TEENAGER Juan Martin Del Potro has emerged as the dark horse at next week's US Open after a sudden flurry of success.
The 19-year-old Argentine has won 19 matches in a row and four titles in succession. At 17th in the world rankings, he is the only teenager inside the top 20.
At 1.98 metres tall, Del Potro is big but not huge by today's tennis standards. His
stature in the game, though, is growing with every week.
His wins on clay in Stuttgart and Kitzbuehel and on hard courts in Los Angeles and Washington prove his versatility and his confidence has never been higher.
Nevertheless, the modest Argentine, who took this week off to give himself time to recover from his efforts, thinks he has a long way to go to be considered a real prospect at the grand-slam events.
"This year I will be seeded which is important," said Del Potro. "But you never know what will happen at a grand slam. Every player is good, everyone wants to win. I will be happy if I am in the second week, or in the quarter-finals or something. For now I just have to enjoy this moment."
In his charge up the rankings, Del Potro has been impressive but he has beaten only two top-ten players, Richard Gasquet and Andy Roddick, the former world No1 who came off second best in the Los Angeles final.
"When I played Roger (Federer) he was intimidating me a lot," Del Potro said. "Rafa (Nadal) too, (Novak) Djokovic. These players are one step up, but now maybe I can do good matches against them, or maybe other players will feel the same when I am playing with them because I am winning a lot of tournaments.
"I don't know. If I play my game, I have chances against every player." Unlike most of his compatriots, who prefer to play on clay, Del Potro's favourite surface is hard court, which makes him a danger in New York.
The full article contains 348 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
