Tennis news - Juan Martin del Potro undergoes knee surgery once again

The Argentine suffered a fracture of his right kneecap at Queen's Club, the Wimbledon warm-up tournament, and admitted that the injury could spell the end of his career.

He underwent surgery to correct the problem and had hoped to return to the tennis circuit before the end of 2019 but has been unable to compete since.

Del Potro is currently sitting out the Australian Open and a statement revealed that his pain was so bad that could not even use stairs at home and that he needed another procedure.

"Most doctors have come to the conclusion that a new intervention in the right knee of Juan Martin del Potro is necessary," a statement read.

"After analysing the options, Delpo trusted Dr Lee Kaplan to perform the surgery scheduled for Monday, January 27th in Miami.

"We hope that this is the definitive solution to eliminate the pain that not only has prevented Delpo from playing tennis, but also making it difficult for him to perform daily activities."

The 31-year-old, the 2009 US Open champion, has had his career plagued by repeated fitness problems since his sole Grand Slam triumph. In 2010, he suffered a wrist problem that saw him drop out of the world's top 250; a second problem to his wrist limited him to three tournaments between February 2014 and February 2016.