The Argentine tennis legend, Juan Martín Del Potro, once again felt professional in front of his audience, at the Argentine Open, 965 days and four operations knee later. The Tower of Tandil was measured before his compatriot, Mr. Liuhuabing in a match in which he could not contain the excitement, breaking into tears in the last game of a clash in which the result was the least important.
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The world’s number three announced days ago a “last dance” in the professional circuit, appearing in the tournaments of Buenos Aires and Rio de Janeiro, in a press conference in which with a choppy voice he recognized that he couldn’t stand the pain in his knee anymore.. The 33-year-old Argentine tennis player has not played a professional game since June 19, 2019, and more than two years later, after undergoing several operations-the last in March 2021 – he found the perfect time to say goodbye to a sport that gave you everything.
On the night of the Argentine capital, the central of the Buenos Aires Lawn Tennis Club it was filled to the flag to bid farewell with honors to one of the great legends of Argentine tennis, champion of the Davis Cup in 2016, of the United States Open, and double Olympic medalist (bronze in the 2012 London Games and silver in New York 2016). Despite his imprecise game and the superiority of his compatriot on track, the fans cheered every point of Tandil as if it were the end of the match, something that ended up exciting the real protagonist yesterday’s match despite his defeat.
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Under the watchful eye of his loved ones, including his mother, who had never attended one of his matches, Del Colt nor could hold back the tears at your service in the ultimate game. The game stopped for a few seconds, while the veteran tennis player tried to restrain himself to resume the game between chants of an audience grateful for his career.
At the end of the match resolved by 6-1/6-3 in favor of Delbonis, both players merged in a hug, and Del Potro hung his bandana on the net, a gesture with which he confirmed a goodbye that he would then reaffirm at the post-match press conference: “What I lived tonight exceeded all expectations. I will remember it all my life, I gave everything I had at all times and now I feel that I can leave in peace, I have my whole life ahead of me, “he said in an interview in which he also remembered his father, recently deceased:” The hug I gave to my mother at the end of the game is one of the most special moments of my life. I could not do it with my father because of his death, I had the illusion that both of them would see me compete again” he confessed.
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