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‘Always Been My Favorite’: Stefanos Tsitsipas Reveals How Juan Martin del Potro Impacted His Career

Published 02/09/2022, 1:53 AM EST

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via Reuters

Juan Martin del Potro has had an illustrious career. He became the first player to defeat both Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal in the same major. He also was the only man from 2005 to 2012 to win a major title other than the big three.

The “Tower of Tendil” as his fans like to call him, however, has had to deal with a plethora of injury-related issues throughout his career. Finally, in the pre-tournament press conference of Argentina Open 2022, he announced that this tournament might be the last of his professional career.

A deluge of support and love started pouring in the Argentine former World No. 3. Amongst them were many players, retired and active, from the tennis fraternity.

Juan Martin Del Potro’s Match Tickets Sold Out as He Nears the End of an Illustrious Career

Stefanos Tsitsipas says he idolised Juan Martin del Potro

Stefanos Tsitsipas, the current World No. 4, also spoke about del Potro’s retirement. Tsitsipas, who is 10 years younger than del Potro, spoke about how he used to follow his matches as a child.

“Del Potro has always been my favourite tennis player, along with Federer. I grew up watching him play, and now I’m so sorry to see him announce his retirement in tears. He has had a huge impact both in my career and in the entire world of tennis,” he said.

Juan Martin del Potro was in the peak of his career when Tsitsipas was growing up. The Greek shared he has indeed had a tremendous impact on his life.

Juan Martin Del Potro Stands Out From Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, and Novak Djokovic in This Incredible Grand Slam Stat

Tsitsipas got a chance to play against his idol once, when he was an upcoming player and del Potro was World No. 5, at the Italian Open in 2018. The veteran comfortably won that match on clay in straight sets 7-5, 6-3.

Del Potro lost to Federico Delbonis in the first round of the Argentina Open, which could have been his last match, while Tsitsipas defeated Alejandro Davidovich Fokina in three sets in the first round of the Rotterdam Open 2022.

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Written by:

Rishma Banerjee

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Rishma Banerjee is a tennis author at EssentiallySports. Having done her masters in Political Science with International Relations from Jadavpur University, Rishma's outlet from the hustle-bustle of academics has always been sports, especially Tennis. A die-hard fan of Rafael Nadal, she admires his grit, determination and dedication towards always being better. When not writing content for firms dealing with fintech to social media marketing to sports, she finds herself in journals and books dealing with geopolitics and strategic studies or scrolling endlessly through Tumblr!
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