4 surgeries later, del Potro meets Djokovic in final

It was in 2015, the year of his fourth wrist operation, that Juan Martin del Potro was pretty sure he’d had enough.

By then, so much time had passed since his crowning achievement, winning the 2009 U.S. Open at age 20 by beating Roger Federer in five sets in the final. So much of that time had felt wasted. And del Potro was in a dark place.

As he prepares to play in his first Grand Slam final since that one, meeting 13-time major champ Novak Djokovic for the championship on Sunday, del Potro seems at ease talking about it all.

“I couldn’t find a way to fix my wrist problems. I (was) suffering a lot. I got depressed for a couple of months, also. I didn’t get the chance to feel better with myself, to do this again. That was the bad moment for me,” said the 6-foot-6 Argentine with the 100 mph forehand and 135 mph serves. “But I think that is completely in the past. And now I’m having a good present, looking forward for the future.”

Djokovic can relate to the climb back from a body breakdown.

For the better part of two years, he dealt with elbow pain. Djokovic shut himself down for the last half of 2017, sitting out the U.S. Open.

“It absolutely gives me empathy. Even before I went through the whole process of surgery, post-surgery recovery, I was still feeling for players that went through injuries,” Djokovic said.