Juan Martín del Potro

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Juan Martín del Potro
Del Potro during his second-round match against Fernando González at the 2007 Australian Open
Country Flag of Argentina Argentina
Residence Tandil, Argentina
Date of birth September 23, 1988 (1988-09-23) (age 19)
Place of birth Tandil, Argentina
Height 195cm (6 ft 5 in)
Weight 78kg (172lb)
Turned pro 2006
Plays Right; Two-handed backhand
Career prize money $664,520
Singles
Career record: 42 - 41
Career titles: 0
Highest ranking: 44 (November 5, 2007)
Grand Slam results
Australian Open 2nd (2007, 2008)
French Open 2nd (2008)
Wimbledon 2nd (2007)
US Open 3rd (2007)
Doubles
Career record: 7 - 12
Career titles: 1
Highest ranking: 131 (July 30, 2007)

Infobox last updated on: May 5, 2008.

Juan Martín del Potro (born September 23, 1988) is a tennis player from Tandil, Argentina.

After ending 2005 ranked 1,077, Del Potro jumped over 900 positions, largely due to winning three Futures tournaments. As of November 2007, he is the youngest player in the ATP top 100 with a current and career high ranking of 44.

On February 11th, 2007, Del Potro debuted playing for Argentina at the first round of the Davis Cup against Austria winning the 4th match and giving Argentina the third point and the classification for the quarterfinals.

Del Potro is 195 cm tall. Unusual for an Argentine player, Del Potro's favorite surface is hardcourt, not clay.

Del Potro debuted in Wimbledon in 2007, losing his second round match to Roger Federer 2–6, 5–7, 1–6. Juan Martin Del Potro has made it to the semi finals of Adelaide this year and the quarter finals of Nottingham. Juan Martin Del Potro's equipment are that he uses a Wilson K Factor and wears Nike.

Contents

[edit] Career

[edit] 2003

At the age of 14, Del Potro received wildcards to three ITF Circuit events in Argentina, where he lost in the first round of each.

[edit] 2004

Won his first professional match, at the age of 15, at the ITF Circuit event in Buenos Aires by defeating Matias Niemiz, then went on to lose in the second round to Sebastian Decoud. Later that year, at the age of 16, Del Potro reached the quarterfinals of the ITF Circuit event in Campinas, Brazil.

[edit] 2005

Del Potro began the year by reaching the quarterfinals of the ITF Circuit event in El Salvador. At the age of 16, reached his first professional singles final at the ITF Circuit event in Mexico where he lost to Darko Madjarovski. A few weeks later, at two ITF Circuit events in Santiago, Chile, he won consecutive pro titles - first by defeating Jorge Aguilar, then Thiago Alves the following week. He won his third title in his home country by defeating Damian Patriarca at the ITF Circuit event in Cordoba, Argentina. He reached the final of the Campos do Jordao Challenger in Brazil where he lost to Andre Sa. He attempted to qualify for his first Grand Slam at the US Open. At age 17, he won the Montevideo Challenger by defeating Boris Pašanski.

[edit] 2006

Juan Martin played his first ATP Tour event in Vina del Mar where he defeated Albert Portas in the first round before losing to Fernando Gonzalez in the second round. Won the title at the Aguascalientes Challenger by defeating Sergio Roitman in the final. Played in his first Grand Slam by qualifying for the French Open at the age of 17. He lost in the first round to former French Open champion Juan Carlos Ferrero. Reached the quarterfinals of the ATP event in Umag, Croatia where he lost to eventual champion Stanislas Wawrinka. Won the Segovia Challenger in Spain by defeating Benjamin Becker in the final. Qualified for the US Open and lost in the first round to Alejandro Falla. He went on to qualify for his first ATP Masters Series event in Spain where he lost in the first round to Joachim Johansson. Reached the quarterfinals of the ATP event in Basle, Switzerland where he lost to Fernando Gonzalez.

[edit] 2007

Del Potro began the year by reaching his first ATP semifinal in Adelaide where he lost to Chris Guccione. He reached the second round of the Australian Open where he had to retire in his match against Fernando Gonzalez. He reached the second round of the ATP Masters Series event in Indian Wells, California and went on to reach the fourth round of the ATP Masters Series event in Miami, Florida where he defeated Jonas Bjorkman, Marcos Baghdatis, and Mikhail Youzhny before falling to Rafael Nadal. Lost in the first round of the French Open to eventual champion Rafael Nadal. In his first grass court event, Del Potro reached the second round of the ATP event at Queen's Club where he lost to Rafael Nadal. He reached the quarterfinals of the grass court ATP event in Nottingham the following week where he lost to Ivo Karlovic. At his inaugural Wimbledon, he defeated Davide Sanguinetti in the first round before losing to eventual champion Roger Federer in the second round. Del Potro qualified for the ATP Masters Series event in Cincinnati where he reached the third round and lost to Carlos Moya. He partnered with Travis Parrott to win the doubles title at the ATP event in Indianapolis. At the US Open, he defeated Nicolas Mahut and Jurgen Melzer before losing to eventual finalist Novak Đoković in the third round. He retired in his first round match against Thomas Johansson at the ATP event in Stockholm. Reached the third round of the ATP Masters Series event in Madrid and lost to eventual champion David Nalbandian.

[edit] 2008

Juan Martín lost in the first round in Adelaide to Michael Russel and then made it to the second round of the Australian Open in January, retiring in his match against David Ferrer. He was losing 3-6, 4-6 when he had to retire. Martin only came back from his back injury in March, winning his first match against Jesse Levine, 7-5, 6-1 in the Miami Masters.

[edit] Junior career

Juan reached the quarterfinals of the 2005 Junior French Open. Won one junior title at the 26th International Junior tournament in Chile. Reached three finals at: the Argentina Cup and Campionati Internazionali D'Italia (both in 2004) and International Casablanca Cup (2005) in Mexico. His final push into the ATP professional tennis league was his near win in the "Copa del Café" in Costa Rica. He was a crowd favorite and widely known for his short temper and his legendary final match (which he lost) but ended at 1 o'clock in the morning.

[edit] Personal

Juan Martin began playing tennis at age seven. His father, Daniel, played semi-pro rugby union in Argentina and is a veterinarian. His mother, Patricia, is a teacher. He has a younger sister, Julieta. He enjoys playing soccer and supports the Boca Juniors team in Argentina and Juventus in Italy. He also likes surfing the internet, and listening to music. His nicknames are Enano, Palito, and Delpo. His childhood idol was Pete Sampras and he admires Marat Safin. He has been coached by Eduardo Infantino since July 2006. Juan Martin speaks Spanish, Italian, and English.

[edit] External links