Heroic del Potro Shows Big Heart

It takes true grit, fierce determination, and above all, an immense love for the sport to be able to do what Juan Martin del Potro did at this year's Wimbledon. The Argentinean sustained a nasty knee injury in his opening rounds, and while others were quick to throw in the towel, he decided to suck in the pain and carry on. It was a hard decision to take, especially considering his rich history of injuries and medical problems, but del Potro was determined to fight till the very end.

Just when he thought things cannot get worse, the inevitable happened and he re-injured his right knee in the very first game of his quarterfinal clash with recent French Open finalist, David Ferrer. Once again, he had to make an important call. And once again he decided to continue. His bravery paid off as he overcame the Spaniard in straight sets to reach his first Grand Slam semifinal since winning the US Open in 2009.

The semifinal encounter with world No.1, Novak Djokovic, proved a too difficult test to pass. Although the ailing Argentinean gave it his all, the Serbian was just too strong physically. Juan saved two math points in the fourth set to force a decider, but Djokovic still prevailed. In his press conference, del Potro talked about how the crowd has pushed him to don't give up and continue fighting: "When I was down in moments of the match, I saw the crowd. They were clapping [for] me and that helped me a lot for sure,” he said. “They don't care if I'm No. 8 or my opponent is No. 1. They really enjoyed the match. They like tennis. They [made] me a fighter all the time. It was incredible. 

“I think they saw my big effort. It's not easy jump to the Centre Court at Wimbledon and play against the No. 1 in the world in my first semi-final here. [There’s a lot of] pressure on me. But I think they liked to watch us fighting with the best players. And when the match is going really close, the crowd is always 50/50. Or it depends. But I did a big, big effort… Of course I'm sad now, but in couple of days, I will see how big the match was.”
Last season, a fit del Potro shocked Novak to win the bronze medal at the London Olympic Games, but this time, the 2011 Wimbledon champion knew his lesson. He was prepared to stay in the rally, turning defense into attack, thus making his opponent run until his body eventually collapsed. It happened at 4-3 in the decider when Novak made the vital break, then went on to serve out an epic 7-6,4-6,7-6,6-7,6-3 victory. Del Potro's extraterrestrial performance won hearts, but as he said “I am glad to win hearts but I wanted to win the match.” His huge effort deserved another outcome, but hopefully he will come back stronger than ever at the next majors. This was a truly impressive performance by the Argentinean. This is how to play a match on one foot, but with a big heart. Azarenka, hope you got to see this!

del Potro re-injured his knee in the very first game of this quarterfinal clash with David Ferrer.

The Giant Argentinean sucked in the tremendous pain and pulled off a stunning 6-2,6-4,7-6 victory over recent French Open finalist to reach his first Wimbledon semifinal.

At the end of his epic 5-hour clash in which he gave it his all, del Potro had to accept defeat. Visibly bothered by his injured knee, Juan managed to push world No.1, Novak Djokovic, to the very end, but his effort was not enough to stop the Serb from reaching his second Wimbledon final. Djokovic won 7-5,4-6,7-6,6-7,6-3 and will play Andy Murray for the title.

photos: GETTY IMAGES