Silver medalist at the Olympic Games in Rio in 2016, Juan Martin del Potro never got a chance to play at the Rio Open presented by Claro.
Now retired from tennis, the Argentinian, 36, was invited by the organizers of the ATP 500 tournament to visit the Jockey Club Brasileiro this year and get a feeling of the carioca event and to watch the final on Sunday.
“I'm very happy to be here in Rio, a place that will always bring me happy memories after the 2016 Olympics and has a special place in my heart. It’s a shame I could never come here as a player but I’m glad I was invited to come here this time”, said the 2009 US Open champion.
“It's a shame that this is a clay court event because if it wasn’t for that I would have gladly come here to play. Instead of being in places like Europe or Dubai, for example, I would have loved to come here to play on a hard court. The surface is something really important for us players and you can see what happened with Acapulco for example. They used to get Top 50, Top 100 players when they had clay courts. Now that they have hard courts it’s basically Top 10 players there, which is great for the event because that end up attracting more fans”, added Del Potro.
Despite the huge rivalry between Brazil and Argentina, the 22-time ATP champion said that always felt the love of Brazilians and admires the way his fellow Argentinians are embracing rising star João Fonseca, who won his maiden title in Buenos Aires last week.
“I think it’s fantastic when you can transcend the sport an the rivalry and just embrace greatness. João is going to be a great player and it was lovely to see the Argentinians cheer for him. He’s got charisma, something that Guga had as well and was always received with open arms in Argentina.”
Del Potro added that people need to take in consideration the fact that Fonseca is still super young to take on all the pressure. “He's got a lot of potential but people need to realize that he’s only 18. He’s evolving really fast in his game, physically and ranking wise. But there’s also all the pressure and nerves involved. Brazil is a lot like Argentina in that sense. One day you are the best and the next you can be the worst. As a South-American I really hope he can win a Slam because when one wins it helps all the others. It would be great for Latin-American tennis.”
Now retired from tennis, the Argentinian, 36, was invited by the organizers of the ATP 500 tournament to visit the Jockey Club Brasileiro this year and get a feeling of the carioca event and to watch the final on Sunday.
“I'm very happy to be here in Rio, a place that will always bring me happy memories after the 2016 Olympics and has a special place in my heart. It’s a shame I could never come here as a player but I’m glad I was invited to come here this time”, said the 2009 US Open champion.
“It's a shame that this is a clay court event because if it wasn’t for that I would have gladly come here to play. Instead of being in places like Europe or Dubai, for example, I would have loved to come here to play on a hard court. The surface is something really important for us players and you can see what happened with Acapulco for example. They used to get Top 50, Top 100 players when they had clay courts. Now that they have hard courts it’s basically Top 10 players there, which is great for the event because that end up attracting more fans”, added Del Potro.
Despite the huge rivalry between Brazil and Argentina, the 22-time ATP champion said that always felt the love of Brazilians and admires the way his fellow Argentinians are embracing rising star João Fonseca, who won his maiden title in Buenos Aires last week.
“I think it’s fantastic when you can transcend the sport an the rivalry and just embrace greatness. João is going to be a great player and it was lovely to see the Argentinians cheer for him. He’s got charisma, something that Guga had as well and was always received with open arms in Argentina.”
Del Potro added that people need to take in consideration the fact that Fonseca is still super young to take on all the pressure. “He's got a lot of potential but people need to realize that he’s only 18. He’s evolving really fast in his game, physically and ranking wise. But there’s also all the pressure and nerves involved. Brazil is a lot like Argentina in that sense. One day you are the best and the next you can be the worst. As a South-American I really hope he can win a Slam because when one wins it helps all the others. It would be great for Latin-American tennis.”
