Juan Martin Del Potro says he will never forget the moment Novak Djokovic accepted an offer to face him in Argentina. The Argentine has enjoyed many battles with the Serbian, including their unforgettable clash at the 2016 Olympics which saw Del Potro knock out DJokovic in the first round.

However, the South American will retire from the sport for good in December, when he faces Djokovic in an exhibition match in Buenos Aires, despite having retired from competitive tennis two years ago. It’s a poetic end to the career of the 2009 US Open winner, who also won a silver medal at the 2016 Games and a bronze at London 2012.

The two men became good friends over the years, even though they suffered several painful defeats. Now that the final match of his tennis career looms, Del Potro cannot express his gratitude enough to the 24-time Grand Slam winner.

In an interview with La Nacion, Del Potro described the moment Djokovic agreed to send him into the tennis sunset. He said: “Until the last Miami Open, there were rumors, there was some news, but we hadn’t seen each other for a long time.

“One day in Miami, he said to me, ‘Delpo, I know you’re here, I want you to come to dinner and we can talk.’ We had an amazing conversation. He asked me if it was true about the match, I told him the only way it could go forward was if he wanted to come with me that day.

“And he said, ‘Count me in for anything I can help you with.’ For me it was very emotional because a guy like him, with his tight schedule, with the things he plays week after week, the thousands of offers he has of all kinds, to take a break and coming to Argentina for a few days to spend hours with me and with the people who love him too, it was very special.”

Del Potro was forced to retire following a career-ending knee injury. It was a heartbreaking way for him to bow out, as he was unable to say goodbye to the world of tennis.

But the match with Djokovic, which will take place on December 1, will give him the moment he craved the most. He is even willing to risk re-injuring his knee. He added: “I haven’t achieved that quality of life.

“I hear stories of people who have prostheses and walk without pain in their legs. But they tell me ‘not you because you’re 36 and you have to wait another 15 years’. This is a conversation I often have with doctors.

“I tell them ‘listen, what am I going to wait for, to be 50 years old to have a prosthesis to walk well from 50 to 70 years old if today I can’t climb a flight of stairs. I need to put an end to what tennis is and to feel what it feels like.” a little active, but that’s the end of everything I’ve been through. Having my last photo with the racket next to Novak is what will stay with me for the rest of my life.

If anyone was worried that Del Potro might get injured again, he said the match wouldn’t be as competitive as their previous encounters. He laughed: “People need to understand that we are not going to commit suicide like at the Rio Olympics or the US Open because my physical condition is no longer the same.”