When Juan Martin del Potro went looking for a service break in the Acapulco final on Saturday, he went straight for the jugular. Literally. After a face-to-face exchange of volleys at the net with his opponent, Kevin Anderson, Delpo hammered a backhand in the direction of Anderson’s face at close range. Anderson lunged at the last second, but the ball made it past his racquet and hit him high on the chest. Delpo raised his hand in obligatory apology, but he didn’t show much remorse. The Argentine went on to break, and eventually win his 21st career title and his first at a 500-level event since 2013.
Del Potro’s body blow was a surprise in one way; he doesn’t have a reputation as a cutthroat, by-any-means-necessary kind of guy. In another way, though, his ability to come up with the right shot for the moment made complete sense—that was what he had been doing all week. This may have been the most varied and versatile version of Delpo we’ve seen.
Yes, he rained down aces and forehand winners as expected. But Del Potro also used his backhand drop shot to excellent effect; closed when he needed to close and made the volleys he needed to make; kept his opponents off-balance with his low and slow slice crosscourt backhand, and even used it to hit winning lobs; and pushed his opponents back with his returns. That latter shot, the return, has always seemed to be the most under-used in the Del Potro arsenal. While he can obviously hit ground strokes for power, he tends to be passive on returns, and his achy left wrist hasn’t helped. But in Acapulco, Delpo found a balance between safety and depth on his return that let him start the rallies farther up in the court.
At 29, Del Potro has a new coach, Sebastian Prieto, and together, he says, they’ve devised a new tactical approach.
