August twelfth, 2009 was a beautiful, sunny Wednesday morning in Canada. Since I was working at the Rogers Cup, I had admission to the grounds and had specially requested Wednesday off so I would be able to go see all the players’ practices. It was undeniably a rich schedule with the most talented players competing throughout the day.
At eleven that morning, a buddy and I walked over toward Court four where the world’s No.1, Roger Federer, was due to arrive at within 30 minutes. Already filled with about several hundred people, there was very little room to move.
As the time approached, the court was packed with people who eagerly waited to get a glimpse of the Swiss Maestro. With the sun scorching at 35 levels celsius, we watched him warm up and start hitting balls. To be truthful, it was quite ordinary and was scheduled to go on for 2 hours.
So, gradually, we squeeze out of the crowd and find an open spot. I look up at Court 4 on the other side to see a tall, skinny competitor dressed in a pink Nike T-shirt and white shorts hitting some balls. I look closer and indeed realized it was Juan Martin Del Potro.
As he came to the exit gate, there happened to be six fans waiting for him to earn his autograph and he did sign. As he wrote on my picture and went on to my friend, I said “I wish you the best of luck in your competition today.”
Del Potro turned to me and had a large grin on his face and said “Thank you so very much for your support.” He seemed to be extremely 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 essentially not a soul was present to watch him and Rog had a ton of people. Every now and then, it is better to be let alone than to be relentlessly followed.
Del Potro played a wonderful game this week and is completely worthy of his championship. Great job!
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