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Juan Martin del Potro's return postponed again, will miss Asian swing

Juan Martin Del Potro in Dubai in February. That was his last singles tournament. (AP Photo/Kamran Jebreili)
Juan Martin Del Potro in Dubai in February. That was his last singles tournament. (AP Photo/Kamran Jebreili)

Juan Martin del Potro, the 2009 U.S. Open champion who has missed significant time due to injury the last few years, will miss even more time than he had hoped.

The Argentine, who turns 26 in two weeks, had his left wrist operated on May 4. Originally, he had hoped to return for the U.S. Open in late August, but that proved unrealistic. He was working hard towards a second targeted return in September for the ATP Tour's Asian swing, and optimistically entered the Kuala Lumpur, Tokyo and Shanghai events.

Del Potro announced via his Facebook page today that while his recovery is going well, it's not going well enough to return that soon. He needs "a little more time."

Ranked as high as No. 4 in February before the wrist injury hit, del Potro's ranking has fallen to No. 14 as of this week. And in missing another chunk of the season, he will fall even further.

Why did he want to come back so soon? Well, beyond being a competitor, these were his results in Asia and in the indoor-hard court event in Roger Federer's hometown of Basel, Switzerland last fall.

Del Potro ended the 2013 season with outstanding results. (ATPTour.com)
Del Potro ended the 2013 season with outstanding results. (ATPTour.com)

 

That's 1600 ATP Tour ranking points – more than two-thirds of his current point total of 2,365. We include Basel because even if del Potro were to return in time, it would be his first match in nearly eight months.

By the time it rolls around, he will be out of the top-25 in the rankings and given the strength of field (Federer, Nadal - let's hope – Wawrinka, Raonic, Dimitrov, Gulbis et al) he could end up unseeded and at the mercy of the draw gods to avoid any of those aforementioned players as early as the first round.

Del Potro might squeeze in as a seed because of the dearth of players entered who are ranked between No. 15 and No. 30. But it remains a strong field for a rusty player who defeated Federer in the final of his hometown the last two years. A year ago, he was the No. 1 seed – ahead of both Federer and another Swiss star, Australian Open champion Stan Wawrinka.

All that, of course, is assuming his next deadline is the one that turns out to be true. If del Potro doesn't defend his Basel points, he'll drop out of the top-60.

It would be a tough blow, but he's been through far worse. When del Potro returned from his first wrist surgery (on his dominant right hand), he was ranked No. 485 after the 2011 Australian Open. Exactly a year later, he was back in the top 10. But he, more than anyone, will remember what a tough grind that was.