So say the editors of La Nacion in a piece called (via Google translate): The Mysterious Del Potro.

Today, Del Potro has no date for return to play. The tennis world now speaks of something that goes beyond the sport: it speaks specifically of stage fright syndrome.

Yep, the rumor in the Argentine tennis world is that Juan Martin del Potro, who has been out for months while he nurses a case of wrist tendinitis, is having panic attacks. Is last year’s hero’s welcome in his hometown of Tandil after winning the US Open having an unintentional effect? Maybe, says La Nacion, in an article dated April 30th. Or is it maybe, not?:

“There is nothing about it,” (Del Potro’s) international manager Ugo Colombini said yesterday to ESPN Radio about the Tandil man’s mood problems. However, his reference to the future was striking: “We do not know when to return. We hope to return the wrist to 100 percent and then see the calendar.” Details of the injury? None.

A few weeks ago, Rafael Groppo, local manager of Del Potro, told La Nacion an unsubstantiated statement: “The good thing is that we know that the injury is not serious.” Groppo never mentioned something that this newspaper found out and released hours later, which led the player to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, United States, to be reviewed by one of the best hand specialists in the world, Richard Berger, who recommended four weeks of treatment for residual tendinitis. At these times, the player is there again, doing further testing.

The question that arises is: if the injury was not important, why for more than three months is he not playing? Or is the condition in his right wrist actually worse than they say – or something else?

It seems to me that Del Po is simply having a really hard time with his wrist, especially if he’s getting checked out by the Mayo clinic and considering surgery (another rumor.) Super Argentine tennis blog, Fue Buena, which pointed me to the above article, is taking a wary stance on this “story” and the “thousands” of rumors swirling around Del Potro’s condition at the moment. I’ll join the bloggers at Fue Buena in their skeptical stance. If Del Potro, his team and his fans are panicking about anything, it’s about the state of his wrists, not his mind.

I’ll end this story with the kind or tennis gossip I like - via delpotrotenis.com:

While Juan Martin continues with the problem in his wrist and his return is becoming more uncertain, he kills his “anguish” by enjoying the night out as a young man of 21 years. He was dancing in a disco with two girls, yes, two.

Panic, who’s panicking?