An Athlete’s Benefits of Having Few Fans

August twelfth, 2009 was a beautiful, sunny Wednesday morning in Montreal. Since I worked at the Rogers Cup, I had admission to the grounds and had specifically requested Wednesday off so I could go see all the professionals’ practices. It was really a rich schedule with the most talented players competing during the day.

At 11 that morning, a friend and I headed over toward Court 4 where the world’s top ranked player, Roger Federer, was expected to arrive at 11:30am. Already jam packed with about a few hundred people, there was hardly any room to move.

As the time approached, the place was filled with people who anxiously waited to get a glimpse of the Swiss Maestro. With the sun soaring at 35 degrees celsius, we watched him warm up and we saw him hitting balls. To be honest, it was somewhat ordinary and was scheduled to last 2 hours.

So, gradually, we squeeze out of the crowd and find an open space. I glance up at Court four on the opposite side to see a tall, skinny competitor clad in a pink Nike T-shirt and white shorts pounding a few balls. I look closer and indeed came to see it was Juan Martin Del Potro.

As he arrived at the exit gate, there had been six people waiting for him to earn his autograph and he did give them out. As he signed my picture and went on to my pal, I said “I wish you the best of luck in your competition later.”

Del Potro turned to me and had a large grin on his face and said “Thank you so much for your support.” He seemed to be really happy about what I had told him.

As he won yesterday, the irony of this scenario just came to my mind. The fact that essentially not a soul was in attendance to root for him and Rog had a ton of supporters. Sometimes, it’s better to be left alone than to be relentlessly followed.

Del Potro played a wonderful match this week and is entirely worthy of his championship. Great job!