Juan Martin del Potro was reduced to tears in what he expects to be his final tennis match as the former US Open champion bowed out of the Argentina Open.
The 33-year-old Argentinian lost 6-1 6-3 to fellow Argentinian Federico Delbonis in Buenos Aires, having come back from four rounds of knee surgery to get back on court.
He saved seven of 12 break points in a determined effort against Delbonis, but Del Potro, who had been on the injured list since June 2019, was in no shape to compete for victory over his compatriot.
One of the most popular players on the tour, who might have achieved many more great things had wrist and knee trouble not played him over the last decade, Del Potro bid an emotional farewell.
The moment got to Del Potro as he prepared to serve at 5-3 down in the second set. His emotions spilled out, with a towel failing to mask his tears as a passionate crowd rallied behind him, chanting: "Ole, ole, ole, ole, Delpo, Delpo."
A fan carried a flag bearing the message: "The Tower of Tandil keeps fighting. Thank you." Tandil is Del Potro's home city.
After the match, Del Potro said: "The truth is that this is a moment I never wanted to come. Health leads me to have to make a decision: I made too much effort in these two and a half years.
"Sometimes I can lose. I do not have the strength that everyone believes. I think I fulfilled all the dreams in tennis and the most difficult thing to achieve, which is the affection of the people.
"I feel like I've given it all. This is a day I never wanted to come, but I'm going to remember it for the rest of my life."
He was relieved to be leaving on his own terms, saying: "Now I am calm because my last match was possibly on the court and not in a press conference. I will always remember this."
Del Potro, whose US Open triumph came when he beat Roger Federer in a sensational 2009 final, has accepted a wildcard to the upcoming Rio Open, but he signalled he is unlikely to now take that up.
"Yes, I was planning to go to Rio," he said, quoted by La Nacion. "But... I think I already gave everything until the last point."
Del Potro was an Olympic silver medallist in 2016, beaten in the Rio final by Andy Murray, and later in the same year he helped Argentina win the Davis Cup.
It was fitting that Delbonis, who won the decisive rubber against Croatia after Del Potro was victorious in both his singles matches, was the man on the other side of the net on Tuesday. He and Del Potro shared a long, affectionate hug at the net at the end of the match.
Del Potro's mother, Patricia, was among those in the crowd. The ATP said it was the first time she had attended one of his matches. She was pictured embracing her son off court after the match ended.
Other matches happened in Buenos Aires on Tuesday too, a highlight being Brazilian Thiago Monteiro's 6-3 6-3 win over seventh seed Albert Ramos-Vinolas.
At the Dallas Open, first-round winners included Jack Sock, Jordan Thompson and Liam Broady.
Madrid Open: Nadal roars to victory against De Minaur
Rafael Nadal delighted his home fans at the Madrid Open as he roared to an impressive victory over Alex de Minaur on Saturday.
The Spaniard battled to a 7-6 (8-6) 6-3 victory to earn his first win over a top-20 player in the world rankings since the ATP Finals back in 2022.
De Minaur had beaten Nadal last week in Barcelona, but the five-time Madrid champion was not to be denied this time in front of a crowd which included King Felipe VI along with football stars Zinedine Zidane and Vinicius Jr.
Emerging triumphant from an epic 77-minute opening set proved decisive, with Nadal more comfortable in the second as De Minaur missed an opportunity to become the first player to beat him in consecutive weeks since Novak Djokovic achieved the feat way back in 2011.
Nadal will take on Pedro Cachin in the third round after the Argentine dumped out Fances Tiafoe in three sets.
"I'm super happy to be able to be competitive against a great player like Alex and play over two hours," Nadal said, per the ATP Tour website.
"It means a lot to me and the atmosphere here is just a joke, so I can't thank enough everybody here.
"It still needs time [until I am back to my best]. I think for moments it has been a good level of tennis. I was able to do positive things, but still on and off.
"But I really believe that tennis hasn't been an issue for the last two years. More the physical issues.
"If I am able to play weeks in a row and if I am able to play tennis, then I'm going to see how far I can go and how competitive I could be. But that's not the case yet, just step by step and let's see how I recover."
Elsewhere at the tournament, Australian Open champion Jannik Sinner, playing as the top seed at a Masters 1000 event for the first time, cruised to victory over fellow Italian Lorenzo Sonego to start his campaign in style.
It took Sinner just 69 minutes to win 6-0 6-3 and improve to 26-2 in a remarkable 2024 season so far.
“I know Lorenzo quite well and we have a good friendship off the court, we play Davis Cup together, we practise a lot together,” Sinner said.
“The mental side was a little bit different than it used to be, so I'm just happy how I handled the situation. He didn't play at his best. I think we saw this. I wish him all the best for the rest of the season.”
Progress was harder to come by for Daniil Medvedev as he lost the opening set to Matteo Arnaldi, though the third seed eventually battled through 2-6 6-4 6-4 to book a third-round clash with American Sebastian Korda.
There was a surprise result, though, with Brazilian qualifier Thiago Monteiro ending the fine recent form of Stefanos Tsitsipas with a 6-4 6-4 victory.
Tsitsipas was 10-1 on clay this year going into the match, but the sixth seed crashed to a shock defeat just a week after Monteiro had lost in the first round of a Challenger Tour event in Portugal, marking a rapid reversal of his fortunes.
“Every week you have a new opportunity," said Monteiro. “These past few weeks I wasn’t feeling really good on the court. I was trying to do well at Challengers but it didn’t work.
“I just kept up the hard work, day by day. Even when I was not feeling good and not winning matches, I kept believing in myself, and this week it has paid off.
"For sure one of the biggest wins of my career. I knew it was a really tough match and I tried to just believe in myself all the time."
Sunday’s matches will see Nadal’s compatriot Carlos Alcaraz continue his campaign with a third-round clash against Thiago Seyboth Wild.
Swiatek soars into Madrid Open last 16 after dropping just two games against Cirstea
Iga Swiatek stormed through to the Madrid Open last 16 following a dominant straight-sets victory over Sorana Cirstea.
The world number one dropped just two games as she inflicted a comprehensive 6-1 6-1 rout on her Romanian opponent in the Spanish capital.
Swiatek, who was runner-up to Aryna Sabalenka in last year's event, will play Sara Sorribes Tormo in the round of 16 after the Spaniard defeated two-time Australian Open champion Victoria Azarenka.
The Pole is now 26-4 for the season, in which she has already triumphed at the Qatar Open and Indian Wells Open, as she eyes the ninth WTA 1000 singles title of her career.
Data debrief
Swiatek is through to her sixth round of 16 from seven main-draw appearances in WTA 1000 events on clay (85.7 per cent) - the highest percentage rate among players with at least five such appearances since the format's introduction in 2009.
The three-time French Open champion also boasts the best WTA match win rate of any player since 2000 on clay (87 per cent). Overall, only Chris Evert (94.5 per cent), Margaret Court (89.5 per cent) and Steffi Graf (89.2 per cent) boast a higher percentage in the Open Era.
Alcaraz begins Madrid Open campaign with emphatic win
Carlos Alcaraz continued his fine record at the Madrid Open with an emphatic 6-2 6-1 victory over Alexander Shevchenko on Friday.
The two-time defending champion made it 12 straight wins at his home tournament to ensure he will face Brazilian Thiago Seyboth Wild in the last 32.
Alcaraz was playing his first match on the ATP Tour since March 28 after being unable to compete in the Monte-Carlo Masters and Barcelona Open due to an arm injury.
But he was still able to make a fine start to his clay-court season, breaking serve in the first game and racing to victory in only one hour and eight minutes.
Data Debrief
Sometimes the scoreline can be harsh on a beaten player, but on this occasion Alcaraz was clearly dominant, breaking the Kazakh seven times in the match and forcing 11 break-point opportunities while conceding only three for his opponent.
That allowed the Spaniard to claim a dominant victory despite being broken once in each set. He will now turn his attention to a clash with Seyboth Wild, who battled past Lorenzo Musetti with a 6-4 6-4 win.
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