For del Potro, the Landscape Has Changed

Juan Martín del Potro posed for photographers on top of the Empire State Building on Tuesday.
At some point between the mayhem of Monday night, when he lay crying on the court at Arthur Ashe Stadium, and the murmur of Tuesday morning, when he slowly waded through a string of interviews, Juan Martín del Potro remembered to shave.
Gone was the russet beard that had sprouted across his face through two weeks of the United States Open. And gone was the gritty buccaneer look that so perfectly complemented his savage forehand.

In the cool light of day, as he ate some pastry and doodled on a pad, del Potro was just a fresh-faced 20-year-old making sense of his first Grand Slam title.

“I didn’t sleep much,” he said Tuesday morning. “The last two days, it was difficult to relax, to be, I don’t know, quiet. But this is part of the game, this is part of the champions. It’s unusual for me, but I’m learning from this one.”

Over and over, del Potro has watched his final championship point, held his breath as Roger Federer’s backhand sailed long, exhaled as he watched himself collapse into tears. And each time, even though the details exist only in a blur of camera flashes and fans, the flood of emotion comes rushing back.

“When I saw the ball going out, my sensations ...” del Potro said, pausing. “It’s amazing, I can’t explain with words.”

When he called his parents Monday night, they barely got past hello before they all started sobbing into their telephones, overcome by emotion more than the 5,000 miles separating them.

“It was difficult to speak, but they are so happy for me,” del Potro said.

He had asked them to stay in Argentina for the match, leaving only three people in his private box at Ashe on Monday night, but he was scheduled to see them Tuesday night when he flew back home. Once he reaches his hometown, Tandil, a city in the mountains where del Potro has about 150 relatives, he said the party could begin in earnest.

“It’s going to be crazy,” he said.