Further Wrist Surgery for Del Potro

Del Potro announced today that he's to undergo a third wrist surgery.

All the promise of his 2009 form was halted with the first surgery in 2010, but it seemed to be coming together again from late 2012 and 2013 with some great matches at the WTF, Indian Wells, Wimbledon and Shanghai. But now following a second wrist surgery, an aborted return at the start of this year and now this, have we seen the best of Delpo?

Hm, bad news. I don't know what sort of wrist injury takes years to heal. I suppose that's what happens when you hit the ball like your arm's about to fly out of its socket over and over again. There was this one shot once against Nadal at Wimbledon where Nadal could not reach the ball due to sheer power, even though it was almost straight at him. Anyway, best of luck to him.

This is pretty awful news for those hoping this exciting player was on the road to recovery.
Of course, there is now the fear that with his style of player he is never going to be fit enough to perform at the highest level.
The good news is that he is only 26 and when you think what Stan, now 30, has achieved over the last 18 months there is still time for JMDP to come storming back. Let's hope so.

We miss you JMDP hope you make a speedy recovery come back soon

It's his left wrist his having surgery on again. I can't mentally remember his backhand mechanics, but needing three ops in your left hand suggests either the first op was a c.ock up, and they've been playing catch up since, or theres just something congenital wrong.

Left hand? Means the forehand isn't the problem!

Go one-handed on the BH wing man!! Better than sitting on your backside for years.

Regardless of the extent to which the Delpo style of play has been a contributing factor (on all the evidence, a very significant one), his ongoing absence from the Tour is a huge loss to the sport

Turns 27 this year .... seems a world away from the 'youngster' who powered his way to the USO title 2009 - although sfp makes a good analogy re Stan as a 'late achiever'.

Huge loss to the tour. Bigger than losing henin or sodeing.  You start to wonder if he could play again. Having that many surgeries suggest his wrist simply can't take it

You mad? Henin? She was one of the best things to happen for tennis!

Shbh, slice, touch - everything. Joy to watch. Delpo's great but nowhere near Henin.

Henin?

Where did that come from??

I dunno, Henin going was when I lost all interest in the WTA.

She was the other player we lost early to injury

But in comparison to Delpo? Henin was a massive loss to tennis in general.

I would compare Delpo with recent cases like as you said Soderling and Fish and before them Ancic. Sadly in sport absence doesn't make the heart grow fonder.

temporary21 wrote:I dunno, Henin going was when I lost all interest in the WTA.

She was the other player we lost early to injury

Surely that's a bigger departure when you stop watching, the entire wta tour. Compared to a big hitter with an awesome fh.

Henin was the last big player the wta lost.  Delpo is about to be the most recent one on the atp. He's miles bigger than fish or soderling

temporary21 wrote:He's miles bigger than fish or soderling

Yes, definitely.

But not bigger than Henin. Henin was way bigger in many ways - she was far more successful and her style was far more unique (at least in today's tennis). Henin was the last WTA player I was interested in watching. WTA just about does not exist for me these days.

temporary21 wrote:Henin was the last big player the wta lost.  Delpo is about to be the most recent one on the atp. He's miles bigger than fish or soderling

Dunno if I'd use the term "miles bigger" when it comes to Soderling. Very similar careers / achievements - difference is Delpo won a slam

Very sad though and his fighting statement brings a tear to the eye

I agree with that Banbro.

A Nadal scalp at RG will probably go down as much more rarer feat than a US Open win. Before any declares outrage, it's not ranking one achievement higher than a slam, but just how rare Soderling's mini burst was.

Id respectfully disagree. Delpos slam win was more impressive. To me not just because it was a slam aand not just one win but he played roger in the final and beat him. He reduced federer to swearing, whilst robin was never in either of his slam finals

Don't get me wrong robins wins and runs to the final were mega. But if the only difference really is "one slam" that's a big difference. If it was 3 Slams to two maybe....

Agree, Delpo bigger than Soderling no question.  Yes, Soderling's win over Rafa was immense, but it was a one-off.

To me, Delpo's slam win beats Soderling's two slam finals.  But perhaps even more importantly, with Soderling I felt like he achieved what he was going to achieve - perhaps even overachieved.  On the other hand, with Delpo one felt that he was just coming into his own - that his slam win was just a launching pad for more bigger and better things.

So losing Delpo is much bigger to me than losing Soderling.

(list of importance in retiring)
Henin.












Delpo injury


Soderling 
Ancic

Delpo reduced Federer to swearing?

I thought Garner did.

Oh well. Can't say I'll miss him a great deal.

Well whatever.
Del Potro is the only other guy whos ever beaten Roger in a slam final whos name isnt Nadal or Djokovic. He drove him mad in that match, and ended up running away with it. Its a magnificent achievement. Henin was a bigger player, but ive never rated the WTA as highly, I never grew up with its golden age.

If it's his left wrist, why doesn't he try to develop a 1-handed backhand? He's 6'6", so he should have no problem with the leverage, and it's minimal impact on his wrist - to be honest, I don't know why a player that tall and innately powerful hits with a 2-hander anyway? At least give it a try.

At 26 going on 27? Surely not. 
Has anyone done that so far into their career?
I know Sampras switched early on to a shbh as it was more effective in the 90's with the conditions but now it's a hindrance.

What's the harm in trying? He's going to have to retire if he keeps trying to hit the two hander, so if he still wants to play, why doesn't he try to develop the shot. The lest writs would even have to be full recovered - in fact having it in a cast or a brace would actually facilitate learning the stroke (he'd have no opportunity to fall back to the 2-hander). Tsonga hits a pretty good one from time to time, and his slice is indistinguishable from players with the 1-handed backhand. I'll bet that if he injured his wrist as significantly as del Potro did, he'd try to switch.

Just asking you understand Isnt it like asking Roger or Richard to play with a DHB?
Not like he is a young gun,
Given the fact that he relies so much on power in his gam not sure he could make that transition . just a thought

I'm not sure some can just take it up like that.

It would be hard - but my argument is that a good backhand has less to do with whether it's a 1-hander or a 2-hander, than the actual technique of either. There are benefits and limitations of each, and certainly any player making the switch will suffer bad results along the way. But del Potro doesn't have anything to lose at this point. He can't earn any fewer points by not playing with a 2-handed backhand, than by playing with a 1-hander, so I don't see why he doesn't try it.

With the case of Federer, he would have a lot to lose for no guarantee of superior results. I don't think Federer would be helped by a 2-handed backhand, because the universe of players who can trouble that stroke is very limited now, but if he were to switch to a 2-hander, during the transition he would be more susceptible to players he would normally deal with comfortably, therefore he may never even have the chance to use it against the few top players that trouble him with it now.

But del Potro is dead in the water as it is - why not grab an oar...with one hand.

Well I take all you say on board.. but I feel that Delpo has damaged wrists for a reason.. he is a power player f/bh if he cant get that I would imagine the rest of his game will suffer..
But as you say he can give it a try ..personally I don't hold a lot of hope.
but would like to think he can make a come back any way.

It is surprising Wawrinka hasb't suffered the same fate with that ripping backhand of his. Juan's career is going from little dents to little holes, somehow I believe he will be back competing for a year max and then another injury will surface

There is no way Delpo will switch to SHBH this late in his career. Plus he probably believes he can come back - so starting to learn SHBH would seem like a waste of time to him - even detrimental as he would then have to readjust to DHBH again.

I would be glad to be proven wrong, but DelPo's career is over.

Josiah Maiestas wrote:It is surprising Wawrinka hasb't suffered the same fate with that ripping backhand of his. Juan's career is going from little dents to little holes, somehow I believe he will be back competing for a year max and then another injury will surface

This is an excellent point - Wawrinka's backhand does not suffer from the same limitations vis a vis the top players, that Federer's does, and I have a few reasons for this, as I have studied their techniques extensively - but I should point out that Wawrinka is not the only player with a 1-handed backhand that doesn't struggle with it against Nadal, for example.

But as to Wawrinka's backhand, the short answer is his backhand is superior to Federer's. The long answer is that Wawrinka's backhand generates more power than Federer's because of the following:

1. He opens his hips earlier and more dynamically than almost any other player with a 1-handed backhand in tennis - including Federer

1. The plane of his stroke is flatter through the point of contact, sacrificing no power for spin

1. He stands behind the baseline, and as such his optimal point of contact at waist height, rather than up at his shoulders

1. His stroke finishes out and across the plane of his shoulder, rather than over his head, so he generates more pace and can remain behind the baseline

1. His trunk and core are stronger than your average player, thus he generates more racquet head speed even when pulled wide on the backhand

For these reasons, his backhand is superior to Federer's - this sounds impossible because Federer's backhand is so aesthetically appealing, and he is so talented, that we assume he is technically omnipotent - that he can do everything equally well. But it just isn't true - he has very broad skills on the backhand, and his skill level is deeper across the spectrum of shots he can hit on the backhand side than your average player, but in terms of generating pace and depth on the backhand, he cannot compare to Wawrinka.

Federer does a lot of other things very well and better than Wawrinka, but not the backhand.

The instinctive-looking BH flick is missing in Wawrinka's repertoire.