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MUTUA MADRID OPEN

May 5, 2019

Juan Martin Del Potro

Madrid, Spain

THE MODERATOR: Questions in Spanish for one with the mic please.

Q. Welcome to Spain. I want to know how do you feel physically speaking and what are you expecting in this tournament?
JUAN MARTIN DEL POTRO: Good afternoon. I'm feeling good progress. I'm progressing day after day. For me to be here in this tournament is another step in order of my build-up towards my final recovery, in order to be at full strength and really fit. And to have solved the injury I have in my knee. That is how I face it.

Day after day, I'm feeling better. I'm starting to train with better players, which gives me a lot of rhythm. And that's why I'm starting to be fitter and it's true that I need time to be able to adapt myself to this rhythm. I think that now is the right moment to do it and that is why I'm playing here this week.

Q. What is the thing that you like the most about playing here in Madrid?
JUAN MARTIN DEL POTRO: Well, I always like to play in Madrid. I always feel comfortable. I have had good results in the past. Conditions here are quite good for me. The tournament is incredible, I feel the support of the people. It's amazing here. I love it in this city. And overall, this tournament is one of the best ones in the world. All the players will feel really comfortable here with the city, the food, everything. It is an overall experience that makes it a really high level tournament.

Q. Not only Spanish, but I'm going to speak in PorteÃ±o. Are we going to see you playing doubles with Japanese and I wanted to know if that is going to be the occasion for you to test yourself, to see how you're playing, or if you already have a scheme of how well you will do in the upcoming months?
JUAN MARTIN DEL POTRO: For me to play a doubles is quite important, to test myself, to move myself around the court, to start feeling my body inside the court. In an official match, not only in the training, the feelings after playing the doubles are what you are expecting and what I'm looking forward to and there are no strange things happening in that match, I will probably play the single match with a lot of joy and I will face it better.

But as I said, you have to go day-by-day, we have to go through stuff, and I'm not going to have a lot of angst. I want to go back and start playing in the tournament and I'm every day closer to start doing that, either in a couple of days I will start playing singles matches but I'm looking forward to that, and I try to build-up my game again.

Q. Talking about the emotional side which as you know the Argentinians, we like it a lot. You are a player that have fought a lot in the past with the upcoming injuries, like physical problems that you have had. I just wanted to know if emotionally this injury has been tougher for you because you have had nightmares in the past, right, when you were thinking about retiring or you were thinking about your future. Is it similar, or how do you feel right now? How are you emotionally speaking?
JUAN MARTIN DEL POTRO: Emotionally, I've found some similarities to what I experienced a couple of years ago, especially in the past month, when I had a couple of cloudy days. As soon as I injured myself emotionally it was very frustrating because I was very -- I was fighting at a very high level for important things. And while it was a set down, it was a sad situation due to that injury. But at that moment, we didn't think that it was something really that was going to take a long time. The doctors were really trying to help me, trying to solve the problem quickly and after that, things were a little bit longer. The injury wasn't -- I wasn't recovering as fast as I thought. The injury was a little bit more difficult than what we thought. Time was going on and I was just trying to do a lot of things, trying to be back on the court. I still felt some pain, daily pain. I am still feeling it at the moment. And in those moments, where you maybe are not so positive, or where you are not so strong, of course I started to remember the memories of the past and I started feeling what I might have felt a couple of years ago. But I think that right now I'm in a good situation and emotionally I'm feeling pretty well and I think that the negative things you have to leave them aside and right now, I'm trying to focus on the positive things. It's a good thing to be here and I'm thinking just to move forward and with all the experience that I have, try to do the things properly, try to do it once again, try to face the problems and just be back and do my best.

Q. We like to talk about favorites. I don't know, who do you see as a favorite to win the tournament here? Thiem has been playing well, he might be an irregular player. Rafa has not had a lot of victories on clay this year. How do you see the tournament?
JUAN MARTIN DEL POTRO: For sure, I'm not the favorite player in this tournament right now. Of course, Rafa is one of the favorite players because Rafa dominates, and on clay I think that Dominic is one of the players that can beat Rafa. Well, Roger is playing here too and the conditions I think they suit him, they are good conditions. It suits his game. And after that, in this tournament, we have also seen surprises in the past, of powerful players, that they serve well and there are a lot of players like that on the circuit. Of course, the favorite players are always the same ones, and while Novak is the No. 1 and all that he represents, he will be in that list, right. He will be a favorite player to win this tournament.

Q. I wanted to ask you about David Ferrer. He is playing here in his last tournament before retiring, I wanted to know what is your general feelings, if you have memories of him?
JUAN MARTIN DEL POTRO: Yeah, one of the big players is retiring this week and one of the best lads that we have around the circuit and I have faced a lot of matches against him. And I am very happy to see him retiring in good shape, surrounded by his people, by his crowd, in a city like Madrid, in front of his wife, and I have good words towards him because of all of the good things that he has done in this tournament.

Because of his behavior out of the court, I think he's been an example for all of us. I just hope all the best for him in this new era of his life and we're going to miss him a lot. Maybe not playing against him because he made you run a lot (smiling)! It is always going to be a good chance to be close to him and he is a really nice lad.

On the personal side, a friend is retiring because I consider him a friend, I just really like him and I, as I always said, I want all the best for him and he deserves it. Of course, he deserves everything that might come.

THE MODERATOR: Questions in English.

Q. There's been some political complications while you have been away.
JUAN MARTIN DEL POTRO: I was waiting for that question.

Q. Earlier, Roger said that maybe Chris Kermode could be put back in the mix now there's been a change on the board. Do you have any view on that?
JUAN MARTIN DEL POTRO: To be honest, I was out for the last month on the Tour and I didn't know specific things in what's happening in the last period of time. But to be honest, I have a great relationship with Chris. I like a lot him. He's a gentleman. And he's been doing a great work for us on Tour.

I don't know what he's thinking now after all these problems, but my position is if he wants to come back and keep helping us on the Tour, I will be more than happy because I love to see him around us, working for us.

THE MODERATOR: Any other questions in English?

Q. Considering you were out for quite a while, were you surprised by the recent political developments with Chris and also with Justin?
JUAN MARTIN DEL POTRO: Yes, of course, the Tour's going on and I was hearing these things at home. But I don't -- I'm not the right person to say something. I have been dealing with many problems myself this time. But I think everybody has to be honest with themselves and then try to make the best decision for the tennis tour, for the tennis players and they have to be a smart and make their weight for the tennis as sport. We have to show a perfect match to the world and they have to work on that.

THE MODERATOR: Last question.

Q. While you were away did anyone reach out to you from the player council to get your opinions on these votes that have been going on?
JUAN MARTIN DEL POTRO: No, no, I don't know too much about that. What I say before, I have been dealing with all my problem in the last month but more, as I say, we need people that wants to work for us and they have to be clear and they have to be smart and take better decisions for the tennis, the tennis life, the tennis tour.

I don't know who is going to be working in the future for us, but they have to be ready and prepared for that places.

THE MODERATOR: Thanks, everyone.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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