Juan Martín del Potro

Juan Martín del Potro

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Country (sports)	Argentina
Residence	Tandil, Argentina
Height	1.98 m (6 ft 6 in)
Turned pro	2005
Plays	Right-handed; two-handed backhand
Prize money	$1,695,883
Singles
Career record	82–49
Career titles	4
Highest ranking	No. 8 (November 3, 2008)
Grand Slam singles results
Australian Open	2nd (2007, 2008)
French Open	2nd (2008)
Wimbledon	2nd (2007, 2008)
US Open	QF (2008)
Doubles
Career record	13–15
Career titles	1
Highest ranking	No. 131 (July 30, 2007)
Last updated on: October 27, 2008.

Juan Martín del Potro (born September 23, 1988) is an Argentine professional tennis player who is currently ranked No. 8 in the world.

In August 2008, he became the first player in ATP history to win his first four career titles in as many tournaments. He also owns the second longest winning streak in 2008, and the second longest by a teenager in the Open Era, behind Rafael Nadal - a streak of 23 straight match wins in five tournaments.

Early life

Del Potro was born in Tandil, Argentina. 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 named Julieta. Del Potro speaks Spanish, Italian, and English. Aside from tennis, he enjoys playing soccer and supports the Boca Juniors team in Argentina and Juventus in Italy.

He began playing tennis at age seven, with his childhood idol being Pete Sampras. He also admires tennis pros Marat Safin and Lleyton Hewitt.

Tennis career

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.

2004

In 2004, Del Potro won his first professional match, at the age of 15, at the ITF Circuit event in Buenos Aires by defeating Matias Niemiz, he then went on to lose in the second round. Later that year, Del Potro reached the quarterfinals of the ITF Circuit event in Campinas, Brazil. He also reached the finals in the Argentina Cup and Campionati Internazionali D'Italia Junior tournaments.

2005

Del Potro began the year by reaching the finals of the ITF Junior Circuit called "Copa del Café" (Coffee Bowl) in Costa Rica, which he lost to Robin Haase. He was a crowd favorite and was widely known for his short temper.

He went on to reach the quarterfinals of the ITF Circuit event in El Salvador. At the age of 16, he reached his second professional singles final at the International Casablanca Cup in Mexico where he lost to Darko Madjarovski. He also won consecutive titles at two Junior ITF Circuit events in Santiago, Chile, including the 26th International Junior tournament. He won his third title in his home country by defeating Damian Patriarca at the ITF Circuit event in Cordoba, Argentina.

After turning pro later that year, he reached the final of the Campos do Jordao Challenger in Brazil where he lost to André Sá. At age 17, he won the Montevideo Challenger by defeating Boris Pašanski in the finals. That same year, he also attempted to qualify for his first Grand Slam at the US Open. After ending 2005 ranked #1,077 in the world, Del Potro jumped over 900 positions, largely due to winning three Futures tournaments.

2006

In February, Del Potro played his first ATP tour event in Vina del Mar where he defeated Albert Portas in the first round before losing to Fernando González in the second round. Later, he won the Aguascalientes Challenger by defeating Sergio Roitman in the final.

Del potro qualified for the main draw of his first Grand Slam in the 2006 French Open, at the age of 17, where he lost in the opening round to former French Open champion Juan Carlos Ferrero. Later that year, he reached the quarterfinals of the ATP event in Umag, Croatia where he lost to the eventual champion, Stanislas Wawrinka. In Spain, he won the Segovia Challenger by defeating Benjamin Becker in the finals.

Del Potro qualified for his first US Open in 2006, where he lost in the first round to Alejandro Falla. He went on to qualify for his first ATP Masters Series tournament in Spain where he lost in the first round to Joachim Johansson. Having received an invitation, thanks to Roger Federer, he reached the quarterfinals of the 2006 Davidoff Swiss Indoors in Basel, Switzerland where he lost to the eventual runner-up Fernando González.

2007

Del Potro began the year by reaching his first semifinal in ATP Adelaide, Australia, where he lost to Chris Guccione. He would then reach the second round of the Australian Open where he had to retire in his match against Fernando González in the fifth set.

On February 11, Del Potro played for Argentina at the first round of the Davis Cup against Austria winning the 4th and definite rubber, giving Argentina the classification for the quarterfinals.

He reached the second round of the Indian Wells Masters and went on to reach the fourth round of the Miami Masters where he defeated Jonas Björkman, Marcos Baghdatis, and Mikhail Youzhny before falling to Rafael Nadal. In May, he 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 roun at Queen's Club where he lost to Rafael Nadal. He also reached the quarterfinals in Nottingham the following week where he lost to Croatian, Ivo Karlović. 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 former World No. 1 Carlos Moyà. 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 Jürgen Melzer before losing to eventual finalist Novak Đoković in the third round in straight sets. He also reached the third round of the Madrid Masters before losing to eventual champion David Nalbandian.

2008

Del Potro 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 due to an injury. Del Potro returned to the circuit in March, winning his first match against Jesse Levine, 7–5, 6–1 at the Miami Masters. In June, he reached the semi-finals of the Ordina Open, losing to eventual winner David Ferrer in straight sets.

After losing in the second round of Wimbledon, an outstanding summer followed for the Argentine. Del Potro won his first career ATP tour title at the Mercedes Cup in Stuttgart, defeating Richard Gasquet in straight sets in the final. A week later, Del Potro reached his second career ATP Tour final at the Austrian Open in Kitzbühel, where he beat local hope and sixth seed Jürgen Melzer 6–2, 6–1, in less than an hour, to claim his second title in two weeks. He won his third consecutive title at the Countrywide Classic in Los Angeles, beating Andy Roddick in 6-1,7-6(2) in the final on August 10, 2008. A fourth consecutive title followed a week later in the Legg Mason Tennis Classic at Washington where he recorded a 6-3, 6-3 victory over the Serb, Viktor Troicki, becoming the first player in ATP history to win his first four career titles in as many tournaments.

In the 2008 US Open, Del Potro progressed to the third round, where he won his first match to five sets in the circuit against Gilles Simon to reach the last 16. He then qualified for the quarter-finals by beating Kei Nishikori in straight sets. In the quarterfinals, he was stopped by Andy Murray from winning his 24th match in a row, losing in four tight sets after almost four hours.

After the US Open, where Del Potro achieved a career best Grand Slam result, he completed 23 consecutive victories: the second-longest winning streak in 2008, the second-longest by a teenager in the Open Era, and the third-best among Argentine players.

Del Potro was selected to play the Davis Cup tie between Argentina and Russia, which takes place on September 19-21, 2008. He won his first singles match against Nikolay Davydenko in three sets 6-1, 6-4, 6-2. He also won the fifth and deciding match against Igor Andreev in straight sets 6-4, 6-2, 6-1, booking Argentina a place in the final, where they will play Spain.

At the AIG Japan Open Tennis Championships, he made the final by defeating #11 seed Jarkko Nieminen, #1 seed and defending champion David Ferrer, and #4 seed Richard Gasquet. He was defeated by Tomáš Berdych 6-1, 6-4 in the final, after which both Berdych and Del Potro himself commented that he (Del Potro) wasn't at the top of his game. As a result of his performances at the tournament, Del Potro made the Top 10 at #9.

At the Madrid Masters he lost in the quarterfinals in straight sets to Roger Federer. He reached the semi-finals of his next tournament, the Davidoff Swiss Indoors, before losing to countryman David Nalbandian, and was beaten by Nalbandian again, in the second round of the Paris Masters. This left del Potro's qualification for the Tennis Masters Cup out of his hands; fortunately for him, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga beat James Blake in the semifinals, which was enough to ensure his place at the year-end event.

Equipment & Apparel

Del Potro currently uses the Wilson (K)Factor (K)Six-One 95 Racquet, and is sponsored by Nike.

ATP Tour finals (6)

Singles (5)

Win (4)

Legend (Singles) Grand Slam (0) Tennis Masters Cup (0) ATP Masters Series (0) ATP Tour (4)

No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Opponent in Final	Score
1.	13 July, 2008	Stuttgart, Germany	Clay	Richard Gasquet	6–4, 7–5
2.	20 July, 2008	Kitzbühel, Austria	Clay	Jürgen Melzer	6–2, 6–1
3.	10 August, 2008	Los Angeles, United States	Hard	Andy Roddick	6–1, 7–6(2)
4.	17 August, 2008	Washington D.C., United States	Hard	Viktor Troicki	6–3, 6–3

Runner-ups (1)

No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Opponent in the final	Score
1.	5 October, 2008	Tokyo, Japan	Hard	Tomáš Berdych	6–1, 6–4

Doubles (1)

Win (1)

No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Partner	Opponents in Final	Score
1.	30 July, 2007	Indianapolis, USA	Hard	Travis Parrott	Teimuraz Gabashvili Ivo Karlović	3–6, 6–2, [10–6]

Singles performance timeline

To prevent confusion and double counting, information in this table is updated only after a tournament or the player's participation in the tournament has concluded. This table is current through the 2008 Paris Masters, which concluded on November 2, 2008.

Tournament	2005	2006	2007	2008	Career Win-Loss
Grand Slam Tournaments
Australian Open	A	A	2R	2R	2–2
French Open	A	1R	1R	2R	1-3
Wimbledon	A	A	2R	2R	2-2
US Open	A	1R	3R	QF	6–3
Grand Slam Win-Loss	0-0	0-2	4-4	7-4	11-9
Year-End Championship
Tennis Masters Cup	A	A	A		0-0
ATP Masters Series
Indian Wells Masters	A	A	2R	A	1–1
Miami Masters	A	A	4R	2R	4-2
Monte Carlo Masters	A	A	A	A	0-0
Rome Masters	A	A	A	1R	1-1
Hamburg Masters	A	A	A	A	0-0
Canada Masters	A	A	1R	A	0–1
Cincinnati Masters	A	A	3R	A	2–1
Madrid Masters	A	1R	3R	QF	4–3
Paris Masters	A	A	2R	3R	2–2
Total Titles	0	0	0	4	4
Year End Ranking	157	92	44		83-50

• A = did not participate in the tournament.

External links

• Juan Martín del Potro at the Association of Tennis Professionals
• Juan Martín Del Potro Blog
• Spanish fansite