After being upstaged by its Grand Slam siblings the last several years, drama and greatness finally visited the US Open in the late Gotham summer. The self-declared greatest city in the world finally had a final to live up to the hype as Juan Martin Del Potro joined Rafael Nadal as the only men to defeat Roger Federer in a major final with an improbable come-from-behind 3-6, 7-6(5), 4-6, 7-6(4), 6-2 victory.

Even more remarkable is that Del Potro pulled off that extraordinary double feat and became the first to beat both Nadal and Federer in the same Slam event. Indeed, there is now a third man on the scene in men's tennis. As Roger Federer stated in the post-match press conference, speaking of the incandescent rivalry between himself and Nadal - "maybe Del Potro will join that thing too."

There was no way one could have predicted the eventual outcome midway through the second set. After Federer rolled to an easy first set and was up a break in the second, it looked as if, yet again, Federer would deprive the grand occasion of any drama and roll to easy victory and just add to his singular legacy. But Del Potro somehow managed to break back and played a focused tiebreak to even the match.

And that was the just the first of many shifts in tempo and momentum - with a dash of tension thrown in for good measure as Federer was actually heard cursing at the chair umpire in a dispute over the replay system. It was an unaccustomed display of emotion from Federer and exhibited just how daunting a task it was to face the relentless assault of Del Potro.

The towering Del Potro broke for a 4-3 lead in the third set and appeared that he had wrested that elusive momentum away from The Roger and would seize control of the match. But the Argentinean played a horrendous service game following the break as Federer ran off four consecutive games, taking the set when Del Potro double faulted twice at 4-5.

In the fourth, Del Potro once again attained an early break - slapping hands with front row spectators along the way - and was serving at 4-2. But Federer broke back with the aid of some tentative serving by the big man. And all of a sudden a few minutes later Federer found himself at 30-30, 5-6 on Del Potro's serve only two points from the championship. From that point forward however, Del Potro was the one who exponentially increased his power and started to dominate.

Unleashing inside out forehands with extraordinary precision and force - some eclipsed 110 mph - and making Federer struggle to regain his footing, Del Potro won the tiebreaker relatively easily, 7-4, and never looked back. I stated yesterday that Del Potro had to replicate his level of play that he sustained against Nadal and bring it to the court against Federer. Though he didn't accomplish this at first, his tactical and physical bullying of Federer over the last set and a half was brilliant. And part of this shoving around of the five time defending champion was all guile as Del Potro greatly reduced his first serves, choosing to basically spin them in as he had utter - nearly arrogant - confidence in his truly prodigious forehand.

The fifth set was more a formality and an exclamation point than anything else. In fact, it was similar to the fifth set at the Australian Open in January when Nadal, after losing a two-sets-to-one advantage, thrashed Federer in the final stanza. Del Potro, who had the important advantage of serving first in that last set, never let Federer believe in the fifth set and he proved that the "experience over inexperience" argument in crucial moments in sports is vastly overrated.

It was Roger who looked deflated and exhausted after losing that fourth set tiebreaker. One had a sense from his body language and facial expressions that he knew he had no answer to the raw power of Del Potro.

Does this herald the start of a new age in the sport? Well, yes. For too long now Nadal has been the only new rival to come along - I'm not including Andy Roddick as he was there before Fed's reign and he has always displayed grit - willing to fight to the end against Federer (are you listening Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray?) and never let up. Federer himself was probably surprised that Del Potro didn't just go away after being down a set and a break. The tall man from Tandil also displayed positive body language throughout, not something The Roger is used to aside from a certain lefty from Spain.

It was a joy to see the soft-spoken and seemingly gentle hearted Del Potro take in the moment after Federer's backhand sailed long to finally end the encounter after four hours on a gorgeous, windless, clear New York City night. A day after saying, "this is the happiest day of my life", Del Potro admitted that tonight was "much better".

NOTES:
The only sour note on this night was the insulting and joy-robbing moment courtesy of CBS and Dick Enberg. Del Potro, like a sweet child asking his cranky grandfather for some attention, was refused on two occasions by the veteran announcer when he asked to say a few words in Spanish. Enberg finally, grudgingly allowed the victor to speak to the excited throng but the moment was nearly ruined.