Juan Martin Del Potro He represented the Argentines like few others and at his highest level in the tennis He rubbed shoulders with the monsters that the sport has: Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer. He was number 3 in the world and one of the few capable of snatching a Grand Slam from the Big Three in their years of hegemony.
The countless number of injuries and surgeries he suffered denied him not only from maintaining that level but also from directly having an optimal quality of life, according to a 36-year-old person. Today, retired from professional practice two years ago, that seems to be his main concern. He recently gave an interview with La Nación, in which he showed, with an open heart, his most vulnerable side related to this lifestyle.
“You get stronger but at the end of the day you never feel as strong as all the things that can come at you all at once. I had many things at the same time. And I believed myself to be a person with a strong personality, well prepared to face anything that came my way. put me in the way, but the truth is that now, in recent times I also learned that I am not as strong as I thought or as you saw me,” Juan Martín began the story.
He then added: “I cry, I don’t sleep and I have anxiety. Sometimes I’m depressed. Suddenly I do a lot more therapy than I had to do because I’m not as capable of overcoming certain things in life that are affecting me. And Today I don’t deny not being as strong or feeling a little weak. It’s what I have to do and I’m coping, sometimes better, sometimes worse.
Then, Del Potro He confessed how he currently lives with the pain and even revealed that there were operations that were not made public. “I had knee surgery eight times! Publicly it was known about four or five, but privately I had surgery three more times. And today the only thing I ask is to be able to climb a staircase without pain or to be able to drive to Tandil, which is almost four times.” hours by car; I used to do them in a taquito, but today I stop in Las Flores for ten minutes to stretch my knees because they hurt and that is what I ask for in my daily life,” he said.
To close the hard confession about his present, Del Potro took stock of his current state of vulnerability compared to his best years in the tennis. “Imagine: from what I had been doing, fighting with Novak, Roger, Rafa, the top five, Grand Slams, number 1 or the other… to having to say: ‘How do I have to manage to get to Tandil and not Does my leg hurt?’ I went through eight surgeries, I saw the best doctors in the world, treatments, diets, supplementation… I don’t know, things that you say: ‘What if you try this crazy thing?’ I can assure you. It is a daily struggle that I continue to have. Because the truth is that I have not yet achieved that quality of life. I hear stories: ‘This guy got a prosthesis and he walks, his leg doesn’t hurt anymore.’ ‘Yes, well, but not for you because you’re 36 years old, you have to wait another fifteen years to get it.’ prosthesis and walk to be well from 50 to 70? If today I can’t climb a staircase, tell me the truth.’ If they tell me that from this age until I’m 50 I can walk well, play a little game with my friends. , riding a bike… it’s a scenario that I want to choose.”
