Roger Federer takes on old foe Juan Martin del Potro in the Miami Open second round today. The Tennis Review previews a much anticipated match between two players on very different injury comebacks.
History: Federer may lead the head to head 15-5, but del Potro prevailed in their most significant match, the 2009 US Open final which went five sets.
These two have produced other classics such as the 2012 Olympic semi-final and their last seven matches have gone the distance featuring some of the finest forehands on the tour up against each other.
Form coming in: Both men are coming back from injury, though in very different circumstances. Federer’s knee injury, which led to his first ever surgery as a tennis professional, has only sidelined him from the tour for seven weeks, while del Potro’s wrist injury has meant he only played 14 matches throughout 2014 and 2015.
del Potro, though, who returned to the tour at Delray Beach, has been playing since Federer’s time-out, and is 5-2 this season, reaching the Delray beach semis, the Indian Wells second round where he lost to Berdych, and he won his Miami Open Opener versus Guido Pella so he will face Federer with some recent match mileage on the clock.
Who should win: Federer matches up well against del Potro, his aggressive game not really asked too many questions by del Potro’s defense. He should also be able to exploit del Potro’s big weakness on the backhand side.
Watch Federer vs del Potro at the 2012 French Open in the video below
del Potro can win if: del Potro still has two big weapons working with his serve and forehand. That forehand can keep Federer back behind the baseline and get the better of the Swiss in lengthy exchanges.
The Miami courts are slow, too, which will help del Potro cover the weaker backhand side and allow him to run round it and hit inside out forehands which could put pressure on the Federer backhand and force some errors.
If del Potro can keep the pressure on Federer, and stay with him deep into sets, his comeback might be sealed with a headline-hitting win.
Prediction: Federer to win in straights. Federer may have been off the tour but he has been training recently, and he has had some rest from the ATP tour, too. A refreshed, motivated Federer will be hard for del Potro, still early in his comeback, to upset.
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