Andy Murray says Juan Martin del Potro is one of the best players in the world
Wednesday 14 September 2016 21:39, UK
Andy Murray says Juan Martin del Potro presents a formidable obstacle to Great Britain's hopes of reaching their second Davis Cup final in a row.
The reigning champions will take on Argentina in an eagerly-awaited semi-final in Glasgow this weekend, with the winners advancing to play France or Croatia.
And a revitalised Del Potro will be the key member of the Argentina squad, having returned to something like his brilliant best this summer.
The 2009 US Open champion is No 64 in the world after time on the sidelines with injury, but is charging back up the rankings and made Murray pull out all the stops in an epic Olympic final in Rio before reaching the last eight at the US Open last week.
He is likely to lock horns once again with Murray on Friday or Sunday and the Scot is gearing up for another thrilling encounter.
"It will be a tough match obviously," he said.
"He is one of the best players in the world when fit and healthy. He's played really well over the last couple of months, had a good run in New York.
"He rarely plays poor matches when he is fit and healthy. He is very solid, a great ball striker, and he doesn't mind playing indoors. The conditions will be fine for him."
Del Potro said: "I'm feeling good, I've been playing really good in the last month between Olympics and US Open. My level is still going up.
"But here everything changes, it is a different surface and different players."
The pairings will be announced on Thursday ahead of the opening singles matches on Friday.
And Great Britain captain Leon Smith will have to choose whether to utilise Kyle Edmund or Dan Evans as his second singles player while Argentina skipper Daniel Orsanic will choose two from Del Potro, Guido Pella, Federico Delbonis and Leonardo Mayer.
Murray has already won the Wimbledon title and Olympic gold this year and would love to cap a fantastic campaign with a Davis Cup final appearance.
"I took a few days off after New York, then came here and I've been practising since Sunday," he said.
"I get a little break after I'm finished here, so one more big push this weekend.
"I want to try and finish the year as strong as possible. It's been the best year of my career so far and I hope I can keep it going."
