Australian Open 2011: Juan Martín Del Potro targets greatest rally yet

They have known each other since they were pre-teenage tennis brats. But, in an otherwise inconsequential match in Rome two years ago, Andy Murray and Juan Martín Del Potro swapped invective that shocked the few spectators who had lingered in the cool night air at the Foro Italico to watch two young players reckoned to be leaders of the next generation. "Always the same," Del Potro said, referring to Judy Murray, who was sitting behind the baseline in passionate support of her son. Murray later denied using the F-word in her defence at a changeover in the second set, but what he did not dispute was the flash of mutual anger that lit up a fractious encounter. After that first-round match, which Murray won when Del Potro retired with back spasms, their friendship has swayed between indifference and mild warmth. Del Potro went on to win his first grand slam, in New York. Murray did not. But he has twice come close to a slam breakthrough. If they meet in the fourth round of the Australian Open – not exactly a given, as Del Petro, out for a year, would have to get past Dudi Sela, 21st seed Marcos Baghdatis and 11th seed Jürgen Melzer – the Argentinian says there will be no childish animosity, no tantrums. "We are grown up now," says Del Potro. "Is fine." Of more consequence than a minor tennis feud is when Murray and Del Potro will make a move on the hegemony of Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer. A year ago, Del Potro looked more likely to crack it. He had leapfrogged Murray in the rankings and was hitting his forehands with stinging intensity, rolling his muscled arm over the ball like Oscar Bonavena beating up on Muhammad Ali. Then his wrist collapsed in a pre-Open tournament here at Kooyong and, after a couple of agonising rounds, he took a tumble of Agassian proportions, from fourth in the world at the age of 21, all the way to No 259. Some feared his career was over. Not everyone is convinced it still isn't. He said he would come back at the US Open, but he could not face it. Twice he tried. Twice he fell. He went out at the first time of asking, in straight sets to 78th-ranked Belgian Olivier Rochus in Bangkok in September; then the good Spaniard Feliciano López put him away 6-3, 6-0 in Tokyo. He had never been lower in his life. Murray, meanwhile, spluttered and sparkled, grabbing back that fourth spot before slipping to fifth on the eve of this tournament. He has beaten Nadal and Federer in the Rogers Cup, not quite as good as Del Potro's double-hit of the legends in the US Open, but evidence he was making real progress. There is not much between them, except unfinished business, lingering jealousy – and Del Potro's wrist. "My last year was terrible," Del Potro says, leaning forward and stroking his wrist as if it's a boxer's paw. He doesn't give many interviews outside Argentina. "My English," he says, "no good." It's no bad, either. "All the year, very bad for me." He says he hit the depths of depression, worrying those close to him. "My parents, my friends and my coaches, they follow me in my bad moments and in my best moments. They support me as I tried to fix my wrist and, of course, to be here. My friends, they talk to me a lot. They say 'You have to fight. You love tennis. It is your life. Try, try and try', they say to me … And that's what I'm trying to do. Now I'm here, I feel good about my body, about my wrist. I feel I am good person again." But how did he feel about losing ground to Murray, and the other young pretenders? "Well, the world knows Andy is a great player. If I play against him here, maybe the match will be different from before [Murray leads 5-1], but I'm not 100%. "Andy is someone for the journalists to write about, [Novak] Djokovic too, because we are young. But I think now Andy and me we have a good relationship, after little bad moments. We were very young. I know Andy since 11 years old. We play same tournaments together in juniors. Now we are older. Different." Del Potro and Murray share more than precocious tennis skills and sublimated animosity. The Scot too has suffered with a tender wrist. It forced him to sit out for several months and sent him into serious despond. Del Potro says such injuries are increasingly common because of the nature of modern tennis, with the emphasis on killer power and short rallies. "I tore the tendons," he says. "That takes me out between three and six months. I had more surgery in May. "Of course I love the US Open and I wanted to play, but I couldn't. I was really sad, watching it on TV. I played in Bangkok and Tokyo but I didn't feel good, so I stopped for the season. I think it was a good decision. I just wanted to play for two hours in one go. The pain didn't stop completely until November." He played for more than three hours in Sydney last week and declared himself happy enough, before losing in straight sets in his next match to the German Florian Mayer. "I felt good. No pain in my wrist. I don't know if I can play for an hour or for four hours, because I stopped for a year. But, if I play well, maybe I can surprise a few people. I feel good again. I can play without pain. I feel good about my hands. "In tennis today, we play very hard with the wrist. It is dangerous, it is specific to our game. Some times now, I have to change my technique. I need time, maybe a month, to get my natural game back." At 22, he has time. After a year out, he has also shown he has patience. Murray is a year older, yet is perceived to have less time. Would this be his tournament, he was asked yet again? "I have no idea," he said. "I don't think any of the players do. I'm focusing on my first match." Although Karol Beck is rated 104 in the world, the 28-year-old Slovak is the sort of first-round opponent good players dread because he has been largely anonymous since his return from a two-year ban imposed in 2006 for testing positive for clenbuterol. Murray has seen him play a few times but never from the other side of the net; nor has he inquired of other players about him. "I think he plays like a lot of Slovak and Czech players, a very flat hitter of the ball. I'll have to work a few things out when I get on court. You have to trust the training that you've done and believe in it. That will get rid of some of the doubts." Murray has also put behind him the trauma of last year's final when defeat by Federer left him in tears. "That was something I had to come back from," he admitted. "Mentally, I'm probably in a better place." Ripped tendons and shattered psyches: the modern game takes its toll.