I was looking for something to read about Del Potro but I couldn't find anything among this olympic fever. Thanks, nice piece.

There was a match this weekend???

No really. There was?

Roddick = Hewitt. Simple as that. They never had more than one weapon each (tenacity for Hewitt, serve/fh combo for Roddick), so of course, any younger player emulating their styles would, could do it better, a nd their times in the light have likely passed. What did it mean for Hewitt? Did the marriage come first, or the descent from the elites? Whichever, Roddick is on the same path anyway, so it doesn't matter.

Good for Del Potro, though I don't know really what this says (meaning Roddick is no Nadal, Djokovic, Federer, etc). Great win though.

Steve, thanks for this column. I have been following Del Potro for a while though and it seems like his rawness is finally beginning to come off.

One thing that used to frustrate me about him was that he could seem sad and/or mopey on court. Part of that could have been his frequent injury problems- but it seemed like for the second half of 2007 and first part of 2008 he was not enjoying himself on the court. His mentality now seems much improved- I give kudos to his new coach.

One big weakness for Juan Martin on Sunday was his volley skills. But I have seen him beable to reach down and hit some pretty nice volleys in past matches- so I wonder if that will be an area that he can maybe improve and become more consistent. With his height, reaching low will likely never be easy- but I do think he could do better at net than he did yesterday.

Andy Roddick was much more dangerous when he let his
forhand fly. Between his brother and Dean Goldfine (and possibly
Jimmy Conners, to some extent) his handlers have blunted his power
terribly. He is a top 20 player now, nothing more. That makes me sad because, at one time, I thought of him as the next-best-thing for American tennis. Now he is an also-ran. Disappointing...

Oh no! Roddick is becoming the Michael Chang (thankfully, not the Tim Mayotte) of U.S. tennis!

I think Roddick is a lot better than Chang was. I just hope this strategy of the Olympic skip helps him make it back to the USO final. But losing in the tournament built for his game is not a good sign, but it is better than Roddick losing early in a tournament - let's face it, finals are better than second round exits.

As for the Del Potro kid: I think he is pretty much symbolic of the new guard in tennis, which is not afraid of Federer/Roddick/Davydenko/Robredo/Gonzalez/Blake/Safin/Ljubicic (and throwing in Lopez, Ferrer and Verdasco for good measure, even if they havent tasted enough grand slam semifinals yet, maybe they'll do some more damage, who knows) - of the older members of the top 10 & top 20. Nadal and Djokovic are certainly the elite of this very young generation of threats to the top ten (as #1 and #3 in the world - they rule both kingdoms right now at 22 and 21 years old) but it seems that Murray, Berdych, Gasquet, Monfils, Del Potro, Gulbis, Cilic, Baghdatis - all are either ready to pounce or pouncing with authority now. Perhaps that is not quite right to say with Wimbledon having just featured Safin, Federer, Nadal, and Schuettler, basically 75 percent veterans of the tour. But with these recent results, maybe it is the changing of the guard?

It is unsettling but we may have moved into the new era already. I dont think the old guard is going to step aside and yield so easily, but life for them as veterans, with relatively few easy victories out there, must be getting harder or at least more complicated, and that includes injuries. When Roddick is playing at his best, few can stop him, but it seems to me that he hasn't been there, at his best, the 2nd half of the year. He is back in not sure what to do land, and Roddick in not sure what to do land is not the best place for him.

I appreciate mR.Tignor's analysis. It's very good and though I dont know if Del Potro's victory really makes him a legitimate us open threat because his stamina has been questionable, if he is knocking out seeds, he automatically becomes a legitimate danger to anyone he faces, seed or no seed. Before someone would probably eek out a win. But since he's playing well, now that result is in doubt.

We shall see! As Roddick would say, the potential there. But it has to be backed up out there. As Agassi would say, it's not as easy as phoning in the results.

Steve:

Nice article and a truthful portrait of what happened yesterday.

It is hard to know what the future will bring to Del Potro, but from the tennistic point of view he has all the tools, a good forehand, an excellent backhand, descent movement, good hands, a good serve, he is skillful at the net also, and now an improved mentality. The only downside is his body prone to injury, too thin, too tall.

It seems that his new coach is an asset for him. For those who do not know his coach is franco Davin, Gaudio´s former coach.

Joel, even though Roddick is not one of my favorites you have to acknoladge that he did (and is still doing) pretty well. End year number 1, a grand slam, several master series, davis cup. Not bad in my opinion. I think he indeed was the best next thing for American tennis the problem is that you americans are spoiled by all the great champions you had in the past.

I was at the Countrywide Classic and saw both Del Potro's semi and final matches. I'm not sure you can tell on TV how absolutely cleanly he was hitting the ball on both sides, how fast and hard his groundies were, and how well he moved. The crowd, who had been itching to root for Roddick, was pretty much stunned by how well Del Potro was playing, though he'd obviously made some new fans by the end. From what I heard, this guy's always had talent, but didn't know what to do with it - but if he can keep it together like he did in LA, he's going to be a force to be reckoned with.

I thought that this was going to be the year of Roddick, but he hasn't been the same since Rome. And how promising the future looked as he stepped on the court with Stan Wawrinka, until he delivered one of the most painful looking serves I've ever seen. Darren Cahill might have been right at Cincinatti when he said that Roddick should take the fall off to retool his game.

As for Del Potro, I'd never been impressed with him until this weekend. When I saw him play Djokovic at the US Open I thought, what's so special about this kid? I've reassessed my opinion after watching him dismantle Mardy Fish. It looks that physically and technically Del Potro has added a bit of muscle to his game.

Oh , noticed that you changed this article's heading. Wasn't it Juggernaut Of Followers....or something like that.

Given all Roddick's troubles in the last few months, should we really be surprised that a guy with Del Potro's game would throw him off course? This was hardly Rod at his best.

That takes nothing away from DP's accomplishments this summer. It's going to be really interesting to see what he does at the Open.

I have very little to add to this, Steve. And I agree that some questions were answered, but not nearly all. However, this recent run of form on Delpo's part reminds me a lot of what Djokovic did in 06. After Wimbledon, he stayed in Europe and played Amersfoort (a tournament where he got an iPod as a trophy. This year they upgraded to a giant monstrosity), and made the final of Umag, where he retired after nearly passing out on court (he was playing an entertaining final against Stan the Man).

At any rate, that was important because that's when Djokovic started to learn how it is that you win. Matches he had done. Upsets, he had done a couple. But he hadn't been in a final, and he hadn't won a title. Winning is important, no matter where it happens.

What Delpo has won puts him rightly into the top 20. It's like a videogame: you win an ATP match, you pass to the next level. You create an upset, you pass to the next level. You win a little title, you pass to the next level. And so on, and so forth. It gets more and more difficult, and the end-of-level bosses get meaner and meaner.

Sometimes it feels like the game is endless, and sometimes it seems like the final level is clear. But at least it's good that you start passing levels early.

Please spell "faze" correctly--"phase" has a completely different meaning.

Juan butchered his share of volleys at the net but when he needed to execute the volleys in the tiebreak, he did in winning the breaker and the match easily. Juan may be the next of the wave of him, Gulbis, and Cilic. We may know the answer to that next wave question at this time next year.

Andy did good in making a final this week rediscovering that he can do more than serve mphs. Also, he got some much needed matches in recovering from his shoulder issues. Think he will be fine for the USO.

Andy Roddick's backhand seems designed to give his opponent rhythm.

Nice pece, Steve. Much food for thought there.

I am becoming more and more convinced, as the world's top players grow in stature and gain in speed, and the service boxes get smaller and smaller (figuratively of course, while the baseline and sidelines seem to be expanding once the ball is in play), that the drop-shot serve will become a tool just like any other.

I remember Chang in his 1989 Roland Garros title run, hitting an underhanded drop-shot serve to Ivan Lendl in the fourth round. I also remember about 10 years ago when Greg Rusedski clocked the fastest serve yet recorded by the radar gun -- 149 mpd -- and watched it come right back at him by Andre Agassi, I bleieve, losing the point in the process. Now Roddick sees his 140+ mph serves routinely returned and often with a big swing at the ball from his opponent.

The obvious evolutionary answer is to see the service box as any other part of the court, and to use all cominations of shots to carve up that space and make it difficult for your opponent to get a bead on your serve and smack a winning reply.

Look at badminton and table tennis, squash and racquetball, where serves are routinely hit short and softly, just beyond the net or nestled into a corner. It won't be too long before players realize that this tactic can be a highly effective way to keep a speedy or rangy opponent with a deadly return from gaining the upper hand at the start of the point.

Steve-

What amazes me the most about this new generation of players is not only how much they are willing to learn but how quickly they absorb the lesson and apply it with amazing transition from one match to the very next. The best example to me? Djokovic. I have not seen anybody -Nadal included- that learns and applies -executes- the new knowledge that fast.

slice : I have been thinking that would be the only way the fed can hope to hold his serves better on clay against rafa.

slice : I have been thinking that would be the only way the fed can hope to hold his serves better on clay against rafa.
In my view, people dont have to do it often, just showing your opponent that you are going to throw it in if they backup too much behind the baseline, will act as a deterrent to those who stand 20 feet behind the baseline and help fed/others gain a few free points on the serve, which makes a big difference to serve games held and overall confidence.

Nice thought slice. I just think there's such a big stigma to a soft serve that it will never really catch on.

Personally, I use the variation in pace a lot in my matches. I usually begin a match with fast, flat first serves. My opponent usually responds to that by backing up on the first serve. Later on in the match I occasionally give them very soft spinny second serves even on the first serve. They are very effective as it totally throws off the returner's timing. This probably won't work on the pro tour where everyone's timing is so good.

federerfan and IPOAB,

Thanks for your comments/input. I agree that (1) it's not likely to catch on easily, and (2) it would be a tactic, just like its sister, the drop shot, that would be used sparingly, except against the terminally slow or the numbskulled clay-court "specialist" who insists on stading 10 feet behind the baseline to return serve.

Come to think of it, it would work great against Andy Roddick!!! LOL

>But with these recent results, maybe it is the changing of the guard?

Wasn't this what they were saying two years ago, when Federer was turning, goodness, 25 and Djokovic & Murray were up and coming?

Didn't you say all this stuff-size, backhand power, versatility-about Safin a decade ago? Look what happened to him. And the game hasn't changed that much from his presence

How many times can we trash Roddick? He has a boring game and his macho act is really getting old. I agree with Cahill but Roddick will continue to hang with his usual entourage of brother and others shills fading into tennis history with his one major & one Davis Cup. He knew he would be outclassed in China and took the easy way out. What a sad state of American mens tennis.

Roscoe Roddick

Yes, definitely another young man to watch.

I watched Del Potro in the semis here in LA. Good composure, Fish had nothing on him... however, Fish pushed too hard and never looked comfortable.

I agree the dubious Roddick 'injury' was a bit obvious - even when ESPN went in the stands to interview Roddick's brother he had nothing to say about it... didn't even attempt to make up a fair story to convey the injurt his brother was dealing with pre-match...

I liked del potro's forehand - sure, it's a tad loopy but when he connects it's a beautiful stroke. Also, watching him return Roddick's serve was definitely impressive; this is an interesting development from the younger player(s) and I agree he is part of the new wave of up and comers in the game...

The only thing I will say about Roddick is the fact that it was his first day match in the tournament - previous matches were all during the day... but even so the courts here in LA are quite slow for hard courts...

thanks for the article, a great read!

Portro won in Washington today, good for him, he's really talented!

Speaking of kids... I was at the qualies of Legg Mason last Sunday and watched Donald Young and Junior Ore (a local 15 yr old - yep, 15!) play a practice set. With lots of people gathered to see DY the talk soon got round to who is this kid?
Did some research on him and turns out Ore and his long time friend, another 15 yr old, played a match before Sampras/Fed exhibition in NY and they got a WC into the doubles here (they lost 1 and 1).

Who knows what the future holds for these guys but they sure know how to hit the ball. Kids indeed.

Thanks for this article about Del Potro. Been interested in him for a while. One to follow. :)

Del Potro is, in my opinion, too tall. His game lacks elegance, beauty, or even drama. At least Roddick is an athlete. If Andy were 6'5" he'd probably serve at 160 mph. Mr. Roddick needs to cut out the whining("can they stop waving those fans?") and probably run some more hills. Life for him might be a bit too cozy with steak for dinner and Brooklyn for desert every night. If I were his trainer, I'd ask him to stop eating meat, put him on meditation and yoga and turn Mr. "also-ran" into a Jedi. I think the man could use a Sampras-like transition game . If only I had one! I'm going to go running now....

Juan's been having a great year, I watched his match yesterday. However he's a jerk so I can't cheer him on.

LeAnna- why do you say he is a jerk?

yeah...

why do you say he is a jerk? i don´t think so...he seems to be a nice person, quiet, relax, and the times i saw him speaking he seems to be a good person.