When he made the finals of the Rogers Cup, I was pleasantly surprised and wanted to know more about him.Before he effortlessly cruised through the early rounds of the US Open, I picked Del Potro to face Roger Federer in the final.
When he beat Nadal to fulfill my prophecy, I was starting to like the guy a lot!
And when he outduelled the five-time reigning champion, I fell in love with him.
Think about it. A young, 20 year old, baby-faced Argentinian stud ousted the best player to ever step onto a tennis court. It took 5 sets and just over 4 hours, but Del Potro did it and he did in style. Though I never really expected him to put up much of a fight, I couldn't help but cheer for him towards the end of the match.
And to be honest, I didn't think he had a chance until that 4th set tiebreak, when Del Potro got the crowd roaring with several forehand winners and took the tiebreak convincingly, 7-4.
But you know, as much as I love this young kid from Argentina, my favourite player is still Roger Federer. He was the class act once again, in congratulating Del Potro on his first Grand Slam title. I think now that the pressure of the 14th and 15th titles are off his shoulders, Federer is playing much more relaxed and it showed in his acceptance speech. This time, he didn't shed a tear.
At the beginning of the year, I predicted that Nadal and Federer would share the year's 4 Grand Slams. Federer got the two he wanted, but Nadal's nagging injury kept him from adding more trophies to his mantlepiece. Next year, I think we'll see a whole new dynamic in men's tennis. There are 6 major players-Federer, Nadal, Murray, Djokovic, Roddick, and now Del Potro who can serve it up any day and win a major.
That should make 2010 an enthralling year!
-D
Photo credit: Olev Volkov
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