US Open 2016: Juan Martin del Potro in tears after great gesture by Argentine fans
"Ole! Ole ole ole! Del Po! Del Po! Juan Martin del Potro was about to lose to Stan Wawrinka. His fans didn't care, and it brought him to tears.
Tennis star Juan Martin Del Potro was in tears after numerous Argentine fans present at Flushing Meadows cheered for him till the end knowing he was about to lose the US Open quarter-final fixture to Swiss Stan Wawrinka. After being outplayed in a tie-breaker in the first set, Del Potro came back strongly in the second one to win it 6-4, but couldn’t keep up the momentum and ultimately lost the third and fourth sets 3-6 and 2-6 respectively.
The Argentine is former US Open Champion winning it back in 2009, and was in tremendous form off-late as he picked up a silver medal at the Rio Olympics.
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The hard-fought match ended at 1.20 am local time midnight, and the fifth seed Wawrinka emerged victorious set up a date with 2014 US Open semi-finalist Kei Nishikori in the next round. Del Potro was visibly overcome with emotion as the fans cheered loudly for him, even though he was exiting the tournament.
The Olympic Silver medallist defeated the likes of Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal in Rio, which further boosted his chance in the United States of America, but unfortunately, he was bettered by a superior opponent. The Argentine will always remember the support he received from his fellow countrymen present at the Arthur Ashe Stadium.
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The Argentine would be disappointed to miss out on a second Grand Slam title hunt who initially took a 3-0 lead in the first set. Stan Wawrinka shared his view about the match and informed he was very happy with the way he performed.
As quoted by ATP world tour.com, he said, "It was important to stay there, to stay tough. I knew before the match that against del Potro it's a tough challenge. He's playing well. He's strong mentally. He doesn't give you much. It's going to be painful physically and mentally to stay there, so I had to adapt my game a little bit.”
“It's not a player that I can really always play the way I want to against, because he's so aggressive... I'm happy with the way I was fighting, with myself. I'm happy with the way I found a solution in the third set to take advantage,” he added. The other semi-final will feature Novak Djokovic and Gael Monfils.