Juan Martín del Potro and the cruel what-if belong together because his career offered proof of greatness without the uninterrupted prime that usually lets greatness become a full era. At 20, he won the 2009 US Open by beating Rafael Nadal in the semifinals and Roger Federer in the final, breaking through during a period largely controlled by Federer, Nadal, and Novak Djokovic. He later returned from major injuries to win Olympic medals, lift Argentina in Davis Cup, reach another US Open final, and claim a Masters 1000 title. The question is not whether del Potro was great. The question is how much more tennis might have seen if his body had allowed his game to stay whole.
The 2009 US Open Made His Ceiling Impossible to Ignore
Del Potro’s 2009 US Open title was not a soft opening into tennis history. It was a direct strike against the strongest generation the men’s game had ever seen. He beat Nadal in the semifinals and then defeated Federer in a five-set final, stopping Federer’s attempt to win a sixth straight US Open title. In a stretch when the major titles were overwhelmingly flowing through the Big Three, del Potro briefly looked like the player powerful enough to interrupt the pattern.
What made the win feel so significant was not only the result. It was the way he won. Del Potro’s forehand had a different sound from almost anyone else’s, a flat, heavy strike that could change a rally in one swing. At 6-foot-6, he brought size without sacrificing timing from the baseline. Against Federer, he did not just survive the stage; he grew into it. By the fifth set, the final had turned from a defending champion’s coronation into the arrival of a new major-winning force.
That is why the what-if began so early. Del Potro was not an aging contender who caught one perfect tournament. He was a 20-year-old Grand Slam champion with wins over Nadal and Federer in the same event. His career had already shown a championship ceiling before it had even reached its physical prime.
Injuries Turned a Major Champion Into a Series of Comebacks
The cruel part of del Potro’s career is that his biggest opponent became continuity. His official ATP biography lists four wrist surgeries and four knee surgeries across a career that repeatedly stopped and restarted. Those injuries did not merely cost him tournaments. They changed the rhythm of his development, the reliability of his backhand, his movement, and the number of full seasons he could spend at the top of the sport.
Yet the comebacks became part of his story because they kept proving the original talent was still there. In 2016, del Potro helped Argentina win its first Davis Cup title, defeated Djokovic and Nadal on the way to an Olympic silver medal in Rio, and added that silver to the bronze he had won at the 2012 London Olympics. Those results mattered because they came after years when injuries had pushed him far away from the sport’s center.
The same pattern returned in 2018. Del Potro reached a career-high ranking of No. 3, won Indian Wells by saving three championship points against Federer, and reached the US Open final after beating No. 1 Nadal. This was not nostalgia. This was a player still capable of competing with the best, nearly a decade after his breakthrough, despite the interruptions that had reshaped his body and schedule.
Why Juan Martín del Potro and the Cruel What-If Still Matters
Del Potro’s legacy is not defined by absence alone. He won a major, Olympic medals, a Davis Cup, a Masters 1000 title, and 22 ATP singles titles. He also earned a rare kind of respect because his best tennis could trouble the greatest players of his era. The what-if matters because it sits beside achievement, not instead of it.
That distinction is important. Del Potro was not a myth built only from potential. He showed the proof. He beat Federer at the US Open, beat Djokovic at the Olympics, beat Nadal in major and Olympic settings, and returned to elite finals after long injury layoffs. The unfinished feeling comes from the gap between what he accomplished and what his peak suggested might have been possible with a normal run of health.
His final years made that reality clearer. In 2024, del Potro spoke publicly about the daily pain that followed his injury history, particularly the knee problems that affected life after tennis as well as the end of his career. His farewell exhibition with Djokovic in Buenos Aires gave the sport a chance to honor a player whose story had always carried both triumph and loss.
Juan Martín del Potro remains one of tennis’s clearest reminders that greatness is not always measured by volume. Sometimes it is measured by the level a player reached when the body allowed it. His career still feels unfinished, but it was never unproven. That is what makes the what-if so lasting.
