Wimbledon 2013: Talking Points from Day 7

How is Del Potro still playing?

Juan Martin Del Potro

I hadn’t seen Juan Martin Del Potro‘s match against Grega Zemlja but heard that he took a very nasty fall chasing down a drop shot and was considering pulling out of his match with Andreas Seppi.

When I saw the amount of strapping on his left knee I thought it was a miracle that he had even made it out on the court, and it would be formality for the Italian to pull through because surely the big Argentine wouldn’t be able to move freely for almost three hours and push off on his leg for his forehand. How wrong I was.

Del Potro defied his injury and played brilliantly, easily dispatching Seppi in straight sets. According to Del Potro, his knee is still giving him discomfort but isn’t too bothersome to affect his play to a huge degree. He has all day today to rest it and hopefully its condition will improve because there are few better sights in the game than seeing the massive wingspan of Del Potro wind up for a forehand.

The bad news for Del Potro is that awaiting him in the next round is David Ferrer, a player who destroyed him on Centre Court last year. By his high standards, Ferrer has not played well this tournament having lost at least one set in each of his matches. But Del Potro’s knee will have to be braced for a lot of running because even a sub-par Ferrer will force you to work exceptionally hard for your victory.

If his knee does hold up enough to get past Ferrer, Del Potro could face Novak Djokovic in the semifinals and after what he did to the Serb at the Olympics, we could see yet another upset at Wimbledon 2013.