Top 10 Star del Potro Confirmed For Heineken Open
One of the best players of 2008 on the ATP circuit has been confirmed for January’s Heineken Open featuring the Sovereign singles and doubles
Twenty-year-old Argentinean Juan Martin Del Potro the current world No8 will head the field for the January 12-17 tournament and will bring with him one of the best records of the year.
An exceptional 2008 including a winning streak of 23 matches in a row beginning with his first career title at Stuttgart (beating Richard Gasquet in the final). Kitzbuhel (defeated Jurgen Melzer for the title).
He followed that with two more back-to-back titles at Los Angeles accounting for Andy Roddick and Washington (beating Viktor Troicki) before the run of four in a row came to an end at the US Open quarterfinals with a loss to Andy Murray.
The 1.98m tall right-hander with a big serve and big groundstrokes now has a total of four singles titles to his credit. He was also a finalist at Tokyo (lost to Tomas Berdych) and reached the semis at s-Hertogenbosh and Basel along with three quarterfinals – Munich, US Open and the ATP Masters Series at Madrid.
Additionally Del Potro has helped his country to the Davis Cup final against Spain later this month. In the semifinals he won his two singles matches against Russia beating Nikolay Davydenko and Igor Andreev.
His late year consistency has earned him a placed in the elite top-eight year-end Tennis Masters Cup in Shanghai next week.
“Del Potro is an undeniable talent and to have had the run he managed prior to the US Open is phenomenal for someone who at the time was still a teenager. He has a real presence on court and is a rising star,” says Heineken Open tournament director Richard Palmer.
He comes from the same hometown, Tanil as ATP pros Mariano Zabaleta, Juan Monaco, Diego Junquiera and Maximo Gonzalez.
His father, Daniel, played top level rugby in Argentina, while his younger sister, Julieta benefitted from Juan Martin’s first ATP title win when he gifted her the CLK Mercedes-Benz from his Stuttgart win.
In 2006 Del Potro was the youngest player to finish in the top-100 that year at an age of 18-years-two months. In 2007 he was the youngest player in the top-50 (19-years-two months).
He has played at the Heineken Open on one previous occasion losing in the first round as a 18-year-old, but is clearly a player on the way up and is constantly improving his game as is shown by his current top-10 ranking which he first reached this week.
The Heineken Open featuring the Sovereign singles and doubles will be held at the ASB Tennis Centre, January 12-17, 2009 with the first two days of qualifying January 10-11, 2009 at the Albany Tennis Park, Oteha Valley Road, Albany starting at 10am each day.
The 2009 tournament will feature live scoring as well as live streaming of play and audio podcasting.
