Woodbridge: Fearless del Potro a title contender

Looking at his tournament so far, Juan Martin del Potro’s tennis is at a pristine level – he’s not lost a set. And when you look back at the last few tournaments it’s very similar. For instance, take Wimbledon. You thought ‘he won’t go deep’ but he played really well. I thought that he played extraordinary tennis at the Olympics. And at the US Open he’s been incredibly good again. He’s had quick matches, so he has had the ability to be ready for the next one throughout the last 10 days.

I don’t think he has any pressure on him at the Open, either. I think that, at this stage of his career, it is like having the second chance that he didn’t necessarily expect to get because of all the injuries. So he’s almost free-wheeling through the tournament, with the attitude of ‘I’m here, I’ve had experience, I’m good enough and I’m going to let the opportunity happen.’ A lot of times you watch a player who has been working hard or who has great expectations on themselves, they really tighten up. I don’t see that happening with him now.

I think that he will beat Stan Wawrinka. I’ve watched a few of Stan’s matches this week and he is inconsistent. He is playing good tennis, but he’s not playing sets of good tennis. They are interspersed with lots of unforced errors and loose points. Del Potro, meanwhile, has been incredibly efficient, tight and clean. I think because of his situation, he understands how to win efficiently without putting too much stress on himself.

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If he can beat Stan, I think Murray will be his hardest match. Murray will bring the physical element to the game. For him to beat Murray, I think he has to do that reasonably quickly or in short sets. Even if it goes five, the sets need to be quite condensed on the time clock.

I really think that he has a chance of being the third one – at the outside – to win the US Open. You look at his game, where it’s at, and who is left in the field – that’s how good I think he is right now.

If we fast forward a year… the biggest question is whether he can stay injury free. If he can, he could make Top 4. Unfortunately, when you look at a lot of players’ careers, the ones that get injured have a body make up that seems to mean injuries re-occur. That will be his biggest test: not how high he can go, but whether he can stay injury free to be able to perform at those levels. If he does, when we talk about the next guys to win a Major, he puts himself in front of players like Raonic and Nishikori.

Realistically he’s had, what, twelve months of tennis since he won the US Open [in 2009]? Each time he has bounced back well, which is testament to the quality of player that he is. It would be great to have him back at the top because the quality of his tennis is so great to watch.