Former world number three Juan Martin Del Potro has detailed the heartbreaking toll injuries are taking on his day-to-day life.

The 36-year-old played his last professional match in February 2022 after years of battling to overcome debilitating knee injuries.

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The Argentine ace fractured his right kneecap during the 2018 Shanghai Masters and while he made a successful return, he injured his knee again during the 2019 Queen’s Club Championships after slipping on the grass.

The 2009 US Open champion took to social media to share the “never-ending” nightmare he’s forced to endure daily after undergoing eight surgeries.

“Nobody knew this, but the day after I played my last match against Delbonis (in 2022), I took a flight to Switzerland and I had my fifth knee surgery,” Del Potro said.

“Since that, I never made my surgeries public again as I found some peace in the press conference before that match against Federico, telling it would probably be my last match.

“People stopped asking me constantly when I would comeback and play again. I did all this process secretly and if it worked I would announce that I would comeback.

“I was in Switzerland for two months in a village close to Basel trying to rehabilitate and it didn’t work. After two-and-a-half months, I had my sixth surgery. 먹튀검증가이드 I went back to the USA. More rehab, over 100 injections everywhere. Infiltrations … daily suffering. It’s been my life since that match vs. Federico.

“When I had my first surgery in June (2019), the doctor told me I would play in three months. I even signed in for three indoor tournaments at the end of the year.

“After that first surgery until today, I’ve never been able to go up a set of stairs without pain. It hurts many times when I try to sleep, when I turn on my side, or when I wake up because I get these sharp pains.

“It’s like a never-ending nightmare that I’m trying daily to find solutions and alternatives for, but I can’t find them.

“It all started with that first surgery … every time I think about it, it stirs up so much bad emotion; it makes me really angry, very frustrated, but I can’t change it.

“My daily life isn’t what I would like it to be. I can’t play football, I can’t play Padel. It’s terrible. They took me the chance to do what I loved the most, which was to play tennis.

“It’s very tough. There are moments where I have no more strength. I’m not indestructible. I have good things, bad things, but most of the times I have to fake it and put a good face, but many times I feel terrible.

“Every day when I wake up I have to take six or seven pills. Gastric protectors, anti-inflammatories, one for anxiety. Then the pills made me gain weight so they told me to stop eating some things.

“One thing are the stones that can appear in your way, like the injuries that can affect all athletes, but the other thing is the emotional pain. I felt so powerful when facing those obstacles, but after all I understood that I’m not that strong. That knee beat me.