NEW YORK --- Any chance he got, on TV and on the Web, Juan Martin del Potro wanted to watch replays of Roger Federer's last shot sailing out to end the U.S. Open final.
It was as if del Potro himself could not quite believe that he is now a Grand Slam champion -- or, perhaps, could not quite believe that Federer had failed to win his sixth consecutive title at Flushing Meadows and 16th major overall.
"I still feel chills," del Potro said Tuesday, a day after his startling 3-6, 7-6 (5), 4-6, 7-6 (4), 6-2 comeback victory over Federer. "I can't explain with words."
That pretty sums up the way this whole, wild U.S. Open went.
Seeing Federer clutching the runner-up's silver tray under his left arm Monday night, a blank expression on his face, while del Potro's big silver trophy was a few feet away, stood as only the latest of a series of extraordinary images from the past 15 days:
- Serena Williams' finger-pointing, profanity-laden tirade at a lineswoman.
- Kim Clijsters' 18-month-old daughter, Jada, cavorting on court, posing for a horde of photographers, after Mom won the U.S. Open.
- The word "Believe" stamped on the sneakers of Melanie Oudin, the 5-foot-6 17-year-old from Marietta, Ga., who knocked off Maria Sharapova and others on the way to the quarterfinals.
One of the reasons we follow sports is because of their unscripted nature: You might think you know who's going to win -- and you might think you know what's going to happen -- but you never really know.
Even del Potro and his coach, Franco Davin, said they didn't arrive in New York convinced that a championship would be the end result.
Not this year, anyway.
"I won't say we prepared for this U.S. Open planning to win it," Davin said. "We came to the U.S. Open with a chance."
Del Potro, who rose one spot to No. 5 in the rankings Tuesday, won't turn 21 until later this month and had never won a Grand Slam semifinal before this tournament. It was only on Sunday, as the Argentine was powering his way to a 6-2, 6-2, 6-2 victory over Rafael Nadal, that del Potro really began to think about what he was getting quite close to accomplishing.
This, he said Tuesday, is what was running through his mind during that match: "If I beat Nadal, maybe I can win the tournament."
Maybe.
It's the sort of development that might make players such as Andy Murray or Novak Djokovic or Jo-Wilfried Tsonga take note.
"Maybe other players lost some of their (awe) for Federer and Nadal," Davin said.
Del Potro did beat them, one right after the other.
"Two unbelievable matches," del Potro said. "An amazing tournament."
He was talking about his performances. He might as well have been talking about the whole event.
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