Juan Martin del Potro comes under criticism by some members of the Argentine media for choosing to play on Friday in the Davis Cup semifinals against the Czech Republic, and not on Sunday.
Del Potro has been suffering from a left wrist injury and did not decide until Wednesday that he was fit enough to play the tie. Instead of joining the team on Monday, he practiced for two days in Buenos Aires with his private coach rather than joining the team in Parque Roca.
The Argentine journalist Marcos Zugasti reported that even in Parque Roca, del Potro insisted that he only hit with sparring partner Diego Schwartzman, and never interacted with any other player on court and practically not at all off the court.
The newspaper <em>La Nacion</em>, citing an unnamed source, said that del Potro told captain Martin Jaite and coach Mariano Zabelata that, “I’ll play but if something happens to me, it’s your fault.”
Del Potro did end up defeating Radek Stepanek on Friday, but was unable to face Tomas Berdych on Sunday, as he said he was too injured to play. Carlos Berloq replaced del Potro and lost to Berdych in the deciding match.