News : Tennis: Juan Martin del Potro breaks his kneecap again

Professional tennis player Juan Martín del Potro has broken his right kneecap for the second time in eight months and will be out of action until further notice.

The former US Open champion had slipped against Canadian Denis Shapavalov at his opening win on Wednesday at Queens' Queens Club in London, complaining of knee pain after the match. Now his team announced that the 30-year-old will have to undergo surgery in the coming days.

Already last October, the man with perhaps the best forehand in the world had suffered a broken knee at the tournament in Shanghai. With the exception of a brief comeback in February, the 1.98-meter Argentine then had to pause for more than half a year. Only since May he is regularly on tour again.

Unlucky del Potro

Del Potro, who won his only Grand Slam title at Flushing Meadows in 2009, had played few matches between 2014 and 2016 due to several surgeries on his wrist.

In 2018, the "Tower of Tandil" again reached the final of the US Open and climbed to third place in the world rankings. At the moment, del Potro is number twelve in the world, but will lose many places because of the new compulsory break.