There was a massive blow for the fans when former Indian Wells champion, Juan Martin del Potro was forced to withdraw from the event. He was out of action since the Shanghai Open and was even forced to skip the Australian Open.

Back in 2010, he picked up a wrist injury ahead of the Kooyong Classic exhibition tournament. Although he played that year’s Australian Open, he took a month off after the Grand Slam. On 4 May, del Potro took the option of having an operation to fix the injury.

This time, it was his knees that was troubling the World Number four. Inspite of struggling with his knee, he progressed into the quarterfinals of the at the Delray Beach Open. It was his first ATP appearance after his layover from tennis. 

“I am truly disappointed that I will not be able to return to the BNP Paribas Open to defend my title,” said Juan Martin del Potro in a statement regarding his withdrawal from Indian Wells. “It is one of my favourite tournaments, and I have incredible memories from last year, but my doctors have advised me to rest. I hope to be back on the court soon.”

According to sources in Argentina, the 30-year old is likely to go into surgery yet again. Argentine tennis podcast, 3iguales, broke the rumours earlier today, and if it is true, fans of the Argentine player will be highly disappointed. According to their tweet, “@ tresigualesok learned about discouraging news at # IndianWells , regarding the possibility of Del Potro going to Miami next week, but not playing # M1000 . The right knee is not right. The decision would be to operate. Let’s wait for the official communication.”

If or when he does go under the knife, the big question will be, ‘When will he return?’. Hopefully, he will have a successful surgery and return to the ATP circuit soon, for the  sake of his fans.