My Encounter With Del Potro

August 12th, '09 was a beautiful, sunny Wednesday morning in Canada

. Because I was working at the Rogers Cup, I got admission to the grounds and had specifically asked for Wednesday off so I would be able to go check out all the players' practices. It was really a rich draw with the most talented players in action throughout the day.

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

As the time neared, the place was filled with people who enthusiastically waited to get a glimpse of the Swiss Maestro. With the sun scorching at 95 levels fahrenheit, we watched him loosen up and start hitting balls. To be frank, it was moderately unexciting and was scheduled to last 2 hours.

So, gradually, we squeeze outside the crowd and come to an open spot. I glance up at Court 4 on the opposite side to see a tall, skinny player clad in a pink Nike T-shirt and white shorts pounding a few balls. I look closer and in fact 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 autograph and he did give them out. As he wrote on my picture and proceeded to my friend, I told him "I wish you good luck in your competition later."

Del Potro turned around and had a big smile on his face and said "Thank you so much for your support." He seemed like he was really happy with what I had said to him.

As he won yesterday, the irony of this situation just came to my mind. The fact that basically not a soul was present to root for him and Rog had a ton of supporters. Every now and then, it is better to be let alone than to be persistently followed.

Del Potro played a marvelous game this week and is totally worthy of his championship. Well done!

by: Chase Bromley

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