Positivo

INDIAN WELLS, CALIF.—When can you say a player is back, like really back? One clue may be his ability to look at a high forehand coming toward him, extend his racquet all the way back behind his head, power straight through and hit it with the most fearsome whomp you’ve ever heard when a ball hits a set of strings, and watch it laser down the line and touch down in the corner of the court for a winner that his opponent may or may not have seen.

This is what Juan Martin del Potro did in the middle of a superbly played and highly entertaining first set today against Alexander Dolgopolov. The Argentine had been sharp from the start, the sharpest I’ve seen him since he’s made his return. He had his forehand measured; it wasn’t rushed, it wasn’t wild, it wasn’t short—that’s just not fair to an opponent. In the second game, del Potro put two forehands at Dolgopolov’s feet. He hit them easily, didn’t try to crush them. But they still caught the Ukrainian off guard. Trying to carve his famous egg-shaped slice backhands, he caught two of them late, dumped them in the net, and was broken in a hurry.

Del Potro has spent the lion’s share of every press conference he’s done this season asking a variation on one question: “How is your level?” He’s been cautious about sounding too confident so far, befitting someone who has spent so much time on the sidelines. There must be a point where you really do feel lucky to be playing tennis at all, and you’re just waiting for something to go wrong again. This was the first match I’ve seen of del Potro’s when he didn’t appear to hesitate in any way.

“I’m very calm with my level,” he said after his win over Ivan Ljubicic this weekend. “I’m improved since San Jose and Memphis, and I’m working on my serve and my forehand. That’s my game. And today it works perfect, I think.” If anything, both his serve and forehand were better today. Aside from the well-measured deep ball and the full swat with gusto, del Potro was sharp when he was backpedaling to his left and hitting the forehand inside in. More than just about any other shot, this one requires him to be moving well. When he can tip-toe backward in time to snap one of those shots into the corner, or take his opponent’s best crosscourt forehand and wrong-foot him with an even harder forehand back crosscourt, it’s a very good sign.

The emotional del Potro is calm at the moment, but his opponent, Dolgopolov, started out today a little too calm. From the evidence of the first game, I thought he was going to go out and tank this one. He was lined up and ready to serve his first point well before the chair umpire had called “play,” and he did a sleepwalk through the first three games. His backhands were landing in the bottom of the net and his forehands were flying long. The SRO crowd that had begun the match with a buzz had gone silent.

But this is the way with the free-spirited and easygoing Dolgopolov. By the middle of the set, he had gotten his legs, as well as his serve and forehand, under him, and he built from there. He’s known as an unpredictable player among his colleagues, and it can take him awhile to get all of his many shots working, and working in concert with each other. When he does, though, when he’s cupping returns, side-carving his backhand down the line, and buggy-whipping his forehand short and crosscourt, there’s nothing quite like it in tennis. From 3-5 until the first set tiebreaker, it was full flight Dolgopolov: He had all of these shots working and a few more, including one I haven’t seen from him. On occasion, when he’s digging out a forehand in front of him, he’ll sweep under it and send it back with reverse sidespin. Today he was face to face with del Potro at the net. Del Potro drilled a high volley at him; against nine-tenths of the world, he would have won the point. But Dolgopolov came up with a punch-volley version of the sweep forehand I just mentioned. It was as if he caught the ball on his strings for a second before sending it back. I’m not sure if he won the point, but I know I’ve never seen a shot like that before.

So is Dolgopolov a Murray-like contender or a Santoro-like trick shot artist? He’s caught in between at the moment. He may have too many options, and need to take a few out of the rotation. He owns at least three backhands (it could be up to six; I’ll have to count the next time I see him), depending on how high he takes the ball. The coolest one, the sliced-egg crosscourt, is the one he falls in love with too often. He had del Potro tied up with it at certain points today, but Dolgopolov’s drive backhand is too good for him not to hit it when he has the chance.

As a junior, Dolgopolov was pure Santoro, and by firming up his forehand and serve he’s gone a long way in the direction of Murray. His mother was a gymnast, and the son is light on his feet—he really does appear to be in flight when he's playing well. Like all gymnasts, though, there’s also a degree of difficulty issue with Dolgopolov’s game at the moment. It’s hard to pull off for long periods of time, and hard to do twice in one match. When his best didn’t get him through the first set, he couldn’t conjure the magic again the second. Dolgo’s coach, a leathery, longhaired, cigarette-smoking Australian character named Jack Reader, was sitting in the dining area after the match. An Italian player came by and asked how it went. “Positivo . . . negativo,” Reader answered, covering both sets in a word. Then he added, as the player walked away, “You know, tennis.”

Credit for the negativo, of course, goes to del Potro. At 4-2, 30-30 in the first, he put the clamps down with a very good second serve and then an ace. In the tiebreaker, he upped his pace on a couple of serves and forehands and rushed Dolgopolov into hitting the ball long. By the end of the second set, it was del Potro who had it all going. In the last game, he hit the only shot I haven’t seen him hit yet—I mean really hit, with all the old del Potro gusto—in his comeback, his famous running slapshot crosscourt forehand that no man on earth can catch up to, even the Dog man at his quickest. When del Potro is hitting that consistently, he won’t just be back, he’ll be winning tournaments. Like Indian Wells.