tennis, he enjoys playing association football and supports the Boca Juniors team in Argentina and Juventus in Italy. He would often dedicate time to both sports during his youth, and Argentine-Italian international footballer Mauro Camoranesi, who grew up in the same town, remains a close friend of del Potro. Del Potro began playing tennis at the age of seven with coach Marcelo Gómez (who also coached Tandil-born players Juan Mónaco, Mariano Zabaleta and Máximo González). Del Potro's talent was discovered by Italian ex-tennis professional Ugo Colombini, who accompanied him through the initial phases of his young career, and is still today his agent and close friend. When questioned about his ambitions in tennis he replied, "I dream of winning a Grand Slam and the Davis Cup." Despite refusing to participate in the Davis Cup several times, he has since achieved both goals. He is a Roman Catholic. Tennis career Junior years Del Potro played his first junior match in April 2003 at the age of 14 at a grade 2 tournament in Italy. As a junior in 2002, del Potro won the Orange Bowl 14s title, beating Marin Čilić en route to a victory over Pavel Tchekov in the final. In 2003, at the age of 14, del Potro received wild cards to three ITF Circuit events in Argentina, where he lost in straight sets in the first round of each. As a junior, del Potro reached as high as No. 3 in the combined junior world rankings in January 2005. Junior Grand Slam results - Singles: Australian Open: A (-) French Open: QF (2005) Wimbledon: 2R (2004) US Open: 1R (2004) 2004–2005: Early career In May 2004, del Potro won his first senior match, at the age of 15, at the ITF Circuit event in Buenos Aires by defeating Matias Niemiz. He then went on to lose in three sets to Sebastián Decoud in the second round. His next victory came over five months later against the Chilean Álvaro Loyola in a tournament in Antofagasta. Later that year, del Potro reached the quarterfinals of the ITF Circuit event in Campinas, Brazil; recording victories over Henrique Mello and Alessandro Camarço. Del Potro won two more matches before the end of the year and saw his world ranking rise from no. 1441 in August to no. 1077 in November. He also reached the finals in the Argentina Cup and Campionati Internazionali