Del Potro downed by Simon, up close and personal (well, almost)

I finally made it out to the US Open yesterday. Normally I like to grab a grounds pass for the first couple of days since every court is filled with matches. But with the new job it just wasn’t possible. Perhaps next year.

Anyway, I was able to catch the third round match between Juan Martin del Potro + Gilles Simon in full. The Frenchie played some solid tennis in hot and humid conditions, running down Delpo’s ginormous groundies and keeping the big boy on the move. He forced the former US Open champ into errors and served well on key points - none bigger than when he saved set points in the fourth set.

 Even the Argentine thought so:

Q. There was that one point where I think there were three times where it looked like you had a winner, and three straight times he ran it down somehow. How shocked were you? How mentally tiring is it playing someone like that, too?

JUAN MARTIN DEL POTRO: Is tough because you try to make the winners all the time, every point, and the ball come to you every time, too. And if you don't serve really, really well, Simon plays a nice tennis, very fast and it's not easy to make a winner to him. But, anyways, the crowd help me a lot 4 5 in the fourth set especially, and I was really close to win that set. But not this year.

Yeah, Delpo, that was me. Screaming and stuff. We all tried to lift you because you looked really weary out there (not like your usual look) but Baby Daddy was too good. Eh, that’s okay. You'll always have next year and we’ll always have 48th and Lexington. Always.

[Photo(s) credit: Reuters]