he stayed healthy, many believe he would have prised more slams from the Big Three's grip; instead the honest verdict is unfulfilled greatness—a talent of the very highest order that circumstance never allowed to fully compound. What is not in doubt is the quality of the weapon itself.

Legacy

Del Potro did not play between June 2019 and February 2022, his right knee requiring four surgeries, and after an emotional 2022 return he made his farewell official, closing the book in 2024 with an exhibition against Djokovic. He finished with 22 titles and a 439–174 record. But numbers undersell him. Players speak of him with a warmth reserved for few—the "gentle giant" who waited an hour to console a retiring opponent, who mentored younger pros, who wept openly in victory and defeat. Diego Schwartzman said simply that "Delpo deserved everything he experienced on the court." He is remembered less for what the injuries took than for the forehand, the tears, and the one perfect New York night when a twenty-year-old beat the two greatest players alive back to back.

Achievements

• Worked as tennis player