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Del Petro
Couple of months back, common opinion said that Juan Martin del Potro was not good enough to stay with the big five. Such ideas have been sent to hibernation. Having caused the biggest upset of the tennis season by halting Federer’s sixth consecutive attempt at the US Open, Del Potro is clearly a threatening prospect in contemporary men’s tennis. Not only is he not going to relinquish his number five ATP singles ranking anytime soon, he is also looking at bettering upon it. Depending on how he does in Shanghai, Juan could be knocking at the door of Murray’s number four slot.
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Rankings should be the least important of things on Juan’s 2009 agenda. He started the year by winning at Auckland, and followed it up by reaching the quarter finals of the Australian Open. There, he got demolished by Roger Federer and a lot of people questioned his drive and potential to succeed. Juan kept insisting he just needed time, and he was right.
A few months later he reached the semi finals of Roland Garros. He again fell to Federer, but this time it was in an epic five setter. Del Potro struggled at Wimbledon and was upset in the second round by an unstoppable Lleyton Hewitt. By this time he had gone up to number five in the world, but heading into the hard court season where he had points to defend and prove. He defended the Legg Mason Classic, beating Andy Roddick in a pulsating three setter, and moved rapidly onto Toronto. Here he lost to Andy Murray in another tight three setter final.
Del Potro made the decision to pull out of Cincy, sighting fatigue. This turned out to be one of the smartest decisions in his career. Well rested and confident, Juan Martin stormed through his US Open draw, crushing Rafael Nadal on his way to the final. Here, he met Federer once again. This time, the man was ready. He came from two sets to one down to post the biggest win of his career. Juan Martin del Potro beat Roger Federer to claim the US Open title. Tennis had a new champion!
He lost early in Tokyo to a qualifier, but was clearly battling fatigue and injury. Though del Potro is clearly feeling the physcial and emotional strains of his amazing season, wins in Shaghai or London would probably boost his ranking. If he could finish inside the top four this year and hang onto it till Australian Open, del Potro’s draw would be far more favourable than a five seeding would be. Of course, he probably doesn’t want to be thinking this far ahead. Nobody wants to put too much pressure on the young man.
DelPo, as I like to call him, is now 21 years old and only seems to be improving. Having won a Grand Slam title should give him a lot of confidence to carry on with his style of play. His game looks decent though he plays a power-game from the baseline. Of course he may look more gracious if he learns to volley well. If you are looking for an X factor in DelPo, his sense of judgement, anticipation and timing of the baseline shots put him in a different league. And to top it all, the composure he has shown for someone his age, pushes him a notch ahead of Novak and probably even both the Andy’s.
Juan Martin has had the season of his life this year. The future only looks brighter.
