Playing for the first time since the Miami Masters last March, Juan Martin Del Potro began his latest comeback with a 6-1, 6-4 win over Denis Kudla in the opening round of the Delray Beach Open on Tuesday night. Del Potro won 24 of 26 first-serve points and did not face a single break point while advancing in exactly one hour.
“I think winning a match after 11 months is the gift of the tournament for me,” the 2009 U.S. Open champion commented. “I’m so excited to keep working because I’m feeling if I do well and if I stay healthy my tennis will be behind me and maybe I can be dangerous one day again.
“I was nervous before the match and excited to see how my forehands and serves were going to be on court. I knew how my backhand would be…. I’m still working and improving to have a very good backhand to compete in this level. For me, it’s like winning a very important match in my career.”
Highlights:
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Bamos Juan
https://twitter.com/JuaniCeballos/status/699784244088930304
Awesome video. VAMOS DEL PO!!
He has been missed. :*
Vamos!
VR, what do you think of Rafa’s performance today?
I only saw the first set live and then went to bed as there was a rain delay.
He was pretty good in the first set! Except for one game at 3-1 where he made those weird unforced errors, esp off his backhand but he still won that game. His forehand was truly impressive in set 1 ! He was changing direction very often and hitting it aggressively.
I saw highlights for set 2… He lost his serve twice and PBC started playing better and he put more pressure on rafa’s second.
I guess rafa did well enough in set 2. He is not having problem dealing with return games ….he needs to get more consistent on service games .
VR, do you think Rafa should just play his flatter FH even on clay, or on all surfaces? He’s hitting short balls when hitting with topspin, perhaps due to loss of physical power as he gets older. Footspeed – I notice he couldnt slide as well as before on clay, hardly sliding in fact (perhaps due to the rain) and couldnt reach those drop shots PCB threw at him.
Maybe we continue with this at the R1 preview thread of Nadal vs PCB?
Hopefully Delpo can get back to his good level soon. We need him to challenge Novak if Rafa and Murray can’t. I really want to see that Shanghai 2013 Delpo back.
A lot of SHBH from Delpo (wow) and generally playing with more spin from both wings less frequently pulling the trigger on the flatter shots of old and the occasional DHBH.
He looked good for his first match back but playing at about 50% of his best level (if that). He served well and kept the UEs to a minimum.
Chardy in the 3rd round may be tricky but he has a great shot to make it to the finals.
I did see the match with Delpo and obviously he was far from his best. Kudla was really not good at all. But just getting that first victory was important to Delpo.
I would love to see him get a good result here. It was a good decision to come back in a smaller tournament and get some matches under his belt.
Tennis needs Delpo, period! He won’t be able to challenge Novak or the other top players any time soon. It will take time for him to get back to his best form, but it’s just great to see him playing again.
So what happens to Delpo now? I know he’ll have a protected ranking, how long does that last? Will he have to qualify to get into tournaments?
He can use it for 8 tournaments. He will get wild cards whenever he wants them when he doesn’t feel like using a PR. Will never have to qualify.
Thanks!