My Encounter With Del Potro

August 12th, ‘09 was a bright, sunny Wednesday morning in Canada. Because I was working at the Rogers Cup, I got access to the grounds and had specially requested Wednesday off so I could go check out all the players’ practices. It was indeed a loaded draw with the best ten in action throughout the day.

At eleven that morning, a buddy and I walked over toward Court 4 where the world’s No.1, Roger Federer, was set to arrive at within 30 minutes. Already filled with about several hundred people, there was very little room to move.

As the time approached, the place was packed with people who anxiously waited to get a glimpse of the Swiss Maestro. With the sun scorching at 35 levels celsius, we watched him loosen up and we saw him hitting balls. To be honest, it was pretty ordinary and was supposed to last 2 hours.

So, gradually, we move outside the crowd and find an open space. I look up at Court 4 on the far side to see a tall, lanky player dressed in a pink Nike T-shirt and white shorts pounding some balls. I look closer and indeed came to see it was Juan Martin Del Potro.

As he came to the exit gate, there had been six people waiting for him to have his signature and he did give them out. As he wrote on my picture and proceeded to my pal, I told him “I wish you good luck in your match today.”

Del Potro turned to me and had a big grin on his face and claimed “Thank you so very much for your support.” He seemed like he was very happy about what I had said to him.

As he won yesterday, the irony of this scenario just entered my mind. The fact that essentially no one was in attendance to root for him and Federer had a ton of supporters. Sometimes, it’s better to be let alone than to be constantly followed.

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

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