Juan Martin Del Potro vs. Steve Johnson

How can we talk about a marquee match on Day 4 at the U.S. Open, and not mention this one!? I’m sure most of you scrolled through the schedule this morning, and said “DelPo vs. Stevie Johnson? Now that will be a good match!” Seriously, If you’re only going to pick one match to watch today, I would pick this one.

Both guys are in tremendous form, and have been playing some outstanding tennis this summer! It’s great to see from Del Potro, after he was sidelined for the better part of two years, and underwent not one, not two, but THREE wrist surgeries before coming back midway through this season. DelPo opened the summer by upsetting Stan Wawrinka at Wimbledon, then went down to Rio, and surprised everyone by defeating Rafael Nadal, and world number one Novak Djokovic, en route to a silver medal at the 2016 Summer Olympics. Johnson, on the other hand, moved into the Top 25 this summer. He won Nottingham, the lead up to Wimbledon. He beat Chardy & Dimitrov before losing in the round of 16 to Federer at Wimbledon. He defeated fellow countrymen John Isner, and Ryan Harrison, to reach the semi’s in Washington. And he reached the quarterfinals at the 2016 Summer Olympics, before losing to eventual gold medalist Andy Murray in a third set breaker. Johnson and Del Potro have never played each other, but that’s not to say there hasn’t been a little controversy recently regarding both players. Johnson, was not too happy that Del Potro, the 2009 U.S. Open Champ, was given a wildcard to get into this year’s tournament, because he said it could possibly eliminate a deserving American player from the tournament. He backtracked on Tuesday, saying his comment was taken out of context. But now, this Thursday night, Johnson’s words might come to fruition. Unfortunately, he may be the American player that gets knocked out, and not just due to the wildcard itself, but due to getting outplayed by Del Potro. The number 19th ranked player in the world, Stevie Johnson, came from two sets down to take out Evgeny Donskoy, in five-sets on Tuesday. Does he have a little magic left in the tank to display on Ashe? Beating Del Potro won’t be an easy task, that’s for sure. Johnson will have to play MUCH better than he did against Donskoy, otherwise the top rated US player will lose in front of the pro-American crowd, and in straight sets on top of it.