Former US Open champion Juan Martin del Potro will return to competitive tennis after two and a half years of injury at next week’s ATP Argentina Open in Buenos Aires.
The 33-year-old has not played since fracturing his kneecap in June 2019 at the Queen’s Club Championships in London.
The former world number three has undergone four surgeries on his knee for that injury while slipping to 757 in the world rankings.
Both the Argentina Open and the Rio Open, which takes place a week later, announced Del Potro had been given wildcards to compete in the clay court events.
The injury-prone Argentine also broke his knee at the Shanghai Masters in October 2018 and before that suffered multiple wrist injuries that also required four surgeries. The US Open champion at 20 in 2009, Del Potro won the last of his 22 tour titles at the Indian Wells Masters in 2018. He last played the Argentina Open as a 17-year-old in 2006, losing in the first round to former world number one Juan Carlos Ferrero. In recent weeks, Del Potro had expressed his desire to return to action in Buenos Aires.
 Meanwhile Austrian star Dominic Thiem has withdrawn from the Cordoba Open due to a right finger injury. “In the last days, I suffered a minor injury between my knuckles, a little strain of my ligament. The positive thing is the wrist is perfectly fine, but I’m suffering pain in my hand and also lacking practice, so I have to pull out,” Thiem said. “I’m very sad, but I’m going to come back once I’m 100 per cent fit, and thank you so much for the great and warm welcome I had here in Cordoba.”