This wasn’t part of the script. A perfect year for Tennis fans, one that brought back memories from the past, and while we revelled in those bouts of nostalgia, we longed for something new at the US Open, a Federer-Nadal match up, which had somehow found a way to elude the tennis fraternity for all these years.
Rafa Nadal got the job done in the morning, beating Rublev in convincing fashion and it was upto Federer, to overcome his 2009 US Open demons and beat Del Potro, to set up what every tennis fan all over the world was hoping for(except Del Potro and his fans), a Federer-Nadal semi final.
But the ‘affable’ man of Tennis, Juan Martin Del Potro was trying to script his own story, a story that comprised of struggle, agony, hard work and jubilation.
Having beaten Federer in the 2009 US Open final, Juan Martin was ready to unleash himself on the tennis circuit, ready to up his game and ready to elevate himself amongst the tennis elite. But a recurring wrist injury meant that he couldn’t take his career to the next level, having to cope with stop-starts all through, and thus never really being able to cement his place amongst the best in the tennis world.
But he kept knocking on the door, trying to break through, trying to make a mark on the tennis world once again.
The match against Thiem showed his resilience. Down and out in the first two sets, it seemed as if Del Potro could once again depart after showing a lot of promise, but he hung in there, the fighter that he is, rallied hard and came back from two sets down to set up a repeat of the 2009 US Open final against Federer.
And today was all about Del Potro.
He kept Federer on his heels, unleashed his monster forehand all through and jumped on all of Federer’s missed opportunities.
Federer’s game was more or less there today, but what was missing was his killer instinct, something that has helped him to so many titles over the years.
Set points in the third set for Federer, and it felt like he would get his revenge on Del Potro tonight, but he just couldn’t close it out, missing his opportunities on the net(after using the chip return) repeatedly.
De Potro was finally able to serve it out in the 4th, winning it 7-5, 3-6, 7-6(10-8), 6-4.
Here is how twitter reacted:
https://twitter.com/weronikabeltran/status/905643869756198913
https://twitter.com/ourmaninatl/status/905644572943855616
