Hours before his first-round match against Novak Djokovic in the Rio Olympics, the six-feet-six-inch tall Argentine Juan Martin del Potro found himself trapped in a dark elevator with no cell phone service. It took 40 minutes for the Argentine handball team to find and rescue him. Later that day, he stunned Djokovic by first defeating him and then sobbing on his shoulder as they embraced at the net. It was a true moment of redemption for the devout Catholic.
Seven years ago, when Roger Federer won the first set in the US Open final, towards the end of a season when his nemesis Rafael Nadal was struggling with injuries, it looked for all the world like the Swiss world No. 1 was going to claim a sixth consecutive title in New York, and become the first player since Rod Laver in 1969 to win the French Open, Wimbledon, and the US Open in the same year. But, under the lights on Arthur Ashe stadium, he faced an unlikely opponent – a 20-year-old Argentine whose gentle demeanor concealed a nuclear forehand. Juan Martin del Potro unleashed his forehand at opportune moments in the match, coming back twice from being a set down, to finally win the title in five sets.
In case anyone needs a reminder about just how big an upset this was, consider this stat: Between the Australian Open championships in 2005 and 2014, this was the only occasion on which someone outside of the Big Four – Federer, Nadal, Djokovic and Andy Murray – had won a major. Del Potro and his forehand had arrived. With Djokovic yet to become the force he is today, Nadal hampered by bad knees, and Murray without a Grand Slam title at that point, many thought that Delpo, as he is affectionately known, would be a worthy challenger at the very top of men’s tennis.
Instead, over the next few years, he found himself sidelined by injuries, first in the right wrist, and then the left one. Forced to undergo multiple wrist surgeries, Delpo missed nearly all of 2014 and 2015. His ranking slipped into triple digits and, not surprisingly, at one point he even contemplated quitting tennis.
Back in the headlines
Fortunately for the tennis world, Del Potro’s retirement plans were postponed. This season, after an interval of nearly three years, he is back to making headlines. At Wimbledon, he upset fourth seed Stan Wawrinka in the second round. And even though he admitted his wrist wasn’t a 100%, and that he faced “a very long road” ahead, his summer was about to get even better.
In Rio, Delpo followed up his victory over Djokovic with one over Nadal in the semi-final, before finally losing to Murray in a close-fought final. The new Olympic silver medallist said, “When I finished the Olympic Games, I felt like it was the happiest moment of my career and my life.”
Now, he’s back in New York for the first time since 2013. Ranked 142 in the world, Del Potro received a wildcard into the Open from the United States Tennis Association. Despite his low ranking, bookmakers have placed him as the fourth favorite to win the title. And despite all his claims about how happy he is just to be back playing tennis, suddenly, the world once again expects more from Juan Martin.
It certainly won’t be easy. Having beaten compatriot Diego Schwartzman in round one, he now faces 19th seed American Steve Johnson in round two. Should he get past that, his potential opponents on the way to the final are Italy’s Fabio Fognini, who took out Nadal last year, or veteran David Ferrer in round three, talented Austrian teenager Dominic Thiem in round four, Nick Kyrgios or Wawrinka in the quarter-final, and Murray in the semis. For someone who readily acknowledges that his matches leave him feeling more fatigued now than in the past, repeating his 2009 performance this year might be a very tall order. But sometimes, winning really isn’t everything.
Sentimental favourite
In the absence of Federer, it is the relatively young Del Potro who has become the sentimental favorite. The soft spoken, unassuming player with the deceptively aggressive groundstrokes admits to feeling very moved by the kind of support he’s been receiving from journalists, players and the spectators. Last week he said, “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.”
Well, Delpo can count on the New York crowd to cheer for him in the next few days. The world loves a comeback. And a comeback by a former champion is especially heartwarming. No matter what the results might be in the next week or so, Juan Martin has already won. Now, all he needs to do is soak up the love, savor the comeback, and avoid elevators.
Oindrila Mukherjee tweets here.