He gave his body to tennis, and is paying the price today. In a video of more than 10 minutes published on his social networks, Argentine tennis legend Juan Martin Del Potro recounts the “endless nightmare” he has been experiencing since his retirement. Three years after playing his last professional match in Buenos Aires in February 2022, the 36-year-old newly retired still suffers from his right knee, hip and back.
“I had more than a hundred injections, infiltrations everywhere, in a hip, a leg, my back… It’s daily suffering. This is my life since my last match,” he says as he plays an exhibition match against Novak Djokovic on December 1 at Parque Roca in Buenos Aires, to once again say goodbye to the world of tennis. .
“I want to live without pain”
“I haven’t run since I was 31, I can’t climb stairs, it hurts when I drive, it hurts when I go to bed, I can’t kick a ball, I don’t I was never able to play tennis properly again. It’s a never-ending nightmare. I hope one day it will stop. I want to live without pain,” he continues in front of the camera.
To try to treat these ailments, the winner of the 2009 US Open takes “six or seven pills every day, an anti-inflammatory, a painkiller and another for anxiety”. “Emotional pain surpasses physical pain. I felt strong at the time in the face of these obstacles, but I realized that I’m not that strong… It’s not the life I wanted. It’s terrible. At times, I no longer have the strength. I’m not indestructible. I often play a role when I feel bad,” he concludes.
In February 2022, he tried to put an end to his path of the cross by playing his last tournament in Buenos Aires. But the ordeal continued. Two months later, Del Potro underwent a sixth operation on his right knee. Obviously unsuccessful.
