NEW YORK: The arc lights illuminate a long-limbed, black-clad Argentine – Juan Martin del Potro – whose threshing machine of a forehand proves too powerful for Roger Federer in the US Open final. It remains one of the shocks of the century, and a victory that could so easily have turned the “Big Four” into a “Big Five”.
But Del Potro got injured – and not just once. A year later, he had surgery on his right wrist. Then the trouble spread to the left one, which generates the power and topspin in his double-fisted backhand. He missed virtually the whole of the 2014 and 2015 seasons, returning to the operating theatre three more times. It is only in the last few months that he has begun to carve up opponents with something of his old elan. “It’s like yesterday for me,” said Del Potro, when asked about his 2009 US Open win. “You live in great moments in this tournament, at this city, at this stadium. Now I don’t know what could be the next step for me.
“Six months ago I was not even playing tennis. I had been close to quitting for the last year. So it doesn’t matter if I’m top ten, top 50 or top 100. When I get on the court and see the crowd, hear them cheering for me, it’s amazing. I don’t care about the rankings or winning the tournament.”
Now standing at No. 145 in the world, Del Potro needed a wild card from the US Tennis Association to enter the main draw here. You wonder whether he is ready for a fortnight of best-of-five-sets tennis. But anyone who saw him eliminate Novak Djokovic in the first round of the Olympics, and then push Andy Murray close in the final, will understand why the bookmakers are listing him as fourth favourite for the title. “For me, the whole Olympic Games was like a dream,” said Del Potro, “When I saw the draw, my goal was to try to make a good match against Novak. I just didn’t want to go out of the court quick against him. Then I beat him playing amazing tennis. It was like: ‘OK, I can do this again, after my three surgeries.’
Wrist operations are the growth industry of modern tennis. Polyester strings favour players who generate huge racket-head speed via a snap of the wrist – the opposite of John McEnroe’s immaculate presentation of a vertical face all the way through the stroke. These men and women are effectively cracking a whip, a thousand times or more, almost every day of the year. “I spoke to Novak a few days ago and he knows all my wrist experience,” Del Potro explained. “I spend three or four hours a day of treatment on my wrist and I talk to my physio about wrists, about shoulders. I could be a doctor one day.”
Now that he is once again mixing it with the elite, there is a sense of freedom. He has no coach, and no expectations, which makes him one of the hardest opponents to work out. How do you apply pressure to a man who is delighted simply to be hitting balls again?