PA – Second seed Juan Martin del Potro retired with a wrist injury in his first-round match against Indian Somdev Devvarman on Tuesday after losing the first set tiebreaker at the Dubai Championships.
The 2009 US Open champion and world No.5 had been having trouble coming over the ball on his backhand during the 67-minute set.
The Argentine had three set points at 0-40 on Devvarman’s serve in the 12th game, but the 78th-ranked Indian wildcard won the next five points to force the tiebreaker which he went on to win by seven points to three.
Devvarman, who won a challenger last week in New Delhi, hit a service winner on his third set point. That proved to be the final point of the match.
“I didn’t feel well on the court; my wrist hurts a lot all the time,” said del Potro. “It was tough to play today.
“I tried everything, but I cannot hit my backhand and I cannot be the player that I want to be.”
Del Potro has been troubled by his left wrist since the start of January, feeling it for the first time in his opening match at the Australian Open in Melbourne after winning the Sydney title.
He played a fortnight ago in Rotterdam, making it to the quarter-finals but complaining every day about pain when hitting his backhand.
Del Potro went immediately to the tournament doctor after the loss. He said he had been in touch with his long-time American doctor and warned: “The pains I’m feeling are similar to the ones I had in my right wrist four years ago (which required surgery and resulted in a lost 2010 season).”
Del Potro has been saying for weeks that US advisers have been telling him it would be fine to play on his bad wrist. But the problem prevents him hitting his backhand with any authority and remains a huge mental issue each time he picks up a racquet.
In other first-round action in Dubai, third-seeded Czech Tomas Berdych extended his winning streak to eight matches with a 6-3 6-4 win over Romanian qualifier Marius Copil.
Russian sixth seed Mikhail Youzhny advanced to the second round via a 6-3 6-4 defeat of Poland’s Michal Przysiezny, Lukas Rosol of the Czech Republic downed German Daniel Brands 7-6 (7-4) 6-4, and veteran fellow Czech Radek Stepanek recovered to beat American Michael Russell 5-7 6-3 6-1.
