Juan Martin del Potro -- A Deserving Champion!

By Sandra Harwitt

I didn’t want you all to think I’ve just sailed off into the sunset not to be heard from again. This would not be true, although I doubt I will write on this blog every day. But the aim is to keep it alive and fresh as best as a (serious, not street-walking) working girl can do. And as a fair warning, it will not always be about tennis. It’s just that tennis has been the big focus of late.

Anyway, I hated giving short shrift to Juan Martin del Potro in his first Grand Slam victory as he deserves more than a few kudos for the kick-ass job.

Here are the stats on Senor del Potro: He’s the 51st man in the Open Era of tennis to win a Grand Slam title and the 11th to be inaugurated into the Grand Slam Champions Club with a win at the U.S. Open. He became the 22nd different U.S. Open champion since the Open Era commenced in 1968. (Arthur Ashe was the first to win the Open Era title, which was his first Slam title as well).

Del Potro went home with $1.6 million as prize money and $250,000 for the U.S. Open Series bonus pool for a grand total of $1.85 million to bank back in Buenos Aires. (And no, my paycheck for the U.S. Open will not rival Juan Martin’s, which leaves me very disturbed as you can imagine.)

The Argentine was the third consecutive player to reach their first Grand Slam final at the U.S. Open – Novak Djokovic (2007) and Andy Murray (2008) failed to pick up their first Grand Slam trophies on the occasion. Djoker won his months later at the 2008 Australian Open and Murray, who has been talked up way more than del Potro is still waiting.

Del Potro, who moved from No. 6 to No. 5 in the world, picked up his seventh career title with the victory and expect him to see that tally increase dramatically.

The big question is will that tally increase in Grand Slam prizes or will he be a one-slam wonder?

I think at only 20 this guy exudes a lot of talent and is destined to win more majors in his career. What makes the 6-foot-6 Argentine intriguing is he’s not your typical clay court comfortable South American player. The Grand Slam he’s least likely to win is the French – it’s hard for a giant to get that slide on slippery dirt down. But I can see him winning in Australia, and I can see him working his way to a Wimbledon title.

His tactic at Wimbledon would likely have to be different than at the U.S. Open where after two double faults to hand Federer the third set, he became gun shy and pulled back on his serve. He was able to rely on his lethal forehand to fulfill his dream of winning the U.S. Open. At Wimbledon, I think he will need to keep that serve going on the grass. And there is the issue that the ball bounces lower as it skids off the turf, so he might have to be practicing his bending down to the ball ability.

In the Open Era, the only definite One-Slam-Wonder winner from the U.S. Open was Manuel Orantes in 1975, which bodes well for del Potro coming up with at least another major title in his career.
For those of you who are just about now screeching the name of 2003 U.S. Open ANDY RODDICK – hang on a minute. He’s still playing, so while I think his chances to win another Slam are diminishing – he did have the Wimbledon trophy on his strings this year – I’m not ready to count him out yet. Remember: If you’re in it, you can still win it!

As mentioned above, the big watch was on Andy Murray – Mr. Number Three in the World. He was going to be the next outsider breaking into the Roger Federer-Rafael Nadal hold over the Grand Slams. Sometimes the expected doesn’t pan out as in this case.

Murray needs to find a way to last through the maze of a Grand Slam – seven matches in 14 days. This is proving to be a struggle. As talented as he is, he just doesn’t seem to yet have the mental and physical strength to put it together over such a long period of time.

Maybe now the country around him can't cutback on the pressure they put on him. My advice to all the well-meaning Brtions is to lay off a bit and let him work it out without the constant fanfare that doesn’t appear to ever die down. It’s not always good to come from an eager, desperate-for-a-champion country.

But for now, it's all about Juan Martin del Potro!