Former world tennis No. 3 Juan Martin del Potro has detailed the heartbreaking toll injuries are taking on his day-to-day life.
The 36-year-old played his last professional match in February 2022 after years of battling to overcome debilitating knee injuries.
The Argentine ace fractured his right kneecap during the 2018 Shanghai Masters and while he made a successful return, he injured his knee again during the 2019 Queen’s Club Championships after slipping on the grass.
The 2009 US Open champion took to social media to share the “never-ending” nightmare he’s forced to endure daily after undergoing eight surgeries.
“Nobody knew this, but the day after I played my last match against [Federico] Delbonis (in 2022), I took a flight to Switzerland and I had my fifth knee surgery,” Del Potro said.
“Since that, I never made my surgeries public again as I found some peace in the press conference before that match against Federico, telling it would probably be my last match. People stopped asking me constantly when I would comeback and play again. I did all this process secretly and if it worked I would announce that I would come back.
“I was in Switzerland for two months in a village close to Basel trying to rehabilitate and it didn’t work. After two-and-a-half months, I had my sixth surgery. I went back to the USA. More rehab, over 100 injections everywhere. Infiltrations … daily suffering. It’s been my life since that match vs. Federico.
“When I had my first surgery in June (2019), the doctor told me I would play in three months. I even signed in for three indoor tournaments at the end of the year.
“After that first surgery until today, I’ve never been able to go up a set of stairs without pain. It hurts many times when I try to sleep, when I turn on my side, or when I wake up because I get these sharp pains. It’s like a never-ending nightmare that I’m trying daily to find solutions and alternatives for, but I can’t find them.
“It all started with that first surgery … every time I think about it, it stirs up so much bad emotion; it makes me really angry, very frustrated, but I can’t change it. My daily life isn’t what I would like it to be. I can’t play (soccer), I can’t play Padel. It’s terrible. They took me the chance to do what I loved the most, which was to play tennis.
“It’s very tough. There are moments where I have no more strength. I’m not indestructible. I have good things, bad things, but most of the times I have to fake it and put a good face, but many times I feel terrible.
“Every day when I wake up I have to take six or seven pills. Gastric protectors, anti-inflammatories, one for anxiety. Then the pills made me gain weight so they told me to stop eating some things.
“One thing are the (obstacles) that can appear in your way, like the injuries that can affect all athletes, but the other thing is the emotional pain. I felt so powerful when facing those obstacles, but after all I understood that I’m not that strong. That knee beat me.
“I had eight surgeries, with doctors all around the world. Every time they gave me the anesthetic, I hoped that the problem would be solved and after two to three months, I was always calling the doctors to tell them that the surgery didn’t work.
“There are doctors that tell me that I can put a prosthesis so I can regain some life quality. But others tell my that I’m too young for a prosthesis. They tell me to wait until I’m 50.
“But since I was 31, I can’t run, I can’t climb stairs, can’t kick a ball, never played tennis again. I need to wait 15 years more of this? It’s terrible. I hope this will finish someday, because I want to live my life without pain.”
Del Potro’s heartbreaking reveal quickly spread across the internet.
Journalist Jose Morgado wrote on X: “Juan Martin del Potro on Instagram telling the story of how his career had to end way earlier than he deserved. Strong and emotional. Tough not to cry.”
Tennis TV’s Bastien Fachan wrote: “Juan Martin del Potro once had the world on a string. He’d just become the first man to beat (Federer and Nadal) in the same Grand Slam. He was a first-time champion at 20. His tennis dreams long gone, he now wakes up in pain every day and is considering prosthesis surgery. Man, how unfair.”
Del Potro is now preparing to return to the court to take on friend and former rival Novak Djokovic in a farewell exhibition match in Buenos Aires on Dec. 1.
“I started my diet, I’m losing weight, I’m training. I want to arrive at that match in the best shape possible. It’s a match to say goodbye,” he said.
“Djokovic was very generous in accepting my invitation. I want to give him all the love possible. If at least for one, two or three hours I can be at peace and happy on a tennis court, it will be beautiful.”
