Sport – Del Potro wins US Open

Erin Bruehl
Monday, September 14, 2009

Juan Martin del Potro did what many thought unlikely, if not improbable.

He dethroned Federer as the US Open champion, ending his five-year reign as the King of Queens, in a come-from-behind 3-6, 7-6 (5), 4-6, 7-6 (4), 6-2 victory for his first major title.

It was the first five set men’s final since 1999, when Andre Agassi defeated Todd Martin and one of the biggest US Open upsets in recent memory with the No. 6 seed defeating the 15-time Grand Slam champion and world No. 1. It was also del Potro’s first career victory over Federer in seven matches.

Del Potro, just 20 years old, became the second Argentine in history to win the US Open, joining Guillermo Vilas, who won in 1977. He certainly earned it, taking out six-time Grand Slam champion Rafael Nadal in straight sets in the semifinals before defeating Federer in the final.

He collapsed on the court on match point and with tears in his eyes he took the trophy, completing the dream of winning his favorite tournament.

“When I lay down to the floor, many things come to my mind,” del Potro said, referring to his reaction on match point “First my family and my friends and everything. I don’t know how I can explain, because it’s my dream. My dream (is) done. It’s over. I will go home with a trophy, and it’s my best sensation ever in my life.”

“It’s too early to explain. Maybe tomorrow, maybe next week I will be believing in this,” del Potro said.

The last time Federer lost at the US Open was back in 2003, also to an Argentine, David Nalbandian.

Federer entered the tournament as the favorite to win six in a row after a fantastic summer that included completing the career Grand Slam with his first Roland Garros title, setting the all-time Grand Slam record with his sixth Wimbledon title and playing some of the best tennis of his career. He also defeated del Potro in the semifinals of Roland Garros in five sets and in straight sets at the Australian Open.

“It was tough luck today, but I thought Juan Martin played great,” Federer said. “I thought he hung in there and gave himself chances, and in the end was the better man.”

“Five was great, four was great, too. Six would have been a dream, too,” Federer said of his US Open run. “(You) can’t have them all. I’ve had an amazing summer and a great run. I’m not too disappointed just because I thought I played another wonderful tournament. (I) had chances today to win, but couldn’t take them. It was unfortunate.”

In the first set of the match, it seemed improbable that the match would go the distance as Federer seemed fully in control and del Potro came out struggling due to nerves of playing in his first Grand Slam final against the five-time champion.

Federer was doing everything well, except serving, in the opening set and much of the second. Del Potro also struggled with his first serves early and also seemed to not be moving well around the court. The Swiss was sharp with his shots early, mixed them up well and continued to be aggressive coming to net where he was dominating points and also never faced a break point.

“The beginning of the match I was so nervous, I can’t sleep last night. I don’t take a breakfast today. That’s part of the final,” del Potro said. “But Roger start very good. I start little down. I was bad with my serve, and that’s (an) important weapon of my game.”

The tide of the match seemed to turn in del Potro’s favor during the second set. The set actually moved forward with Federer up a break and ahead 5-3, despite still serving uncharacteristically poorly. Del Potro held to pull to within 5-4 but was still struggling with errors throughout the set.

For the match, Federer converted just 50 percent of his first serves and had an unbelievable 11 double faults to just 13 aces. In contrast, he hit 50 aces in his five-set Wimbledon victory over Andy Roddick. He also had 62 unforced errors to 56 winners; in comparison del Potro had 60 unforced errors to 57 winners.

Federer took the ball to serve and at 30-30, del Potro hit a passing shot that the linesman called wide. The Argentine challenged the call and Chase Review showed he was in fact correct, the ball just clipped the side of the line, making the score 30-40 in his favor. Federer continued to disagree with the spot of the ball and the fact the call was overruled seemed to disrupt his play for the rest of the set.

“I see the ball landing, I see the ball hanging, and then it’s called in,” Federer said. “I mean, I should have made the difference earlier so I’m not in a position where a challenge like that is gonna make a difference.”

On the next point, del Potro rocked another passing shot for his first break of the match and to bring the set back on serve. The set moved to a tiebreak and at 3-all, Federer sent a wild shot high and long for a 4-3 del Potro lead that he never relinquished and he was now the one dictating the pace of play.

“I got off to a pretty good start, and had things under control as well in the second set. I think that one cost me the match eventually. But I had many chances before that to make the difference,” Federer said.

For del Potro, it was a small turning point.

“When I broke his (Federer’s) serve for first time, I start to believe in my game,” he said.

And a different del Potro then seemed to surface in the third set as he moved around the court much better and hitting his powerful forehand with lots of authority. In contrast, while Federer’s serve percentage went up slightly, his shots and placements were not nearly as precise as they were early in the match.

Federer went down a break in the third at 4-3 but was immediately able to break back and then in tenth game won the break and the set when del Potro double faulted on consecutive points. But the Argentine kept fighting.

“When I won the second set, I think if I continuing playing same way, maybe I have chance to win,” del Potro said. “But after, when I lost the third set, I start to think bad things. It was so difficult to keep trying to keep fighting. But one more time the crowd and the fans helped me a lot to fight until last point. I think I have to say thank you to everyone for that.”

In the fourth set after the double faults, del Potro repeatedly took speed off his powerful first serves, which reached as high as 138 mph at one time early in the match, relying on his forehand to win him big points. His first serve percentage increased, ending at 65 percent. In the tiebreak, del Potro once again took the lead at 5-2 and did not look back.

Del Potro took the ball to serve first in the fifth set and after holding, broke Federer with a passing shot to take the lead and held his ground, never being broken in the set and winning the match with a break in the eighth game when Federer hit a shot past the baseline.

And there was officially a new King of Queens.

Arthur Ashe Stadium – Men’s Singles – Finals

Roger Federer SUI (1) 6 65 6 64 2

Juan Martin Del Potro ARG (6) 3 77 4 77 6

Match Statistics Serve Statistics

– Juan Martin del Potro finished third in the Olympus US Open Series, increasing his prize money at the 2009 US Open.

– This was Juan Martin del Potro’s first Grand Slam finals appearance.

– This was the fourth meeting of the year between Juan Martin del Potro and Roger Federer and the first win for del Potro.

– This was Roger Federer’s seventh straight appearance in a Grand Slam final.