He hasn’t lost a match at the US Open since the fourth round in 2003.

Two. Thousand. Three.

The thing is, Del Potro isn’t the Future of Tennis, or at least he wasn’t until this week.  He’s unranked, which to us points out some serious flaws in the ranking system.  He’s not Tsonga, who has been around for forever on the edge of being the Next Big Thing, and he’s not anyone like Nadal, who is the Next Big Thing except when he shows moments of being the Big Thing Now, as at Wimbeldon two years ago, when he beat Federer.

This is a nobody from nowhere.

Or it was. Until last night.