Mutua Madrid Open, Madrid – Juan Martin Del Potro had a straightforward day out on Stadium 3 today against Alexandr Dolgopolov recording a 6-3, 6-4 victory in front of a full crowd.
The Argentine fired his serves and hit weighty forehands to pull the Ukrainian from side to side throughout their encounter, but after the match, the question everybody wanted to know is if he will play here next year or whether he shares the same sentiments as the top two players in the world, Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal?
He responded by admitting that these are the feelings of Nadal about not playing next year and added that ‘it’s more or less the feelings of everyone,’ as he confessed:
“They are here to their job [the ATP] as we are here to do our job, which is to play tennis.”
Del Potro has also experienced difficulties with his movement and confidence on the court and with a sad look on his face he said:
“We are all suffering and talking about mobility. Next year I don’t know what they will do, but I hope that they do the best for the players.”
Although Del Potro has confessed as to how slippery he has found the courts, he repeated what Nadal had said in his conference:
“The conditions are the same for everybody.”
Next up for Del Potro, is Tomas Berdych after he quickly dismissed of Rafael Nadal’s conqueror, Fernando Verdasco 6-1, 6-2 and the Argentine is aware that it will be a tough semi final encounter for him as Berdych ‘hits his strokes strongly’ and knows the match will be ‘complicated.’
Tomas Berdych eagerly awaits his encounter against Del Potro, but believes that the Argentine is the more experienced player:
“I expect a really tough one. We are in the last two matches to come up. He is a great guy and he knows how to win a Grand Slam and big matches. I will try to do my best and play my game.”
Lisa-Marie Burrows is currently in Madrid covering the Mutua Madrid Open and will be at the Rome Masters next week. Catch her as a regular contributor for TennisBloggers.com and on Twitter: @TennisNewsViews.
