“A never-ending nightmare”: Del Potro talks about his physical pain since his retirement from sports

Will Juan Martin Del Potro be able to step onto a tennis court one last time? The Argentinian must face Novak Djokovic on December 1 at Parque Roca in Buenos Aires. Except that his farewell to sport seems compromised, if we are to believe the video published by the champion this Tuesday.

On her social networks, the tennis star talks at length about the pain which, for three years and her last professional match, has poisoned her daily life. In question: a right knee injured several times, but not only. “I stayed two months in Switzerland, in a village near Basel, for my rehabilitation, but it didn't work, says the Argentinian. After two and a half months, I had my sixth operation. I returned to the United States, I had more than a hundred injections, infiltrations everywhere, in a hip, a leg, my back… It's daily suffering. This has been my life since my last match.”

After years of reigning on the courts, the champion is only a shadow of himself. “I haven't run since I was 31, I can't climb stairs, it hurts when I drive, it hurts when I go to bed, I can't kick a ball, I don't have never been able to play tennis properly again. It's a never-ending nightmare. I hope one day it will stop. I want to live without pain. “

To cope with the pain, the tennis player relies on medication. “I get up and take six or seven pills, an anti-inflammatory, a painkiller and another for anxiety. The emotional pain outweighs the physical pain.”

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The only way out for him: to have a prosthesis fitted. Except that his doctors don't all agree on the timetable. “Do I have to spend another fifteen years of my life like this so that at 50 they fit me a prosthesis and I can live more or less correctly at 60?asks the player. Before concluding: “I felt strong at the time in the face of these obstacles, but I realized that I'm not that strong… It's not the life I wanted. It's terrible. At times, I have no more strength. I am not indestructible. I often play a role when I feel bad.”