By Chris Oddo | Tuesday February 16, 2016
Juan Martin del Potro made his emotional return to tour-level tennis Tuesday night at the Delray Beach Open after an 11-month hiatus that saw him undergo three surgeries to his left wrist. He was met with heartfelt applause as he took the court, and when he left the applause once again reverberated as an emotional Del Potro savored the moment he had been waiting for.
The match in between was quite simple. Del Potro took out American Denis Kudla, 6-1, 6-4, and while he was noticeably shy about using his backhand at full force, the 27-year-old former world No. 4 was plenty good enough in all aspects of his game to cruise past his opponent and set up a second-round match with Australia’s John-Patrick Smith.
Del Potro won 24 of 26 first serve points and did not face a break point in the 60-minute affair. He broke Kudla three times on six opportunities—twice while building an insurmountable lead in the first set and a third time in the opening game of the second set.
“I’m so excited to keep working because I’m feeling if I do well and if I stay healthy—maybe I can be dangerous one day again,” Del Potro told reporters after the match.
Though the news was undeniably good, there were some slightly sobering aspects of the performance. Del Potro, carrying an ATP ranking of 1041 this week, was timid about using his two-handed backhand all evening. He frequently opted to engage in slice rallies with Kudla, and it left many wondering if maybe he was still in pain despite all the positivity emanating from his camp prior to his return. He addressed this issue after the match in press, saying that there was no pain and his approach to the backhand was based more in prudence than an inability to hit from that side. He simply wanted to take it slow in his first match in nearly a year.
“I have to still work and improve to have a very good backhand to compete at this level,” he said. “I am in the middle of the process to solve the problem. … I don’t know if it’s going to be next month or a couple of months. That’s what I have to do if I want to have my old backhand or a similar backhand without pain and feeling confidence. But today for being my first match after one year I think [my performance] was okay.”