August 12th, 2009 was a bright, sunny Wednesday morning in Canada. Since I was working at the Rogers Cup, I had admission to the grounds and had specifically asked for the day off so I would be able to go check out all the professionals’ warmups. It was really a loaded schedule with the finest ten competing during the day.

At 11 that morning, a friend and I headed over to Court 4 where the world’s top ranked player, Roger Federer, was due to get there at within 30 minutes. Already filled with about several hundred people, there was very little room to move.

As the time approached, the place was filled with fans who eagerly waited to get a glimpse of the best to ever play the game. With the sun soaring at 95 degrees fahrenheit, we watched him warm up and we saw him hitting balls. To be honest, it was pretty boring and was supposed to go on for 2 hours.

So, slowly, we move out of the crowd and arrive at an open spot. I glance up at Court 4 on the opposite side to see a tall, lanky competitor clad in a pink Nike T-shirt and white shorts pounding some balls. I try to look closer and in fact came to see it was Juan Martin Del Potro.

As he came to the exit gate, there had been six fans waiting for him to earn his autograph and he did sign. As he wrote on my picture and proceeded to my buddy, I told him “I wish you good luck in your competition later.”

Del Potro turned around and had a large smile on his face and insisted “Thank you so very much for your support.” He seemed like he was extremely pleased about what I had said to him.

As he won yesterday, the irony of this scenario just entered my mind. The fact that essentially nobody was present to root for him and Rog had a ton of people. Occasionally, it is better to be left alone than to be relentlessly followed.

Del Potro played a tremendous game this week and is totally worthy of his title. Vamos!

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