FENDRICH ON TENNIS: Federer loss to del Potro fitting ending to surprise-filled US Open

Simply 1 surprise after another at wild US Open

NEW YORK — Any chance he got, on TV and on the Web, Juan Martin del Potro wanted to watch replays of Roger Federer’s last shot sailing out to end the U.S. Open final.

It was as if del Potro himself could not quite believe that he is now a Grand Slam champion — or, perhaps, could not quite believe that Federer had failed to win his sixth consecutive title at Flushing Meadows and 16th major overall.

“I still feel chills,” the del Potro said Tuesday, a day after his startling 3-6, 7-6 (5), 4-6, 7-6 (4), 6-2 comeback victory over Federer. “I can’t explain with words.”

That pretty sums up the way this whole, wild U.S. Open went.

Seeing Federer clutching the runner-up’s silver tray under his left arm Monday night, a blank expression on his face, while del Potro’s big silver trophy was a few feet away, stood as only the latest of a series of extraordinary images from the past 15 days:

—Serena Williams’ finger-pointing, profanity-laden tirade at a lineswoman;

—Kim Clijsters’ 18-month-old daughter, Jada, cavorting on court, posing for a horde of photographers, after Mom won the U.S. Open;

—The word “Believe” stamped on the sneakers of Melanie Oudin, the 5-foot-6 17-year-old from Marietta, Ga., who knocked off Maria Sharapova and others on the way to the quarterfinals.

One of the reasons we follow sports is because of their unscripted nature: You might think you know who’s going to win — and you might think you know what’s going to happen — but you never really know.

Even del Potro and his coach, Franco Davin, acknowledged Tuesday that they didn’t exactly arrive in New York convinced that a championship would be the end result.

Not this year, anyway.

“I won’t say we prepared for this U.S. Open planning to win it,” Davin said. “We came to the U.S. Open with a chance.”

Del Potro, who rose one spot to No. 5 in the rankings Tuesday, won’t turn 21 until later this month and had never won a Grand Slam semifinal before this tournament. It was only on Sunday, as the Argentine was powering his way to a 6-2, 6-2, 6-2 victory over Rafael Nadal, that del Potro really began to think about what he was getting quite close to accomplishing.

This, he said Tuesday, is what was running through his mind during that match: “If I beat Nadal, maybe I can win the tournament.”

Maybe.

In addition to earning his first major title, and giving himself a ton of confidence moving forward, what del Potro might very well have done is inspired other young players to believe that they, too, can break up the Federer-Nadal dominance.

Until Monday, Federer and Nadal had combined to win 17 of the previous 18 Grand Slam titles, a streak they started at the 2005 French Open. In that span, Federer and Nadal played each other in seven of those major finals.

Yawn, said some.

And then there was this: Heading into Monday, Federer was 2-5 in those Grand Slam finals against Nadal, and 13-0 against everyone else, a list that includes Andre Agassi, Andy Roddick and Lleyton Hewitt.

But del Potro went out and proved what can be done.

First he handed Nadal the worst Grand Slam loss of the Spaniard’s career.

Then, the very next day, del Potro wore down Federer.

“Rafa, we’ve had some epic ones, sure, great ones over the years,” Federer said. “Who knows? Maybe del Potro is going to join that as well.”

It’s the sort of development that might make players such as Andy Murray or Novak Djokovic or Jo-Wilfried Tsonga take note.

“Maybe other players lost some of their (awe) for Federer and Nadal,” Davin said.

Then he paused and pointed out: “Still, you need to play very well to win against them. You need forehand, backhand, serve, everything. If you have one shot that’s no good, you can’t beat them.”

Del Potro did beat them, one right after the other.

“Two unbelievable matches,” del Potro said. “An amazing tournament.”

He was talking about his performances.

He might as well have been talking about the whole event.