‘Allez Les Bleus!’ as Del Potro charms Paris crowd

WHEREVER he plays, Juan Martin Del Potro is the nice guy the crowd likes to back and it was the case again at the French Open, when the Argentine chanted ‘Allez Les Bleus’ after beating big-serving John Isner to reach the quarter-finals.

The fifth seed broke three times and held serve throughout to claim a solid 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 victory, setting up a clash with Croatian third seed Marin Cilic, an opponent he knows well having beaten him in 10 of their 12 meetings.

Against American Isner on Court Suzanne Lenglen, Del Potro, who is also one of the crowd darlings at the US Open where he won his only Grand Slam title in 2009, kept hearing an American fan sing ‘USA, USA’.

“I love playing here in the USA, USA!,” he joked on court.

He then sang ‘Allez Les Bleus’, a song chanted by French team sports fans, which triggered loud applause from the local fans.

“There was this lady singing all the time ‘USA, USA’, but we are in France so since I know the (French) song I went for it,” Del Potro, who is regarded as one of the biggest threats to 10-time champion Rafael Nadal at Roland Garros, told reporters.

Today, he will take on another big server in Cilic, an opponent he has not lost against since 2011.

“We have played some great matches in the past and I know it is going to be tough,” he said.

“I will try to play a similar match but he has other weapons (than Isner), he has good shots from the baseline and good shots down the line.” — Reuters