WATCH: Del Potro wins first match in four months at Delray Beach Open

Playing in his first match in more than four months, Juan Martin del Potro made a winning return to the ATP tour with a straight-set victory over Yoshihito Nishioka in Delray Beach on Tuesday night.

The last time Del Potro took the court, on October 11, 2018, he suffered a right knee injury against Borna Coric at the Shanghai Masters 1000 event and retired. But the world No. 4, a champion in Delray Beach in 2011, looked strong in his comeback contest. The first seven games went to the server before del Potro got the first break of the match for 5-3, and he rallied from 15-40 down to close out the set, firing an ace on set point.

After going up a set and a break at 6-3, 3-2, del Potro dropped serve for the first time. The two remained on serve through 5-all before the Argentine broke one last time before serving the match out, 6-3, 7-5.

Del Potro talked about his lengthy injury layoff in his pre-tournament press conference.

“It’s been a difficult time for me because I fractured my knee, but now I’m feeling much better,” he said. “I know how difficult it is to come back to playing tournaments but I’m ready to play again. I know I’ll need a little bit of time to get confidence in my body and my game, but I’m excited to play again.

“I’m not feeling 100 percent yet, because I need to keep practicing with other players and also play a lot of matches, but I decided to start playing again here because I have good memories from the past.”

The Argentine has now started three of his last four seasons in Delray Beach (2016, 2017 and now 2019).

“I love coming back at this event,” he said. “I’ve had great memories here. Lots of fans from Argentina come to see me here, so it’s special for me. That’s why I decided to come to play this tournament.

“I also love to play on hardcourts. When I think about my career, I like to put the surface as a priority. I would’ve loved to come back to the tour in my home country, but I almost feel the same at this tournament because a lot of Argentinian people come to watch, and it’s a good atmosphere for me.”

What inspires del Potro to keep coming back after so many injury struggles over the years? He elaborated on that as well.

“I love to do this,” Del Potro declared. “I’m lucky to have good friends and family who support what I want to do. That’s enough for me to keep trying and working hard at becoming a better tennis player in the future. I’m still enjoying this life. I’ve had tough moments during my career, but when I never expected to reach my highest ranking ever, I did it last year at 29 years old, reaching No. 3.

“For this year I’d like to be healthy for the rest of the season, and hopefully keep surprising myself.”

Next up for del Potro is Reilly Opelka, who’s fresh off his first ATP World Tour title at the indoor event in New York. He's followed that up with a first-round win in Delray Beach over former Australian Open quarterfinalist Tennys Sandgren.

Del Potro and Opelka will be playing against each other for the first time on Thursday.

ATP Rio De Janeiro

• Starting Monday 2/18, at 2:30 pm ET, catch live coverage of the Rio Open featuring Dominic Thiem, Fabio Fognini, and Diego Schwartzman.

WTA Dubai

• Watch Naomi Osaka, Petra Kvitova, Simona Halep and Karolina Pliskova live from the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships starting Saturday, 2/16 at 3:00 am ET

WTA Budapest

• Tennis Channel Plus features live coverage of the Hungarian Ladies Open beginning Monday, 2/18 8:00 am ET

ATP Delray Beach

• Watch Juan Martin del Potro, John Isner and Frances Tiafoe live on Tennis Channel Plus beginning Tuesday, 2/19 at 12:30 am ET.

ATP Marseille

• See Karen Khachanov, Borna Coric and Stefanos Tsitsipas live on Tennis Channel Plus beginning Monday 2/18, 8:30 am ET