Are the top seeds staging a walk-out at the Shanghai Masters? Fourth-seeded Andy Roddick retired yesterday with a mysterious knee injury during his second round match against Stan Wawrinka. The 3rd and 7th seeds followed today, as Juan Martin del Potro retired with a wrist injury against Jurgen Melzer, and Ivan Ljubicic defeated Fernando Verdasco [...]

Gael Monfils, Juan Martin Del Potro, Lleyton Hewitt and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga cracked some sake barrels at the Japan Open’s welcome reception on Tuesday. It was a konnichiwa/sayonara moment del Potro, who was booted out of the tournament in the first round.
What is Tsonga so giddy about? And where are Lleyton Hewitt’s arms?

Hair twins! Just like [...]

I just wanted to post about this because I’m so sick of doing the “another top seed on the WTA tour loses early!” posts. (You’ll notice I skipped the Safina/Venus lament yesterday.)
Juan Martin del Potro, world No. 5 and Tokyo’s top seed, lost to world No. 189 Edouard Roger-Vasselin in the first round of the [...]

Steve Tignor wrote an interesting viewpoint piece at tennis.com with the title “Excessive civility muting the men’s game?”
Have you read it already? If not, click here. If you have, can you please explain it to me? Here’s what I’ve figured so far. . .
Tignor begins by comparing two US Open semifinal handshakes – this year’s [...]

Would my photo service lie to me? Honestly, I don’t know. But photos of someone it’s calling Juan Martin del Potro’s girlfriend have just popped up, along with this caption:
“Tennis player Juan Martin del Potro’s girlfriend Yanina Screpante. Yanina is on the cover of most Argentine newspaper reports as the local model who [...]

Photo credit should read DANIEL GARCIA/AFP/Getty Images
Juan Martin Mania is the real deal!
Thousands of Juan Martin del Potro’s closest friends showed up to greet him as he returned to his hometown of Tandil, Argentina, on Thursday afternoon.
Via the ATP: “With an Argentine flag draped across his back, the 20 year old climbed on top of [...]

Juan Martin del Potro was interviewed by Charlie Rose after his big US Open victory against Roger Federer on Monday:

Del Potro’s whirlwind media tour continued when he returned home to Argentina on Wednesday, where he was given a hero’s welcome, complete with security, flags, babies, collectibles and a press conference.
Some footage from Argentina:

And photos (which [...]

Juan Martin del Potro made a media splash after beating Roger Federer in the US Open final
Here’s Juan Martin doing his best Roger Federer impression at the US Open champion photo shoot.

Sorry, I know it’s not always about Roger. Except that it is:

Here’s a little wrap of the men’s final featuring some new post-match [...]

Here are some video highlights from both Juan Martin del Potro’s and Roger Federer’s press conferences after the 2009 US Open final:

There were some more great quotes from Juan Martin’s press conference. (For more from Roger Federer, click here.)
Q. First of all, congratulations. You’ve been speaking all week and quite clear that this is your [...]

Roger Federer went a little “Serena” during his five set loss to Juan Martin del Potro in Monday’s US Open finals.
Federer cusses out chair umpire, Jake Garner, towards the end of third set because he thinks he let Del Potro challenge a call too late. But what really sets him off is Garner’s (off camera) [...]

A few twists of the knife to start: Two sets to one. A 6-0 winning record against his opponent. 11 aces to 13 double faults. Only 5 of 22 break points converted. A 2,200 day winning streak, snapped. A chance to tie Big Bill Tilden’s record, wasted. The opportunity to pad the resume with #16, [...]

Juan Martin Del Potro just won the 2009 US Open: 3-6, 7-6, 4-6, 7-6, 6-2. It was his first ever Major final and his first win over the five-time defending champion, Roger Federer. Before today he had a 4-4 record in five set matches and hadn’t even won a Masters-level event.
What a time to add [...]