Del Potro squeaks past Federer for first Masters crown

Juan Martin del Potro beat Roger Federer in three tight sets at Indian Wells on Sunday to secure his first Masters title.

Sunday’s final at Indian Wells between Juan Martin del Potro and Roger Federer was an intense, testy match that went back and forth. But ultimately del Potro pulled off the winner, defeating the tennis legend in three sets, 7-5, 6-7 (8), 7-6 (2).

There are very few tennis players who can force a “what the hell happened” out of tennis legend Roger Federer, but that’s exactly what transpired. Del Potro raced out of the gate with an aggressive, in-your-face game, gaining the first set lead. But we all know that Federer is rarely down for long, and he managed a bounce-back win in the second. Breaking the world No. 8 in the third, it looked like Fed was going to produce a repeat title from last year, but the 6-foot-6 gentle giant managed to get under Federer’s skin — as he did brilliantly at last year’s U.S. Open — with the world No. 1 losing his nerve and then his serve, and we went to a third set-tiebreak, where the 20-time grand slam champ uncharacteristically wilted.

“I feel frustrated that I let an opportunity like this go by. Standing at the trophy ceremony, I thought, ‘I would like to play that tiebreaker again, because I don’t know what the hell happened,'” the oldest world No. 1 explained afterward.

But what a win it was for the Olympic silver-medalist del Potro. Plagued by injuries throughout so much of his career, his tennis experience has been about his prodigious talent that seemed to squandered by a body that’s always betrayed him. After undergoing a third wrist surgery and the subsequent recovery sabbaticals, the Argentine has been on a roll ever since beating Novak Djokovic in the first round of the Rio Olympics in 2016. He’s been labeled a “lovable spoiler” with his ability to take down the Big Four whenever his game is on. Let’s not forget that he’s one of the very few to have attained a Grand Slam title during the reign of Federer-Nadal-Djokovic-Murray, the 2009 U.S. Open win over, you guessed it, Federer.

“I’m really enjoying playing tennis again. I had very bad moments a few years ago and I don’t want to think about that anymore. I’m surprising myself every day, and I want to keep surprising the tennis tour,” del Potro said post-match.

Any player facing Federer has to deal with playing against the crowd. No matter what country or venue, wherever the Swiss plays, the crowd is always pro-Federer. But del Potro’s also got a loveable personality that is appreciated greatly by tennis fans. However, Sunday’s final didn’t always show off the best sportsmanlike behavior from the two. Del Potro described the close, tense match as an “arm wrestle.” Federer even hit a volley at the Argentine’s leg at one point, resulting in a glare from the usually calm Argentine. Both players argued with the chair umpire throughout the match. But it all made for terrific drama, but more importantly, produced extremely high-quality play throughout. It really could have gone either way, until it became obvious in the third set tie-break that it would go del Potro’s.

The win at Indian Wells is Juan Martin del Potro’s first Masters 1000 title and a sure sign that his physical troubles seem to a thing of the past, and his game and confidence are back where they belong. I wouldn’t be surprised if he adds another grand slam title ‘spoiler’ to his list of accomplishments this year, especially playing with such a fearlessly big game like he did on Sunday.