JUAN MARTIN DEL POTRO
Argentine tennis player Juan Martin Del Potro is the new star in the tennis court. He was defeated 15-time Grand Slam champion Roger Federer in the US Open final on Monday with the score 3-6, 7-6, 4-6, 7-6, 6-2 and captured his first Grand Slam title. In the semi final of US Open, Potro gave a shock to the people by defeating six-time Grand Slam winner Rafael Nadal, and he is the second Argentine to win the U.S. Open after Guillermo Vilas in 1977. His ranking position is five, and also he is the youngest of the top 16-ranked players in the world.
BIOGRAPHY
Del Potro was born on 23rd September 1988 in Tandil, Argentina as the son of Daniel del Potro and Patricia. He started to playing tennis at the age of seven with coach Marcelo Gomez. Del Potro ’s talent was discovered by Italian ex-tennis professional Ugo Colombini and he helped him very much throughout his career. At the age of 15, Potro won his first professional match at the ‘ITF Circuit event’ in Buenos Aires and at the age of 16, he reached his second professional singles final at the International Casablanca Cup, but he was defeated by Darko Madjarovski in that final. He was qualified for 2006 French Open at the age of 17, but he lost in the first round. In 2006, he won the ‘Segovia Challenger’ by defeating Benjamin Becker in the final. He was also qualified for 2006 US open, but he failed in the first round. In 2007, he reached in the semi final of ‘ATP Adelaide’, Australia, where he lost to Chris Guccione. In 2007 US Open, he defeated Nicolas Mahut and Jürgen Melzer and reached in third round, but he was defeated by Novak Djokovic in the third round in straight sets. The year 2008 was good for him, because he was rated as country’s number one player and the highest ranked South American player at that year. He reached the semi-finals of the ‘Ordina Open’ and won his first career ATP tour title at the ‘Mercedes Cup’ in Stuttgart. In 2008, he gained his career best result at a Grand Slam by reaching the quarter final of that year’s US open. But in the quarter final,he was defeated by Andy Murray. In the 2009 Australian Open, Del Potro was defeated by Roger Federer in the quarter final. At the French Open, he was raised as fifth seed and he was entered in the semi final by defeating Tommy Robredo. But in the semi final, he was defeated by Federer. At the 2009 Wimbledon Championship, he failed in the second round, but he gained “Legg Mason Tennis Classic title” by defeating Wimbledon-finalist Roddick. In 2009 US Open, he was in sixth seed, and he entered in the semi final by defeating Marin Cilic which ensured him a fifth position in world ranking. In the final, he defeated world number one and five-time defending U.S. Open champion Roger Federer with the score 3–6, 7–6(5), 4–6, 7–6(4), 6–2. This victory is his first victory over Roger Federer. Del Potro is famous for his powerful serve and solid ground strokes and his game is suited for all surfaces.