Del Potro reveals his latest battle with injuries: two more surgeries and the fear of a prosthesis

Fernando Murciego | 25 Nov 2024 | 23.42

Juan Martín del Potro thoroughly explained his struggle with injuries. Source: Getty

Streaming ATP Madrid live tennis

🎾 Juan Manuel Cerundolo vs Luciano Darderi

Sign up with Bet365 here
Make your first deposit of at least €5
Go to the “Live” section and watch every match

Watch the match on Bet365

The video lasts 12 minutes, and each one of them is worth it. It's the end of the road for Juan Martín Del Potro, a man chased by injuries who never stopped facing this battle. Not even when retirement seemed definitive, he didn't rest there either, as he recounts in this projection where he explains to what extent he has suffered the helplessness of realizing he was fighting an impossible battle. Before playing an exhibition match in Argentina alongside Novak Djokovic on December 1st, the man from Tandil has gathered the courage to tell his particular hell in detail, revealing the darkest parts of an obsession that threatened to steal his smile forever. Beyond the tennis player, it's time to learn about the ordeal of a human being reduced by an incurable knee.

FULL TRANSCRIPTION OF DEL POTRO'S VIDEO

"When I played my last match with Delbonis, people didn't know this, but the next day, I took a flight to Switzerland and had my knee operated on again; that was my fifth surgery. From then on, I never made my surgeries public. When in the press conference before my match with Federico, I said that this would probably be my last match, it was there that I found a bit of peace and cut off something that was constantly happening to me, which was: 'Delpo, when will you come back to play? When will I see you at a tournament?' But I couldn't bear the pain in my legs anymore. There, I preferred to keep a low profile, in secrecy, and if things work out, then I'll come back for real.

Immediately, I went to Switzerland; I was there for about two months holed up in a town near Basel. I had the surgery, went through rehabilitation, but it didn't work. After two and a half months, they told me that there was one more thing left, that I had to have another surgery. Sixth surgery. Then I went to the United States and continued rehabbing; in between surgeries, trying treatments, I must have had over 100 injections in my leg, hip, and back. They infiltrated me, removed things, analyzed me, burned nerves, blocked tendons... a daily suffering that I live with. That's how I've been from that day with Federico until today. That match was to bid tennis goodbye; it's over, I really don't have the desire to play anymore because my body doesn't allow me to."

"When I had my first surgery, the doctor told me I'd be back playing in three months, in June 2019. I was on my way back in Stockholm, Basel, and Paris because the doctor said I was going to make it in time to play. After that first surgery until today, I've never been able to go up a set of stairs without pain. It hurts many times when I try to sleep, when I turn on my side, or when I wake up because I get these sharp pains that are very ugly. It's like an endless nightmare that I'm daily trying to find solutions and alternatives for, but I can't find them. It all started with that first surgery... every time I think about it, it stirs up so much bad emotion; it makes me really angry, very frustrated, but I can't change it."

"I feel like I have to tell you how I'm doing because it's good for me; I've always had a connection with the public and maybe this message can inspire or help other people. The way I live my daily life is not the one I desire. I used to be a very active guy who loved doing sports, not just playing tennis. Suddenly, they invite me to play soccer and I'm the one bringing the drinks and sitting on the sidelines, or they go play paddle tennis and I'm the one making the videos; for me, it's terrible [...] Apart from that, from a sports perspective, they took away the joy of doing what I always loved, which was playing tennis."

"It's very hard having to put on a facade 24 hours a day; it's very complicated. There are times when I have no more desire, I'm not indestructible, I'm like any person who has good and bad things, but I have that added pressure having to put on a good face in certain situations. Sometimes I have no more energy; the leg consumes me, it consumes me emotionally because I'm not just in search of improving, but also living the day-to-day struggles. I wake up and take between 6 and 8 pills - a gastric protector, an anti-inflammatory, an analgesic, and another for anxiety. Lose weight? But the medication makes me gain weight. Now don't eat sugar and don't eat flour, but what does that have to do with my knee? I weighed 95kg and it hurt to go up the stairs. All those things the doctors and people tell you, 'Come here, I have the machine that solves everything.'

"One thing is the hurdles that can appear along the way, like injuries, which for an athlete are the toughest, but another thing is the emotional pain. I felt very powerful and strong in facing those hurdles that appeared, and I almost always overcame them... I thought I was strong, but at the end of the day, I realize I'm not sure if I am. With the knee issue, I feel like it beat me... and I've had 8 surgeries. I went to doctors all over the world, spending a fortune. Every time I had the anesthesia, I felt like the operation went well, that it wouldn't hurt anymore, that I'd turn things around in Tandil. After three months, I'd call the doctor to tell him it didn't work, that I was back to square one. They even stuck a 30-40 cm needle into the middle of my femur, trying to block nerves without anesthesia, because the doctor had to know if he did a good block or not, not based on what I felt, so I couldn't be anesthetized [...] And I'd be screaming, jumping on the beds, suffering that pain so everything would work. But it still hurts, one after another."

"They tell me the issue is psychological, but it can't be. I don't know why I'm in this, sometimes I can't bear it anymore. It's terrible, and I don't know when it will end because I'm now in another big fight with the doctor who tells me, 'Get a prosthesis and stop messing around.' Many times I think, fine, what does the prosthesis guarantee me? They say I'll have a better quality of life. Fine, perfect, that's what I'm looking for; I'm not looking to run or play tennis with my friends anymore, but then another doctor comes and says, 'Don't listen to him, you're too young for a prosthesis, wait until you're 50.'

"Since I was 31, I haven't run, gone up a set of stairs, kicked a ball, or played tennis. Do I spend the next 15 years of my life like this so that at 50 they put in the prosthesis, and I live somewhat okay at 60? So now I'm in this discussion, and it's also terrible because these are the scenarios, and I have to define them. Why do I have to make that decision if you are the doctor? I'm knee-deep in this, and I hope one day it ends because I want to live pain-free."

"I've started with the diet again, losing weight, I've started training because I want to be in the best shape possible for this match with Novak. It's an event to say goodbye; there's no turning back. Djokovic gives it the final touch, being very generous to accept and come. Apart from my personal moment, I want us, together with the people, to give him a lot of love, for him to take the best memories of Argentina. If he was able to find some peace in my leg for a few hours, to give something back on a tennis court, it would be beautiful. To give them back all that love and affection from inside, along with Novak, to have a good memory of that night."

This news is an automatic translation. You can read the original news, Del Potro desvela su última batalla con las lesiones: dos operaciones más y el temor a una prótesis