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Novak Djokovic has paid tribute to Juan Martin del Potro as he thanked the Argentine for all the wonderful memories he created on the tennis court. Djokovic and del Potro are from the same generation and they had some big battles over the year.
On Tuesday, del Potro played his first match in two-and-a-half years. Del Potro suffered a 6-1 6-3 loss to Federico Delbonis in the Buenos Aires first roudn, in what was likely the last match of his career. "Delpo, thank you for all the emotions.
You are just so great," Djokovic said on his Instagram story.
Djokovic lost twice to del Potro at the Olympics
Djokovic captured 16 wins and had four losses against del Potro. Two of those four losses came at the Olympics as del Potro beat Djokovic in the bronze madal match at the 2012 London Olympics and also beat the Serb in the 2016 Rio Olympics first round.
Unfortunately, Djokovic and del Potro will likely never again clash as del Potro said after the Buenos Aires exit: "Now I am calm because my last match was possibly on the court and not in a press conference. I will always remember this." Del Potro admitted making the decision to retire was a difficult one.
"The truth is that this is a moment I never wanted to come. Health leads me to have to make a decision: I made too much effort in these two and a half years," del Potro admitted. "Sometimes I can lose. I do not have the strength that everyone believes.
I think I fulfilled all the dreams in tennis and the most difficult thing to achieve, which is the affection of the people. "I feel like I've given it all. This is a day I never wanted to come, but I'm going to remember it for the rest of my life." Djokovic and del Potro clashed in one Grand Slam final as the Serb beat the Argentine to lift the 2018 Us Open title.