US Open 2009: Juan Martín del Potro wins first grand slam

US Open 2009: Juan Martín del Potro defeats Roger Federer to win first grand slam
By Mark Hodgkinson in New York

On an astonishing afternoon and evening in New York City, Juan Martin del Potro, a 20 year-old from Argentina, won his first grand slam title by coming back from two sets to one down for a five-set victory over Roger Federer in the US Open final.

It was the first time since 2003, when Del Potro was just 14 years old, that Federer had lost a match on the cement courts at Flushing Meadows.

In years to come, this will be remembered as the 'Hawk-Eye Final’, as the occasion when the video technology got to Federer, with the Swiss even using a four-letter word during an exchange with the umpire about how Del Potro was using the computer.

Okay, it wasn’t quite up there with Serena Williams, but this is Federer, and it was a bit like hearing the Pope swear. The distractions over Hawk-Eye hardly helped Federer, who had been hoping to become the first man to win six successive US Open titles since Bill Tilden in the 1920s. Tilden never had to deal with Hawk-Eye. And he probably also didn’t have to deal with a 6ft 6in opponent who, for most of the match, was s

What a tournament for Del Potro, who had demolished Rafael Nadal for the loss of just six games in the semi-finals. On his first appearance in a grand slam final, and after more than four hours of tennis, Del Potro completed a 3-6, 7-6, 4-6, 7-6, 6-2 victory over an opponent who has won 15 slam titles.

If Federer had his way, everyone in tennis would poke a giant finger in 'Hawk-Eye’. The world No 1, a tennis traditionalist bordering on a tennis Luddite, has never liked the line-calling technology, and he would have liked it even less after a challenge deep in the second set had a huge effect on how the match played out. Until the intervention of the computer, Federer had looked almost as relaxed as someone sitting in Central Park reading the 'New York Times’ and sipping an iced coffee. A raised heartbeat? Federer appeared to have all the stress and angst of someone playing in an exhibition, not a grand slam final.

At 5-4 in the second set, Federer served for a two-set lead, and at 30-0 everything seemed to be going his way. At 30-30, Del Potro struck an outrageous forehand down the line. The linejudge called the ball out, giving Federer a 40-30 lead in the game and a set point. But Del Potro challenged the call with the Hawk-Eye technology, and the replay on the video screen indicated that the ball had, indeed, hit the outside of the line. So Federer’s set point was taken away from him. Federer was not convinced that the computer got this one right, and he went back to inspect the 'mark’ on the side of the line. Whatever Federer’s complaints, he was 30-40 down, and Del Potro took his breakpoint with another forehand winner down the line. There was no argument about that one. Suddenly Del Potro was a different player, suddenly he was swinging at his forehands.

Del Potro’s forehand was hugely effective in the tiebreak; that was the shot that the Argentine used to win the 'breaker’ 7-5. With the help from the computer, Del Potro was, for the first time, in the match. In the third set, Federer complained to the umpire, Jake Garner, that Del Potro was taking too long to decide whether he was going to challenge a call or not. When Garner seemed to suggest that Federer should stop complaining, the microphones picked up the Swiss telling the official: “Don’t tell me to be quiet, okay? When I want to talk, I’ll talk. I don’t give a s*** what he said.”

This was very different to how the match had looked in the opening stages. In the second game of the match, Federer hit an outrageous forehand winner to break. For most of the first two sets, it hardly mattered that Federer didn’t always play his best tennis, and his serving numbers weren’t as impressive as usual. If Federer was at ease on the New York cement, Del Potro plainly wasn’t at the stage. The watching John McEnroe remarked that the South American was“freaking out”. He hardly looked like the same player who had beaten Nadal so easily the day before. Then came that Hawk-Eye challenge deep in the second set, and the match changed. Del Potro had his chances to win the third set, as he led 4-3 with a break. But Del Potro dropped his serve, and then again at 4-5, when he hit two double-faults at 30-30.

The fourth set was decided on a tiebreak, Del Potro winning it 7-4. The first break of the fifth set went Del Potro’s way, for a 2-0 lead. And Del Potro broke again for the set, the match and his first slam title.winging at everything on the forehand side.