Juan Martín del Potro, who has lifted the 2017 US Open out of the mire with one heroic performance, is now expected to do it all again when he meets Roger Federer in the quarter-finals on Wednesday, and that is asking a lot of the ailing Argentinian with the big game and even bigger heart.
If Del Potro, still struggling physically, somehow rises to the occasion a second time in three days, and if he repeats his win over the No3 seed that delivered him his only slam title here in 2009, he will have to ride the love of the crowd who roared him on to his impossible victory over Dominic Thiem on Monday night. It is asking a lot for a Federer opponent to win over the fans, but “Delpo”, who has that gentle-giant mien, a kind face and unbending will, might just do it.
If the No24 seed does, he will own this tournament. He has done it before. He was just 20 then, long before his left wrist gave up on him, and he was still wondering if he should have pursued a career as a footballer. But he beat Rafael Nadal and Federer back to back when they were at the zenith of their powers. Nadal was unbeatable on clay and Federer was the master of the other surfaces, arriving in New York as not only a new father to twin girls but Wimbledon champion.
The five-set final, in which Del Potro showed early signs of his fighting spirit to grind down Federer over four hours and six minutes, was their last confrontation in the Arthur Ashe Stadium. As they acknowledge, much has changed in eight years. But this is a culture of dreams, of impossible challenges and unlikely triumphs. Americans almost demand a Hollywood finish to their sporting jamborees, and they might yet get one.
The odds are impossibly long for Del Potro. He took three hours and 35 minutes to subdue Thiem after winning only three games in the first two sets, and he resembled a blood-drained zombie at the end.
But he has the love of the crowd, and that is an incalculable factor. “I think the people love my effort to come back,” he said. “They know what I have been through with my wrist problems. They like a guy who never gives up. I was thinking to retire in the middle of the second set because I couldn’t breathe, I couldn’t move well.”
He said the turning point arrived when he broke quickly and took the third set in 31 minutes to keep the match alive. “I started to see the crowd. I took all the energy from the fans. That’s what I did in the end.”
Federer, meanwhile, could hardly have had an easier preparation: he did not face a break point in the hour and 49 minutes it took him to dismiss the disappointing Philipp Kohlschreiber, his serve in a groove with 11 aces among 39 clean winners.
That stroll completed a hat-trick of awesome statistical proportions: Federer has stretched his career domination over Mikhail Youzhny to 17‑0, 13‑0 against Feliciano López, and 12‑0 over Kohlschreiber. That’s 42 matches unbeaten against three of the sport’s most accomplished operators.
Nevertheless, he struggled at times against Youzhny over five sets, having also gone the distance in the first round against the young American Frances Tiafoe, stirring concerns that the back pain that struck in the Montreal final against Alexander Zverev last month and then kept him out of the Cincinnati Masters remains a concern.
Federer revealed he had treatment to his back in the locker room during a brief interlude in his demolition of Kohlschreiber, and did his best to downplay the seriousness of it afterwards. “I just ran straight to the physio. I was done in three minutes and back again. I didn’t want Philipp to wait. It was more precaution. It’s all good. No problems there. I’m not worried about it.”
All that said, they will now drag themselves back to the main stage convinced they can overcome both their own problems and their opponent. But this will not be a match similar to their 2009 final. As Federer outlined, with precise analysis, “We’re different players today.”
He observed: “We both play differently. Because of his surgery, his backhand has changed. He uses his slice much more. Just alone because of that, the game would be different. And I’m playing more aggressive, as well, on the return. I play shorter points. I don’t use my slice as much, whereas he does now. It’s a bit of a change.
“We played each other in Miami [in March, when Federer won 6-3, 6-4], so I did get a sense of how it is to play him now. But the forehand and the serve is still identical, in my opinion. He maybe even creates more power now, just because years went by, better technology has come around. I think we’re both more laid back today. It won’t be a final, it will be a quarter-final. Obviously there’s not as much riding on this match like it was in 2009.”
Fans might not see it like that. Those are memories to cherish, part of the game’s history. What they crave now is more drama. As will the tournament organisers and the host broadcaster. From day one, they have all had their fingers crossed that the men’s draw – after the late withdrawal of Andy Murray, added to a missing roster that included the defending champion Stan Wawrinka and last year’s losing finalist, Novak Djokovic – would not disintegrate.
As much as it has been intriguing to see the rise of unfamiliar contenders – especially on the seriously weakened bottom half of the draw which was left with quarter-finals of Sam Querrey (17) against Kevin Anderson (28) and Pablo Carreño Busta (12) against Diego Schwartzman (29) – any major sporting event needs its stars.
None shines brighter in the New York firmament than Federer, who has missed only one quarter-final here since his first here in 2004 and has been champion five times. They love him as much as anywhere across the sport. But they embraced Del Potro with equal enthusiasm on Monday night. It will be a love-fest.
