Juan Martin Del Potro bids farewell to tennis: Novak Djokovic’s touching tribute

Novak Djokovic: moving words about Juan Martin Del Potro

After announcing his retirement through a video on his own social profiles, Juan Martin Del Potro wanted to celebrate his career and his intention to hang up his racket with an exhibition event, held on the night of Sunday, December 1 to Monday, December 2, which was attended by, among others, Novak Djokovic.

At the end of the match between the two great rivals, won by the Argentine with the score of 6-4 7-5, the Serbian tennis player could not hold back his tears and let himself go to a touching tribute: "We say goodbye to a great professional and a fantastic person. An outstanding rival, a person who transcended the field and generated great love in each of his rivals. Tonight the whole tennis world mourns, but I am very happy and honored to be here to celebrate Juan Martin’s career. Thank you also to Argentina for this wonderful reception. Del Potro è was an example for everyone, a great tennis player and above all a great person. I do not know anyone who does not love him".

Juan Martin Del potro won an impressive 22 ATP titles, one Slam (US Open 2009) and won a bronze and silver medal at the London 2012 and Rio 2016 Olympics. The South American champion, in addition, è managed, in 2018, to occupy the No. 3 position in the ATP Ranking in the era of the dominance of Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic.

In addition to the moments of joy, however, the 36-year-old Argentine has also had to deal with several dark periods, also complicit in the eight surgeries he è been forced to undergo during his career. Del Potro's last official match was in 2022, at the match against Delbonis in an Atp250 in Buenos Aires.