US Open Champion del Potro's Wrist Puts Season in Jeopardy

The news breaking today that Juan Martin del Potro may be out for the rest of the season due to wrist surgery is not a tremendous surprise, but is still fairly unexpected.  Having not played since the Australian Open in January, del Potro's lengthy absence with injuries theoretically should have made his diagnosis of a surgery-requiring ailment more swift.

Instead of making a proactive (though possibly hasty) choice, he spent more than three months simply waiting for it to heal on its own, never close to a comeback, when an earlier decision might have amounted in missing less time.  He'll almost certainly miss the French Open at least, a tournament which he was previously considered to be one of the top four contenders at, behind only Federer, Nadal, and possibly Djokovic.

If del Potro is indeed out through the US Open, it would be the second consecutive year in which a defending champion was unable to defend his title at a grand slam, after Rafael Nadal missed Wimbledon in 2009.  Before that, the last time a men's defending champion had not defended a slam title was back in 2003, when Pete Sampras retired after winning the 2002 US Open. 

Sadly, wrist injuries to big hitters rarely are fixed completely, especially when it occurs on the player's forehand side.  Kim Clijsters was sidelined for an extremely long time with an injury to her left wrist, and even though it was a wing she didn't use on her forehand side, she was out for over a year.

Will del Potro's injury be as bad? Worse? Only time will tell...