Juan Martin del Potro: Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal denied my ‘dream’ of getting to No. 1

Juan Martin del Potro says Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal denied him his “dream” of getting to world No. 1.

But he never got higher than No. 3 in the rankings.

When he hit his career-high ranking in 2018 he was 1,000 points behind second-placed Federer and nearly 5,000 behind No. 1 Nadal.

Del Potro only stayed at No. 3 for a few weeks before being overtaken by Djokovic after he beat him in the US Open final.

The Argentine never got higher than No. 4 again in his career.

“It was always a dream and I always worked for it… but I was proud of my career and I never made it because there was either Federer, or Nadal or Djokovic.

“When I look at the rankings and the years of my career and who was fighting to be No. 1, I see that it was beautiful that these were the ones who didn’t let me make it, this dream.”

Del Potro retired from tennis last year, playing his last match in his home country of Argentina.

At his best, he was one of the few players over the last 15 years able to regularly compete with Djokovic, Nadal, Federer and Andy Murray, thanks largely to his big serve and heavy forehand.

Del Potro says he does not expect another ‘big three’ to emerge any time soon.

“One day, the ‘big three’ will end and we have Carlos Alcaraz, Jannik Sinner or Holger Rune, other young people who will mark the circuit. But for me, [for] many years – the ‘big three’ – there will not be anything similar,” he commented.

Alcaraz is currently the world No. 2 and will return to world No. 1 ahead of Djokovic if he wins Indian Wells this week.

Alcaraz will play against Felix Auger-Aliassime in the quarter-finals and would then meet defending champion Taylor Fritz or Jannik Sinner in the semis.

Djokovic is not competing at Indian Wells as he is unvaccinated against Covid-19 so can’t travel to the United States.

He is on the entry list for the Monte-Carlo Masters, which is the first big event of the European clay season at the start of April.

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