(UPDATED) Juan Martin del Potro readies his return to the ATP World Tour

Juan Martin del Potro is preparing to make his comeback to the ATP World Tour after undergoing wrist surgery back in May. *cheers*

According to a statement released by the USTA the U.S. Open champ will be in Flushing Meadows to defending his title. Now, there hasn't been confirmation from his camp so I wouldn't be too quick to assume the 21-year old will be there. It could be a wait-and-see situation from all sides.

Delpo, though, has confirmed he will be competing at the Thailand Open, alongside Rafael Nadal, which begins on September 27. "I am looking forward to playing the PTT Thailand Open on my return from injury," he said. "I really enjoyed myself on my last visit to Bangkok and hope for good results at this year's tournament."

Believe me, I would be ecstatic to see Delpo at the U.S. Open but the USTA may be hedging their bets in the hopes they can get him in full health by August 30, the start of the year's final major.

We'll see. *everything crossed*

P.S. - Anyone have a spare ticket to Bangkok they'd like to throw at me? Just askin'.

UPDATE: I guess the USTA is really, really intent on pushing the story of Delpo's likely return to the tour in defense of his U.S. Open title. Via Tennis.com:

The USTA's announcement that Juan Martin del Potro will try to defend his U.S. Open title is no fantasy: The Argentine is already hitting, according to USTA spokesman Tim Curry. USTA officials have kept in contact with del Potro, who had wrist surgery earlier this year. At this point, his wrist is healing ahead of schedule.

But mega-blog Fue Buena, who happen to be based in Buenos Aires, had something different to say in response to tennis scribe's corresponding tweet about the USTA claim:

Intrigued, much? It seems there are a few things happening here. As I mentioned above, the USTA would love nothing better than to have the defending champ at the tourney for obvious reasons. No one wants the biggest headline of the days leading up to the U.S. Open to be his absence. Pretty empty stuff.

On the other hand, Delpo's team probably wants to keep all the options on the table for the slim chance their boy actually recovers in time to play at Flushing Meadows. It's hard to imagine that scenario since he just tweeted about his continuing recovery only last week and has mentioned nothing yet about a return to training. And then he's supposed to enter a defense of a Grand Slam? With the U.S. Open a little over a month away, he'd be coming in on a wing and a prayer.

But stay tuned.

[Photo(s): Zimbio]