'I'm a Grand Slam tennis champion - Novak Djokovic's gesture will stay with me forever'

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

However, the South American will bow out of the sport forever in December, when he faces Djokovic in an exhibition match in Buenos Aires, despite retiring from competitive 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 pair have become good friends over the years, even though they inflicted several painful defeats against each other. Now the final match of his tennis career is firmly on the horizon, Del Potro could not express enough how grateful he is 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 rumours, there was a little 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 incredible conversation. He asked me if it was true about the match, I told him that the only way this could go forward is if he wanted to accompany me that day.

"And he answered: 'Count on me for whatever I can help you with it.' For me, it was very emotional because a guy like him, with the tight schedule he has, with the things he plays week after week, the thousands of offers he has of all kinds, to take a break and come to Argentina for a few hours to be with me and the people, who also love him, was very special."

Del Potro was forced to retire as a result of a career-ending knee injury. It was a heartbreaking way for him to bow out, as he did not get to say farewell to the tennis world.

But the match with Djokovic, which takes place on December 1, will provide him with the moment he craved most. He is even willing to risk hurting his knee again. He added: "I haven't achieved that quality of life.

"I hear stories of people who get a prosthesis and walk without leg pain. But they tell me 'not you because you're 36 years old, and you have to wait another 15 years.' It's a conversation I often have with doctors.

"I tell them 'look, what am I going to wait for, to be 50 to get a prosthesis to walk well from 50 to 70 if today I can't climb a staircase. I need to give closure to what tennis is and feel somewhat active, but this is the end of everything I went through. Having my final photo with the racket next to Novak is what will stay with me for the rest of my life."

If anyone was concerned about Del Potro potentially injuring himself again, he said the match will not be as competitive as their previous encounters. He laughed: "People need to understand that we won't be killing ourselves like at the Rio Olympics or the US Open because my physical condition is no longer the same."