Former US Open champion Juan Martin del Potro is set to return to tennis for the first time in two years later this month.
The 33-year-old Argentine will make his long-awaited comeback to the ATP tour on home soil, having accepted a wild card for next week's ATP 250 event in Buenos Aires. He's also accepted a wild card to the ATP 500 event in Rio de Janiero, Brazil the following week. Both tournaments are played on clay.
Del Potro has undergone four knee surgeries since playing his last event in London at the Queen's Club in the summer 2019, where he fractured his kneecap for the second time in the span of eight months. Since liftng the US Open trophy in 2009, he has had a combined eight surgeries for wrist and knee problems.
Last summer, del Potro paid a visit to New York and the site of his greatest career triumph, where he detailed the steps he's taken to play again. An expected comeback for the Tokyo Olympics was derailed by his fourth surgery.
"I love the challenge. It could be a tennis challenge or a different challenge in life, and this is the toughest match of my career because I cannot deal with this kind of injury, this kind of pain that I've had, but I'm still trying," he said then.
"I believe in myself that this is going to be in the past, for sure, and I think it's also a message to young kids, all players, all people around the world that they never have to give up in following a dream, and that's what I'm doing."
“It’s going to be so special to comeback to the tour in Buenos Aires and also play Rio," del Potro said in a statement shared by tournament organizers in Rio. "I worked at lot and made every effort to be with you during the coming weeks."
The former world No. 3 is now ranked No. 757, and will be playing at his home tournament in Buenos Aires for the first time since he was 17. While he's never played the clay-court Rio Open, he won the silver medal at the Rio Olympics in 2016.