Del Potro's first half of the season was hampered by injuries and a change of coach, starting with a first-round loss in Adelaide, where he was the seventh seed. He then made it to the second round of the Australian Open in January, only to retire against David Ferrer due to an injury. Del Potro returned to the circuit in March, winning his first match against Jesse Levine at the Sony Ericsson Open, before losing in the second round to López. Struggling with injuries, his ranking fell as low as no. 81 in April. "At the start of the year, I was playing good, but I had many injuries, many problems with my body, with my physique", said del Potro. "I changed my coach, changed my physical trainer, I changed everything."