He finds himself in line at the Miami Open to play Roger Federer, the hottest man in tennis. Unfair, perhaps, but Juan Martin del Potro might be the most grateful man in tennis. He just passed the 13-month mark of a comeback marked by so many years and spilled tears that you won't hear him complain about possibly facing Federer in the third round.

There's a good argument to be made even now that del Potro's return to the court in the past year outshines even Federer's in some ways, despite how astonishing Federer looked while roaring to titles in Indian Wells and the Australian Open before that. But Federer's decision to take a five-month break to heal completely from a knee procedure -- the first surgery of his career -- can't compare to the ordeal del Potro went through from 2013 to 2015, when he had three surgeries on his left wrist and one on his right. At times, the Argentine star didn't know if he'd ever play again.

When del Potro finally came back to tennis last February, he still had his power forehand, but his formidable two-handed backhand had been reduced to a whisper of itself. People saw that and wondered how del Potro would survive.

No one more deserving of success than Juan Martin del Potro AP Photo/Mark J. Terril

The answer was del Potro's will, his conditioning and his mind for the game came back as good as ever, even if his backhand still hasn't returned completely. And from July through November of last year, nobody in tennis rivaled the 28-year-old del Potro's story for surprises or raw emotion.

"I started to believe in myself again when I beat [Stan] Wawrinka at Wimbledon," del Potro recently said. "I did a great tournament and something just started to wake up in myself. I started to believe in my game. I started to believe in my wrist."

Even Wawrinka expressed happiness back then for del Potro in defeat. Warwinka said that the other players are rooting for del Potro to avoid going down as a talent who won the US Open at age 20 -- and then saw his career ruined by injuries.

Japan's Kei Nishikori agrees.

"So many of us have so much respect for him, because we've seen what he's been through," Nishikori said.

Del Potro went on after last year's Wimbledon to upset top-ranked Novak Djokovic in an emotional scene, then Rafael Nadal at the Rio Olympics on the way to a silver medal.

He then advanced to the U.S. Open quarterfinals before Wawrinka beat him in a four-set, late-night match that ended with fans refusing to leave and then serenading del Potro so sweetly -- just because he was back -- that del Potro ended up crying.

A few weeks later in London, del Potro avenged his gold-medal match loss in Rio to Andy Murray by becoming the first man to ever defeat Murray on his home soil in Davis Cup singles competition. Their semifinal match lasted more than five hours.

But the best was about to come, del Potro adds.

Argentina had never won a Davis Cup title in its four previous trips to the final, and del Potro played for two of those losing teams. Once in Zagreb for the final with the Argentine team needing him to beat Croatia's Marin Cilic to force a winner-take-all match, del Potro dramatically clawed back to beat Cilic 6-7 (4), 2-6, 7-5, 6-4, 6-3. Until then, he'd never rallied from two sets down in his career to win.

"It was close, but Davis Cup is huge in my country, and when I saw all my Argentine team and fans and I saw the crowd change for me, trying to push me up, I said, 'OK, let's try one more time' -- and that's what I did," del Potro said. "I was sad because we were so close to losing another final."

Told that he certainly didn't look sad at all -- he was nodding and smirking even when trailing Cilic as if he was certain he'd win -- del Potro laughs at himself again and says, "Yes, yes, well, I tried to seem that. But that was a tactic. To show my opponent.

"Myself, I think different," he said, breaking into lopsided grin.

Now look at him. Del Potro is ranked No. 34 in the world, up from 1,035 when he first came back. He beat Federer, Nadal, Djokovic, Murray and Wawrinka -- men who have won 48 majors -- in the past year. But he is not greedy. He skipped the Australian Open to rest and recover from his big finish to 2016.

"I think it was the right decision," del Potro says now. "I had just closed a fantastic year for me, I was mentally and physically exhausted, and I really don't care about the ranking now. I know if I'm healthy, and I play good, I will keep going up the rankings soon. But I need to stay healthy and play as much tennis as I can."