Juan Martin del Potro hopeful of making Australian Open despite knee injury

Michael Graham 22 Dec 2018 7:45 AM

Juan Martin del Potro looks on

Juan Martin del Potro says he his working hard to be ready for the Australian Open, but fell short of committing himself to the event.

The Argentinian saw his season cut short after fracturing his kneecap at the Shanghai Masters.

He is back in training, but his status for the Australian Open remains uncertain.

“I am excited and will do everything I can,” the world number five said in an online radio interview regarding his chances of playing in the Australian Open.

“To think I was No. 3 in the world at 30, and then I had stupidly had the fracture.

“At the height of my career, prior to the injuries, I never thought I could break the barrier of [Roger] Federer, [Rafael] Nadal, [Novak] Djokovic and [Andy] Murray, and now I did it with everything that happened.”

Del Potro is no stranger to injury after struggling to battle back from multiple wrist injuries, and he is looking to draw on that experience again.

“I never before thought I had the inner strength to recover from these problems.

“There were [tough] moments because of everything I had to go through with the wrists, but I took it as something that gave me strength.”