Juan Martín del Potro defeated five-time defending championRoger Federer in the final, 3–6, 7–6(7–5), 4–6, 7–6(7–4), 6–2 to win the men's singles tennis title at the2009 US Open. It was his first and onlymajor title. Del Potro was the first Argentine to win the title sinceGuillermo Vilas in1977. This was the firstUS Open final since1999 to go to five sets.
Federer was attempting to become the first man in theOpen Era to win six consecutive US Open titles, and the first sinceBill Tilden in1925. He was also vying to become the first man to win theSurface Slam (winning majors onclay,grass andhard court in the same calendar year), having won theFrench Open andWimbledon. It was the only major between the2005 Australian Open and the2012 US Open not won by theBig Three (Novak Djokovic, Federer, andRafael Nadal), a span of 30 events.[1] This was the only major where the Big Three all reached the semifinals, but none of them won the championship.
This was the first major since the2006 Australian Open not to have Federer and Nadal as the top two seeds.Andy Murray was seeded second ahead of Nadal, having become the world No. 2 shortly before the tournament.[2] Nadal reclaimed the world No. 2 ranking after Murray lost toMarin Čilić in the fourth round.[3]
This tournament marked the final major appearance of two-time major champion and former world No. 1Marat Safin.
For the first time in tournament history, no Americans reached the quarterfinals.[citation needed]