Rafael Nadal will need to be on his toes when he takes on Juan Martin Del Potro, one of the rising stars of Argentinean tennis on Tuesday. Haling from Tandil, a town 350km south of Buenos Aires, 18 year-old Del Potro has come a long way to make it onto centre court at Roland Garros.

Juan Martin Del Potro’s love affair with tennis began when he was seven years old. Spotted hitting balls with uncommon venom and accuracy against the wall of his local club, he was persuaded to try his hand on the courts. The rest, as they say, is history, even if it did take three years before Juan Martin was persuaded to give up football and concentrate on tennis.

Under Zabaleta’s wing

"My tennis teacher, Marcelo Gomez, kept telling me my future was in tennis so I took him at his word and knuckled down". Seven years after first picking up a racket, Del Porto was being trained on a friendly basis by another prodigal son of Tandil, Mariano Zabaleta, and won the Orange Bowl 14s title.

By 2006 he had become the youngest player in the top 100 and by early 2007 had reached the semi-finals in Adelaide, won the decisive rubber of a Davis Cup tie against Austria and made the last sixteen in Miami.

"I’m pleased the way he has come on,” says Zabaleta’s former mentor Eduardo Infantino, who has been Del Potro’s coach for the past year. “Juan Martin still has a lot of progress to make, mentally, tactically and physically. We gave ourselves a three-year plan to make him a more complete player."

Wild horse

Already No.58 in the world, “Wild horse” lives up to the literal translation of his surname. Standing 6’4” with long flowing hair he is a striking figure, and already enormously popular among the new generation of tennis fans in Argentina.

The young man is wary of all the attention: "Sure it’s nice when people are talking about you but it does add to the weight of expectation. That comes from knowing people are watching you and wanting you to do well. I play a lot better when I’m relaxed," he argues.

"Juan Martin is still quite shy, but he knows what he needs to do to make it,” insists Martin Urruty, from Argentina’s sports magazine Olé. “He’s ambitious but he keeps his feet on the ground. That’s why he is so well liked by the vast majority of the other Argentinians on the circuit. He was suitably humble when he made the Davis Cup team and that went down very well."

Nadal’s sparring partner

Del Potro has come to Paris in the company of one of his old friends from Tandil, and is enjoying life on the tour. “Things were a little basic in Tandil. I’d always trained at the same club, on the same courts, with old balls, which is no bad thing, because it gives you the desire and dedication to work hard. But then when you turn pro and play on good courts, with great players, it’s brilliant.”

Rafael Nadal is a friend and training partner: "They’re always playing video games together. Juan Martin spends a lot of time with Rafael and his entourage when they are at tournaments", says Martin Urruty. Friend or no friend, Del Porto would obviously have preferred to avoid the reigning champion so early in the tournament. He lost to another former winner, Juan Carlos Ferrero, last year, and was hoping for an easier draw this time around, but according to Infantino at least, "Juan Martin has what it takes to beat Nadal".

"After the French we’re off to play on grass. That will stand him in good stead for the future,” says his coach. He may hail from the country that has given us so many clay-court kings, but Del Porto is actually happier on faster surfaces. That said, Rafael Nadal will need to take care his precociously talented friend does not pull off a shock, and clinch the greatest win of his burgeoning career on Tuesday.