Will Juan Martín del Potro Usher In a New, Younger Generation of Tennis Greats?
In 2009, the Argentine player was primed to lead a youth movement in men’s tennis and shift the demographics of the game. It didn’t happen, but he may have a second chance this year.
Nine years ago, the 20-year-old Juan Martín del Potro vanquished Roger Federer, then 28, in the U.S. Open men’s singles final for his first and only major title. Their five-set thriller, a seesaw affair that spanned more than four hours, still holds up as a U.S. Open epic and one of the great Grand Slam stunners. More significant even than to Rafael Nadal in the Australian Open earlier that year—a result that brought Federer to —the 2009 U.S. Open defeat by del Potro caught the G.O.A.T.in the middle of a 41-match winning streak. What’s more: Federer was one victory away from becoming the first man since Bill Tilden in 1925 to conquer Flushing Meadows six years in a row.
