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by Pete Bodo
Howdy. The good news for today is that according to the USTA, Juan Martin del Potro is hitting tennis balls again. Can't you just hear those poor fuzzy yellow tennis balls' reaction when Delpo pulls back the pop-top on a plastic cylinder of balls with an audible hissss?
Oh, no! It's Juan Martin! We're going to be living in a world of hurt, boys! Why oh why can't this be...Kimiko Date Krumm or someone!
Of course, the USTA has a vested interest in Delpo punishing Mr. or Miss Wilson, as the tall, long-muscled del Potro is the defending champion at the U.S. Open. This morning, I posted some thoughts on the subject over at ESPN. I'm of the opinion that Delpo is the U.S. Open "X" factor. Whether he plays or not, and how well he plays, could have a decisive impact on the outcome.
After all, Delpo set the parameters for the men who have given Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and others a load of trouble over the past 18 months. In some ways, he made Robin Soderling and Tomas Berdych possible. I have no doubt that those two equally tall, rangy pros took note when Delpo produced his (thus far) career-defining match, that win over Federer in last year's final at Flushing Meadows.
I have to assume that del Potro is burning to defend his U.S. Open title. He's just 21, an age when young men going places don't particularly like sitting back with their feet up. But that's just what del Potro has had to do since he injured his wrist in January. I imagine he remained in shape and has continued to work on his still developing body, but there's no substitute, satisfaction-wise, for playing live matches. Nor any kind of training that prepares you for the real-time stress of competition.
Of course, we're assuming that if Delpo continues to make progress and experience no further complications with his wrist, he'll want to be ready for the U.S. Open. And that almost demands that he play at least one event before the big show in Queens. Or does it?
It's also possible that Delpo is looking at his title defense in New York as the warm-up for his primary goal—helping Argentina, the best nation never to win the Davis Cup, survive the semifinals and thus earn yet another shot at the most coveted team prize in tennis, the Davis Cup. It sounds zany, but that's how it is for some people in some nations. And Argentina is full of proud folks who put a lot of stock in how well their athletes represent the nation.
!96125981 David Nalbandian, one of the most maddeningly inconsistent of all pros, put Argentina in the position to earn another shot at Davis Cup glory with a truly heroic performance on a hard court in Moscow a few weeks ago, when he won both his singles (despite having to skip ATP tour and Grand Slam play most of this year). His straight-sets win over Mikhail Youzhny in the decisive fifth rubber is one of the best clutch performances in recent memory. Once Nalbandian did the heavy lifting, helping Argentina get the Davis Cup monkey off its back became a realistic possibility for Delpo and company. And I believe that's a piece of unfinished business that means a great deal to this group of Argentine players. You don't have to take my word for it; Delpo himself has said that his goal is to be ready for the Davis Cup semis. Note that he said nothing about defending his U.S. Open title, although I assume that's on his to-do list as well. But not in the top spot.
Remember, here's this little matter of atonement in play, too—another incentive for Delpo to make a contribution in the semis, and for Nalbandian to build the rest of his year around this singular mission. For Argentina's loss to Spain (which was without Rafael Nadal, and thus a heavy underdog) in the 2008 final, in Guillermo Vilas' hometown of Mar del Plata, was nothing short of a disaster for the baby-blue-and-white.
Granted, del Potro had just turned 20, and while he was already 4-1 at the time in Davis Cup singles, and coming off his breakout run (he won four consecutive tournaments, two on clay and two on hard, leading up to the 2008 U.S. Open), the occasion seemed to overwhelm him. Rampant rumors of silly bickering and turf wars on the Argentine side made the failure against Spain seem that much more embarrassing, and had to leave a bad taste in the mouth of the Argentine players.
Argentina will go to France for the semis, and that's by no means a gimme tie. But the French are likely to choose a hard-court surface and an indoor arena (an enclosed space only increases the unnerving effect a home crowd has on a visiting team), and that plays as much into the stylistic strengths of Delpo and Nalbandian as the French one-two punch of Gael Monfils and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.
But Tsonga is a big question mark—in more ways than one—for the French. Even if he overcomes his injuries and can play, he just doesn't seem like Davis Cup timber. Tsonga is erratic, for one thing (so is Nalbandian, but much less so in Davis Cup), but more important, he doesn't seem have the kind of focus and stamina that seem so valuable in Davis Cup. Would you trust him in a five-set, no-fifth-tiebreaker format, on clay? And would you trust another singles player, besides Gael Monfils, to step up and challenge the veteran Nalbandian and a fit and eager del Potro?
If Argentina gets by France, it gets to host the winner of the Czech Republic vs. Serbia semi. Just a year ago, Argentina lost a squeaker to the Czechs, 2-3—through no fault of Delpo's. He won both of his singles, but Juan Monaco was overmanned and Tomas Berdych and Radek Stepanek proved too tough in the doubles for Leonardo Mayer and Jose Acasuso. This time, the Argentines would host, so even if recently-married—and recently injured—Stepanek is in the mix, Argentina will be the favorite.
Should Serbia beat the Czech Republic, Novak Djokovic and company would also have to travel to Argentina for the final (the two teams haven't met since 1964, when Serbia was still part of Yugoslavia, and a 5-0 winner at home over Argentina). Again, you have to like Argentina's chances in that one, although Djokovic is the only top player who still seems to have Delpo's number. He's 3-0 against Delpo, but they haven't played since Rome in 2008, back when Delpo was still wet behind the ears.
The upshot is that Argentina has a great chance to redeem itself and secure that first Davis Cup final win, and my feeling is that Juan Martin del Potro really wants to be a part of that. I know that Nalbandian, as he approaches the twilight of his career, does.
So as far as del Potro is concerned, maybe we'll be looking at the U.S. Open as a tune-up tournament for the Davis Cup semifinals. It's just crazy enough to be possible, which ought to make many of the contenders more focused on the final major of the year breath a little easier.