FanHouse Juan Martin Del Potro

LONDON (AP) -- Roger Federer overcame an erratic forehand and Fernando Verdasco on Sunday, rallying to beat his Spanish opponent 4-6, 7-5, 6-1 in the round-robin stage of the ATP World Tour Finals.

The top-ranked Federer was broken only once -- in the opening game of the Group A match after double-faulting on the first point -- but he never looked dominating until late in the second set when he converted his first break point to even the score at one set apiece.

In the third set at the O2 Arena, Federer was back to his old self. He controlled play as usual, and gave Verdasco little chance to stay in the match.

"I was down a set, and only the second set was I able to sort of get the ball into play, find my range, find my rhythm," Federer said. "This is also when I started to feel like I had chances.

PARIS (AP) -- Known for furious, racket-throwing rants, Marat Safin would rather be remembered for the hard work he put in during a 12-year career marked by two Grand Slam titles and a Davis Cup win.

The former No. 1 ended his career Wednesday after losing to Juan Martin del Potro 6-4, 5-7, 6-4 in the second round of the Paris Masters.

"A lot of people there really thought that I'm not a really hard worker," Safin said. "But you can ask all my coaches how I dedicated myself to tennis. They will tell you it's completely the opposite of what a lot of people think."

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SHANGHAI (AP) -- Reigning U.S. Open champion Juan Martin del Potro retired from the Shanghai Masters with a wrist injury Wednesday, adding to the mounting injury toll at the event.

The third-seeded Argentine was trailing Austria's Jurgen Melzer 7-5, 2-1 in his second-round match when he retired with an injury to his right wrist.

Del Potro said that he suffered from similar wrist tendinitis earlier this year.

There are a lot of professional athletes these days who try their luck in Hollywood -- as an actor, fashion designer or other form of entertainer outside the realm of sports. After seeing his attempted freestyle improvisation of 'We are the Swiss', Roger Federer should quickly abandon any hopes of becoming tennis' next John Riggins and really focus on tennis.

Federer -- the No. 1 men's tennis player in the world -- was gathered at a celebration with the Swiss Davis Cup team and members of the French media when he was encouraged to break out in song. It is fair to say, hilarity ensues.

Check out the video after the jump.

BARCELONA, Spain (AP) -- Rafael Nadal has recovered from an abdominal injury and made himself available for Spain's Davis Cup final against the Czech Republic in December.

Nadal said in an e-mail that medical tests he had in Barcelona on Wednesday showed his stomach muscle had healed. He hasn't played since losing in the U.S. Open semifinals to eventual champion Juan Martin del Potro.

Nadal plans to resume playing at next week's China Open, before traveling to the Shanghai Masters, the Paris Masters and the ATP World Tour finals in London.

Dick Enberg is just the poor sap in this whole thing. But Juan Martin del Potro beat Roger Federer to win the U.S. Open Monday, becoming just the second South American man to win it. And the first, Guillermo Vilas, was in the stands to celebrate. And throughout the match, a huge Spanish-speaking crowd sang O ... lay, Olay, Olay, Olay ...

And then del Potro politely and with great humility spoke to the crowd in English, a language he doesn't speak particularly well yet, or comfortably. Then, he asked Enberg, the CBS announcer, if he could say a few words in Spanish.

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He was shrinking into someone else, wilting and cracking and melting down. Try as he did, he couldn't generate sufficient torque and let his first serve turn wilder than a podunk mayor throwing out a first pitch. He lost tiebreakers, which rarely happens, and he committed 15 unforced errors in the fifth set to merely four for a 20-year-old foe in his maiden Grand Slam final experience. Worse still, Roger Federer did something unbefitting a dignified, placid champion who speaks elegantly, wears stylish sweaters and counts Vogue editor Anna Wintour among his friends.

A gentleman lost his famed equlibrium, crashing for the shocked masses to see after Juan Martin del Potro challenged a shot via the electronic line-calling system -- which, by the way, Federer loathes. "No, no, no. I wasn't allowed to challenge after two seconds. The guy takes, like, 10. Every time. You can't allow that stuff to happen. Do you have any rules in there, or what?" he barked at chair unpire Jake Garner. When he was basically told to shut up, Federer responed with the latest obscenity in an expletive-filled tournament that should have been called the U.S. Bleeping Open.

NEW YORK -- He fell flat on his back, stretched out his freakishly long wingspan, and the tallest man ever to win a major tennis championship started bawling like a little baby. He thought about his parents, his friends, his life, his dreams.

Certain things are impossible, are absolutes. The name of major title winners in tennis can be any off the following list:

Federer, Nadal.

But that big baby, who kept on crying and crying, was Juan Martin del Potro. He won the U.S. Open Monday, beating Roger Federer 3-6, 7-6 (7-5), 4-6, 7-6 (7-4), 6-2.

Call 2009 the year of the fallen giant. A month after friend Tiger Woods lost a 54-hole lead in a major championship for the first time in his career, Roger Federer lost in a Grand Slam final by a guy not named Rafael Nadal.

Juan Martin del Potro did the unthinkable on Monday at the U.S. Open, defeating the 15-time Grand Slam champion after losing the first set to Federer in Arthur Ashe Stadium. Del Potro took the match in five sets, winning 3-6, 7-6, 4-6, 7-6, 6-2 for his first Grand Slam title.

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I'm not sure what they're putting in the water at Arthur Ashe Stadium, but it seems it makes the top players in the world a tad more irritable than normal. You all know about Serena Williams' tirade on Saturday after a sketchy foot fault was called a point before match point.

Now it was Roger Federer's turn. In the finals against Juan Martin del Potro, Federer didn't agree with a late challenge being allowed by the chair ump. His exact quote, along with video of the mini-wig out by the world No. 1 is after the jump.