Juan Martin Del Potro Suffered A Broken Finger During His Epic Davis Cup Win Over Marin Cilic
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Juan Martin del Potro capped an incredible comeback season Sunday by leading Argentina to its first Davis Cup win in beating Croatia 3-2 in Zagreb.
Del Potro won both singles rubbers defeating Ivo Karlovic on Friday and then overcoming a 2-0 set deficit to deny Marin Cilic 6-7(4), 2-6, 7-5, 6-4, 6-3 in four hours, 53 minutes.
During the win over Cilic, del Potro actually broke a finger early in the final set, but battled on to victory to level with Croatia 2-2.
“It happened when I tried to catch a ball in the fifth set,” del Potro said of the injury. “My finger is broken but I won’t mind one bit if we win the Davis Cup.”
Del Potro finished 2015 ranked No. 590. This year he ends No. 38 after posting a 32-12 record with a silver in Rio, quarterfinals at the US Open and wins over Andy Murray, Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Stan Wawrinka among others. And he went 8-1 in Davis Cup single play with the big victory this weekend.
“This was an emotionally exhausting match and one of the biggest wins of my career,” del Potro said. “Thanks to all those who prevented me from retiring, I was very close to never playing again and, well, here I am.”
Juan Martin del Potro, after his five-set comeback win over Marin Cilic in the #DavisCupFinal. Emotional stuff: pic.twitter.com/F63knfD5Rr
— Ed McGrogan (@EdMcGrogan) November 27, 2016
🏆🇦🇷❤🎉 pic.twitter.com/8Ai07Z6uoy
— Juan M. del Potro (@delpotrojuan) November 28, 2016
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