By Sandra Harwitt

He’s Back!

Popular Argentine Juan Martin del Potro is make his return to the tour next week at the Apia International tournament in Sydney and then will play at the Australian Open.

Del Potro, the 2009 U.S. Open champion and 2012 Olympic bronze medalist, is the defending champion at Sydney. He hasn’t played a tour match since he retired with a left wrist injury during a first-round match against Somdev Devvarman of India at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships last February.

The Argentine had surgery on the injury at the Mayo Clinic at the end of March. It is the same place he had surgery on his right wrist in 2010.

Del Potro’s peeps – publicist Jorge Viale, to be specific – released the following statement on Wednesday:

After his Tuesday afternoon practice session in Buenos Aires, Juan Martin del Potro decided to come back to the ATP tour and play in Sydney and the Australian Open.

“I missed the tour, I missed to compete. Those feelings outweigh the pain in the wrist, which comes and goes and prevented me from having the ideal pre-season training. I don’t expect great results. At this point I don’t care about the rankings. I take it as a reward for the effort that I put to return,” wrote the Olympic medalist on his Facebook account.

Del Potro played his last singles match on February 25th, 2014, when he was forced to retire against Somdev Devvarman in Dubai.