What awaits the Argentine tennis player now that he beat number 1?

Leer en español: Del Potro se alzó con el Master de Indian Wells

On Sunday, March 18, the final of the Indian Wells Masters Tournament in California took place between the number one in the World, the Swiss Roger Federer and the current number 6, the Argentine Juan Martin del Potro.

What seemed to be a match where the tenacity and good streak with which Federer came to dispute the last ATP tournaments, was unbeatable, turned out to be a nightmare, meeting the wall of Tandil. The Argentine gave sample of the best tennis in the world and thus the Swiss stopped being undefeated.

Juan Martín del Potro reached the first Masters 1000 title of his career, in a match where he was able to raise three match points and the fight of serves imperó, obtaining a final result of 6-4, 6-7 (8-10) and 7 -6 (7-2), in favor of the "Torre de Tandil". The Argentine did not arrive as the main favorite, and it was clearly noticeable by the screams that boosted the Swiss, due to the various injuries with which he had been carrying for years, making his performance irregular in the various tournaments he has played. With a sensation of exhaustion and "trembling" of emotion, as he came to express it, Delpo, as he is known affectionately, raised his first trophy of the Masters 1000, going on to occupy the position # 6 in the world ranking since Monday, still not surpassing his best position which was # 4 in 2010.

The beginning of the Argentine was not solid, even getting to be heated the spirits arriving to criticize decisions of the referee at times, but as the meeting went on it was improving, without giving chances to Federer of breaks. Del Potro managed to save three points that were game in Roger's favor and he was able to keep up. It was erratic the Swiss in unthinkable decisions, may be embarrassed against the game of the Argentine, who showed second unbeatable serves and which would be a constant until the end of the match. After a battle of two hours and 43 minutes, in the second tie-break the Argentine put an end to Federer's good run.

What makes Delpo's victory more noticeable and with a sweet taste was the return to the self-confidence that was disappearing, due to the severe discomfort in his wrists in recent years and three surgical interventions that have left sequels of pain in each blow what he gives with his racket. This caused a psychic depression, taking it to almost retirement and then return and occupy positions in the ATP ranking above 1000, to be reborn from the ashes as the Phoenix and be back among the top 10 in the world.

This would be his second final in the Indian Wells Masters. The first was in 2013 where he faced the Mallorcan Rafael Nadal, imposing the latter in the meeting.

Upcoming events of Del Potro

The next challenge facing Juan Martin del Potro will be the Miami Masters, which will take place this Wednesday from March 21 to April 1 in the State of Florida in the United States, leaving practically 3 days off to return to the courts, what historically has not been positive for Tandil due to medical history and injuries, and the recovery after a physically exhausting final does not provide a favorable outlook. However, the mental drive with which the Argentine comes can break the statistics and give a reverse to adversity as he did on Sunday against an indomitable Federer and almost a stadium against him.

Nine Tournaments include the World Tour Masters 1000: Indian Wells (USA), Miami Open, Rolex-Monte Carlo, Madrid Open, Internazionali d'Italia, Rogers Cup (Canada), Western & Southern Open (USA), Shanghai Masters, and Paris Master.

In the World Tour Masters 1000, the Swiss has strong numbers since last year as victories, like the Mallorcan Rafael Nadal. However, the victory in Indian Wells has allowed him to position himself to achieve a place in the Nitto ATP Finals, to be held in mid-November of this year in London at the iconic O2 Arena, which includes the eight best singles players of the ATP ranking. To qualify you must accumulate the highest number of points between Grand Slams, ATP World Tour and Davis Cup, and the Argentine is on track, behind Federer, to participate for the last title of the season among the best.

We will continue with the expectation that the milonga will sound in each of the tournaments by the hand of Juan Martín del Potro.

Latin American Post | Gabriel Moros

Translated from "Del Potro se alzó con el Master de Indian Wells"