Juan Martin Del Potro Arrives

Gentle giant Juan Martin Del Potro continued his rapid ascent to new heights Monday, defeating Roger Federer in five sets for the U.S. Open championship and Del Potro's first Grand Slam singles title.
Del Potro's charge up the ranks began last summer when he won match after match in the second longest winning streak (23) on the men's tennis tour ever, a streak that was broken only in the quarterfinals of last year's U.S. Open by Andy Murray. Del Potro continued to rocket up the men's rankings since then, reaching the semis of the French Open earlier this year and now winning his first U.S. Open. Not many players can say they've beaten Nadal and Federer in the same tournament, and I can't think of anyone else who can say it in a Grand Slam. But Nadal and Federer may have to get more and more used to losing to Del Potro.
Yes, Federer has had a phenomenal year by any measure, winning half the Grand Slams singles titles in one year and getting to the finals of the other two is what, I believe, most would call an incredible year. Getting to 22 Grand Slam semi-finals in a row is unbelievable, if not downright gaudy. But at 28, Federer is getting relatively old for a tennis champion, even one as great as he has been, and Del Potro rather than Nadal may be the next great champion. Del Potro's game certainly is much easier to sustain than Nadal's grinding style, which made the six-time Grand Slam champion look as though he'd worn himself down as much as his opponents in this year's tourney.
As for the women's side, Kim Clijsters doubled her Grand Slam singles championships by stepping away from the court for a few years, having a baby and playing with her daughter instead of tennis on the days between matches. Somehow it seemed right that Clijsters would become the third woman ever to win a Grand Slam singles event as a mother. She's always seemed to have a mother's sweetness, even for those who hardly seemed to deserve it. Clijsters came back not just more fit, but much more mentally sharp, perhaps no longer caring too much about winning because she had everything in much better perspective.
Her opponent in the finals, Caroline Wozniacki, may have lost the finals, but she had an impressive showing at this year's U.S. Open and in her first Grand Slam finals. Her winning calmness on the court and greatly underrated backhand suggest their are even greater tournaments ahead for his young player. It will be interesting to see if she continues her own rapid ascent up the rankings.
As for victorious Americans at this year's U.S. Open, the Williams sisters won the women's doubles and Carly Gullickson and Travis Parrott won the mixed doubles. Winning two out of five events isn't half bad either. If Serena and the tour can get past her unfortunate outburst on Saturday, Venus and Serena could continue to bring something really special to the game and not just singles events--greater interest in doubles, in addition to team tennis. And who knows, if they entered more Grand Slam doubles events and Serena doesn't get an outsized suspension, they might even threaten to win four Grand Slam doubles titles in 2010.

Obvious Solution to Serena's Outburst

In a profane outburst that nearly obscured the fact that she'd simply been outplayed, Serena Williams delivered a tirade at someone misguided enough to serve as a linesman at the U.S. Open in a performance not seen at the U.S. Open since the retirement of superbrat Johnny Mac.

Yes, Serena deserved the boos from a crowd that saw her lose her mind first-hand after the linesman called foot fault on a second serve at a crucial stage of the match. No, Kim Clijsters didn't deserve an end to a Grand Slam match as ugly as anything since Justine Henin defaulted to Amelie Mauresmo in the finals of the Australian because Justine couldn't accept the fact that Amelie that day was the better player. And yes, Serena and Venus were the only players this entire U.S. Open who I saw get called for foot faults. And calling someone for a foot fault at that stage in the match definitely was questionable. That of course did not excuse Serena's behavior. Or make the fact that she'd been outplayed completely vanish.

But, folks, there's an easy solution to this kind of debacle. Let shot spot, or some electronic equivalent, be available to players when a call like this is made, so they can use one of their challenges to question it, and have the peace of mind to know that at least a wrong call wasn't made. Had shot spot been available, Serena might have simply challenged the call, glared at the linesman if she had been wrong and moved on.

Now it's Clijsters who moves on to the finals against rising star Caroline Wozniacki. And here's a relief, both the finalists seem as down-right nice on the court as Serena seems off it.

American Invasion at 2009 U.S. Open

The USTA must be feeling pretty good about its tennis program right now, because this has been the best Grand Slam event for U.S. tennis in ages. Count 'em: not just Andy Roddick and James Blake, but five American guys have made it to the round of 32 in the men's singles draw, including victory lap specialist Taylor Dent, giant John Isner, upstart Jesse Witten, and perhaps the player with the brightest future of them all, Sam Querrey.

And the women's side isn't looking too shabby either with Venus and Serena Williams propelling forward extending their amazing successes into their second decade of professional tennis (Venus turned pro in '94, Serena in '95), Vania King making it to the round of 32 before losing and giant-slayer Melanie Oudin. And does Oudin ever have game.

The Bryan brothers have some countrymen in the doubles' draw--Robert Kendrick, who's playing with wacko Janko Tipsarevic from Serbia--and two more American doubles teams: Jesse Levine and Ryan Sweeting as well a Kaes van't Hof and Ryan Harrison. In the women's doubles, Venus seemed pretty iffy for her doubles match with Serena since her grimacing in obvious pain last night made it apparent that her legs are from 100 percent and she'd be well-advised to rest up for her upcoming battle with the delightful comeback story of the year: Kim Clijsters, perhaps the nicest competitor and champion ever, maybe even nicer than Venus.

And the mixed doubles as a fair amount of bearers of the stars and stripes forever too, including Liezel Huber, Jill Craybas and Eric Butorac, Bethanie Mattek-Sands, Carly Gullickson (exactly how many Gullickson tennis pros are there?!) and Travis Parrott, and perennial champ Lisa Raymond. And I'm probably leaving others out.

Yes, some of the Americans are playing doubles with folks from other nations because tennis is perhaps the most global professional sport on the planet. And the legends remaining in the draw like Nadal and Federer and I suppose even Serena's alter-ego, Maria Sharapova (fellow grunter and competitor extraordinaire on the court, valley girl off), bring a special flair to this year's U.S. Open. Can't wait to see who wins!

Who knows, maybe the winners will include a few Americans.