Juan Martin Del Potro confirms his participation for the Delray Beach International event in 2011



The 22-year-old Juan Martin Del Potro has confirmed his participation in next year’s Delray Beach International Tennis tournament to be held in February at the Delray Beach Stadium and Tennis Center. The 2009 United States Open champion, Del Potro, will join an ATP World Tour competition singles field that also includes Mardy Fish, John Isner and Andy Roddick from the United States of America.

The ATP World Tour players will be chasing not only the ITC trophy and its champion’s check of $75,000 but also a 2011 Porsche 911 Carrera.

Headlining the second-year ATP Champions Tour competition are Mark Philippoussis and John McEnroe, who are providing the star power for the eight-contender event that highlights former top ranked players, major winners and runner ups as well as Davis Cup champions. John is making a comeback to the Delray Beach after making his way into last year’s final whereas Mark is playing for the very first time.

The director of the tournament, Mark Baron while commenting on the upcoming event said, "With two United States Open champions already signed, without a doubt this ATP World Tour singles draw is shaping up to be the best in our history. Mardy Fish and John Isner finished 2010 in the top twenty and Fish could be in the top ten by competition time. And having tennis' favourite "bad boy" McEnroe back for our ATP Champions Tour event just makes us ecstatic about 2011."

The professional tennis ace from Argentine, Juan Martin Del Potro, who made his debut on the ATP World Tour back in 2005, achieved his career high ranking of world number four earlier this year in January. The right hander came to the limelight after finishing as champion at the year’s final Grand Slam, the United States Open back in 2009. He got the better of both Rafael Nadal as well as Roger Federer on his way to the title victory.

The Tandil born’s phenomenal season also saw him advance into the quarterfinal round at the Australian Open, semi-final round in the French Open at Roland Garros and title battles at the Masters Series Montreal and season-end Barclays ATP World Tour Finals in London. The Argentinean superstar, sadly, was limited to only six clashes in 2010 after undergoing year-ending wrist injury.

After starting his 2010 season by competing at the AAMI Kooyong Classic in Melbourne, Del Potro, next played at the Australian Open where he couldn’t go beyond the third round due to injury. In his first two matches, the Argentinean posted victories over Jo- Wilfried Tsonga and James Blake.

Following the Melbourne loss, he missed several competitions including the Master tournaments at Miami and Indian Wells due to his persistent wrist injury. He made a comeback on the tour at the PTT Thailand Open where he lost in the opening round at the hands of Olivier Rochus. Del Potro next took part in the Rakuten Japan Open, where the right hander was once again crushed in the opening round by Feliciano Lopez in two sets. The final match score was 3-6, 0-6. Considering his poor form due to lack of practice, the Argentinean decided to remain absent for the rest of the season in order to come back strongly in 2011.

The Delray Beach ITC has become the first 250 Series ATP World Tour competition in the world to offer a luxury automobile to its winner as the 2011 champion will receive a Porsche as part of the winner's compensation. The tickets for the tournament are on sale from today and the fans can purchase it till 31st December, 2010.

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