Watch enough men’s tennis and eventually you will be able to identify a top player simply from their grunts. Roger Federer is excluded from this discussion, of course, as he is far too refined to make any noise during a rally.
But the rest of the ‘Big Four’ are always at it. Rafa Nadal has his relentless droning urghs, Novak Djokovic clearly took inspiration from Street Fighter for his chilling two-part raa-urgh bellow, which really should be accompanied by him pulling nunchucks out of his shorts, while Andy Murray mixes it up by punctuating his imitation of Mini-Me in a vent with the startled wail of a man whose best mate has bantered him off by sliding an ice cube down his back.
They all have their merits. Yet none of those efforts can match the bloodcurdling, guttural snort from Juan
Martín del Potro whenever he unleashes one of the trademark bone-crunching forehands that almost knocked Murray off his feet in last Sunday’s Olympic tennis final, a snort so dismissive that it could earn him the role of most terrifyingly muscle-bound henchman in the next James Bond film. With his mighty 6ft 6in frame, the hulking Argentinian would look and sound the part.
He might be a gentle giant off court, a character who loves to engage the crowd by wincing in mock agony after draining rallies, but that wrecking ball of a forehand is the main reason his emphatic return has been greeted with such warmth.
Tennis has not been short of historic moments this year. Djokovic completed the career slam when he finally won the French Open in May; Murray became a double Olympic champion a month after winning his second Wimbledon; and Serena Williams equalled Steffi Graf’s record of 22 grand slam titles when she triumphed in SW19.
Trophies are not the only way to measure success, however, and a player who dredges up the necessary resolve to make it back on court after losing almost two seasons to injury deserves the utmost respect.
That wretched injury to Del Potro’s left wrist almost robbed us of one of sport’s most ominous sounds. The visceral thrill of his forehand, one of the most potent shots in the game when it is struck at full power, would not be quite the same without those complementary no-nonsense macho barks.
Close your eyes and he could be wielding a giant hammer instead of a tennis racket or punching slabs of meat in a freezer. It is the sound of a man rowing a Viking boat through a sea of custard on his own. A growl that could crack open a walnut or turn a lion’s mane white.
Isn’t it great to have Del Potro back? There were times when he almost gave up during his rehabilitation from wrist surgery. There were false starts, regular setbacks, a nagging fear that he would have to accept the inevitable and call it quits. Having played four matches in 2015, collecting a paltry $23,475 in prize money and falling to 1,045th in the rankings, he made a tentative return on the clay earlier this year but decided not to appear in the French Open.
His appearance at Wimbledon was his first at a grand slam in two and a half years but few people expected him to win his second-round match against Stan Wawrinka, the world No. 4. Wawrinka had stepped into the void created by Del Potro’s injury, challenging the dominance of the Big Four by winning the Australian Open in 2014 and the French Open last year, and the Swiss was dominant in the first set.
Yet Del Potro fought back to win in four sets and, although he ran out of steam against Lucas Pouille in the third round, here was a reminder why he was seen as the fifth Beatle of tennis before injury struck him down. After all, Wawrinka was 28 when he made his breakthrough in Australia. Del Potro was 20 when he became the first player to beat Nadal and Federer in the same grand slam, beating the latter in an unforgettable US Open final in 2009.
Seven years on from that scintillating five-set win, a revitalised Del Potro heads to New York as a strong contender to win his second grand slam title, for all that his conditioning will be tested by two weeks of five-setters in the US Open, which starts this Monday (August 29). Djokovic is floundering, Federer is injured and Nadal is no longer the remorseless force of old.
Del Potro did not fully trust his wrist when he faced Wawrinka, struggling to hit through his two-handed backhand, often relying on tame slices. In Rio, however, he looked more confident on that side – one two-handed backhand down the line against Murray was exceptional – and victories against Djokovic in the first round and Nadal in the semi-final were proof of his rising level.
Beating Murray over five sets in the final was too much of a physical challenge, especially on a hard court that was so slow it was likened to clay, but Del Potro’s threat cannot be overlooked on the faster surfaces at Flushing Meadows.
There were no ranking points on offer in Rio, only national pride and sporting greatness, so Del Potro’s silver medal did nothing for his ranking, meaning that the world No. 141 needed a wild card to gain entry to the US Open.
Someone is going to be in for a nasty shock in the first round. The rest of us will be listening intently. Get ready for Delpo to make some noise.