A hand-painted sign in Juan Martin del Potro’s hometown of Tandil summed it up: “Welcome to the capital of tennis.”
Del Potro’s upset victory over Roger Federer in Monday’s US Open final has put the Argentine city of 150,000 — in the foothills of a lowly mountainous area 400km south of Buenos Aires — on the map.
It has also brought attention to the club Independiente de Tandil, where Del Potro switched to tennis after growing up playing soccer, rugby union and basketball.
PHOTO: AFP
Marcelo Gomez, who taught Del Potro how to grip a racket and coached him until two years ago, said Del Potro used to walk by the club’s tennis courts on his way soccer matches. Eventually, he decided to give tennis a shot.
“Even then you could tell he had nerves of steel and great strengths,” Gomez said. “His desire, his power and his concentration made me think that this child was going to stand out in tennis just like he did in soccer. He always wanted to play against others three or four years older — and he’d win. He is mentally very strong and that’s why he beat Federer.”
Because of his height and relative lack of mobility, Gomez said Del Potro worked on finishing off points quickly.
“He always played aggressively,” Gomez said. “His size was going to limit his movement, so he always thought about the quick, hard-court game. His dream was the US Open.”
Everyone around the club seems to know Del Potro.
“I played 1,000 times against him and only won once,” said Bernardo Caballero, a tennis teacher at Independiente. “He was so angry. He never liked to lose, he was so competitive.”
Perhaps the proudest person at the club is its president, Horacio Morrone.
“I watched him since he was young,” Morrone said. “He was talented in soccer despite his height. He was a great goalscorer. If Juan Martin had stayed with soccer, he’d be a Maradona or Pele.”
Four-time NBA all-star DeMarcus Cousins arrived in Taiwan with his family early yesterday to finish his renewed contract with the Taiwan Beer Leopards in the T1 League. Cousins initially played a four-game contract with the Leopards in January. On March 18, the Taoyuan-based team announced that Cousins had renewed his contract. “Hi what’s up Leopard fans, I’m back. I’m excited to be back and can’t wait to join the team,” Cousins said in a video posted on the Leopard’s Facebook page. “Most of all, can’t wait to see you guys, the fans, next weekend. So make sure you come out and support the Beer
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
Rafael Nadal on Wednesday said the upcoming French Open would be the moment to “give everything and die” on the court after his comeback from injury in Barcelona was curtailed by Alex de Minaur. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner, back playing this week after three months on the sidelines, battled well, but eventually crumbled 7-5, 6-1 against the world No. 11 from Australia in the second round. Nadal, 37, who missed virtually all of last season, is hoping to compete at the French Open next month where he is the record 14-time champion. The Spaniard said the clash with De Minaur was