US Open Day 15: del Potro Stuns Federer in Five, Cries for Argentina

Men's Final:

Juan Martin del Potro ARG (6) def. Roger Federer SUI (1) 3-6, 7-6(5), 4-6, 7-6(4), 6-2

I knew it would be a close match, but I thought that when the going got tough Federer would get going, and del Potro would just get tired. 

But the opposite happened.  As the final moved into its fifth hour, del Potro played his best tennis while Federer looked listless.  del Potro broke Federer twice, hitting 108 mph forehands and playing more aggressive, assertive tennis in the moments that counted most.  del Potro, who had never been on this stage before, was the fearless player when it mattered most.  And on del Potro's third championship point, pummeling Federer as he had so many times before in the match, he finally forced an error from Federer's backhand that floated long, giving him the first grand slam title of his career. 

I went over in my prediction for the final what Federer could have accomplished by winning this title.  While the list is not nearly as impressive for del Potro, there are still a few milestones del Potro achieved by winning his first grand slam title:

• At 6'6'', Juan Martin del Potro becomes the tallest man to win a grand slam singles title, breaking the previous record held by 6'5'' Richard Krajicek, who won Wimbledon in 1996.
• del Potro is only the second south American to win the US Open, after Guillermo Vilas did it in 1977.
• del Potro is the first player outside the top four to defeat Federer at a grand slam since the US Open in 2003, when he lost to #12 David Nalbandian.
• del Potro becomes the first player ever to defeat Federer and Nadal at the same event
• del Potro joins Novak Djokovic as only the second first-time grand slam winner since 2005, the only two to break through the Federer-Nadal duopoly in the last nineteen grand slams.
• del Potro becomes the first player since fellow Argentine Gaston Gaudio to win a grand slam without having won a Masters Series event.

With his loss in the finals, Federer completed his set of grand-slam runner-up plates, becoming the only active player with all four.  Makes for some nice dinner party flatware, to be sure.

But Federer shouldn't be throwing any parties any time soon.  del Potro played well, but Federer was nowhere near his best.  He missed 50% of his first serves, a number more associated with his opposite number in the WTA, Dinara Safina, than with the player almost universally agreed to be the greatest of all time.

And for the second time this year, he won only two games in the fifth set of a grand slam final.  When it came down to the wire, it simply looked like del Potro wanted it more.  It's an incredible statistic, because Federer has never been a player with questionable desire.  Did breaking Sampras' record for most grand slams soften his resolve? Does he feel like Nadal has been taken out of the picture in his battle for supremacy, leaving him with little to prove? Does he feel so badly about Roddick's loss at Wimbledon that he promised to let younger finalists have their moment once in a while? Only time (and an eventual Federer autobiography) will tell.