Thoughts on the Return of Juan Martin Del Potro

Juan Martin Del Potro made his long awaited return to the ATP Tour this week in Delray Beach, where he ultimately fell to Sam Querrey in the semifinals.  The big question was not how he would do, but rather how would he look after having missed so much time due to surgeries on his left wrist.  The initial reaction is that he looked pretty good all things considered, but there are still plenty of questions about his future after seeing him struggle to hit two-handed backhands.

It's hard to say at this point whether Del Potro was simply holding back on the two-hander because he's not mentally ready to let it go full speed, or if it's still bothering him in some capacity.  He sliced a good percentage of backhands, and when he used the two-hander he seemed afraid to truly accelerate through the stroke.  He also ran around as many backhands as possible, though with his forehand it's hard to blame him for that strategy.

If Del Potro continues to improve and gain confidence in his backhand he looks good enough to make a return to the top ten.  But while he can hide his current backhand against lower ranked players, the best of the best will expose that side.  Simply put, unless his backhand improves significantly it's hard to see him challenging the very best in the world for grand slam titles.  There's no reason to believe it won't keep getting better (unless for some reason he can't bend his wrist like he used to or has pain when he snaps through the shot), but at this point it's clearly not where it needs to be.

Del Potro's return to the tour comes at a great time, as men's tennis needs some "new" names who can potentially challenge Djokovic, Murray and Federer.  He's a fan favorite, plays an exciting game (at least when he's unloading on forehands), and has the talent to beat anyone when he's on.  Let's just hope his backhand returns to form, so that we can get the full Del Potro experience we've been missing for the last few years.