LONDON—Having not played at the All England Club since 2013, Juan Martin del Potro's return to Wimbledon on Tuesday was a momentous occasion, both for himself and his many fans.
The moment was made all the better thanks to a dominant 6-1, 7-5, 6-0 win over Stephane Robert.
“Great sensations after three years,” del Potro said. “This year is completely different for myself, and I am enjoying tennis a lot. Of course, when you win your first round, everything is much better.
His last match on these lawns was a semifinal loss to Novak Djokovic, but del Potro isn’t spending too much time thinking about the player he was back then.
“To be honest, I feel my forehands and serves are working well at the moment,” he said. “But I need to play good matches [to be] 100 percent. I'm not having all my confidence on my backhands yet, and that's tough when you play against the top guys because they are [such] good players, and they are strong enough to play in the fifth‑set matches.”