Giant achievement

This simple headline testifies the greatness of Juan Martin Del Potro, capable to dethronize the five times reigning champion and by many indicated as the Goat (even if this label appears at least controversial, not to say stupid).

I saw this 6'6 shy Argentine two years ago, in Rome. He lost in the qualification rounds: he withdrew cause of a back injury, one of a long series of physical inconvenients. My first impression, seeing this young and tall guy with timid green eyes and long straight blond hairs was probably the same I had admiring Tsonga: will he be able to continue his development? He was capable to thwart his teenager adversaries in the juniors event, but his fragile skeleton would be able to support his ambitions, his dream of greatness? Monday I had the answer, the most astonishing answer I could expect to receive.

His stunning forehands should be labelled as non conventional weapons, he could impress an extremely heavy rotation causing a lethal acceleration, above all when he hit inside-out from the center of the baseline to the right angle. The appearent lazy mood hided an iron-made self confidence, not nocked by the tough openings, when Federer started the nth repeat performance meant to satisfy his narcissistical ego. Exceptional variations, chopped cross-court backhand passing shots, volleys and demi-volleys: although he continued to serve with percentages you could register in a provincial championship first round, that showing off seemed enough. But it was not. Del Potro believed in himself till the last point, his game was not the most agreeable to aesthetically educated eyes, but got is job done.

Roger lost his match at 5-4 30 all in the second set on the first of two carbon-copy down the line forehand passes. He started quarreling with the chair umpire and the Hawk Eye and simply lost his mind. His show, so perfect, so straight, transformed itself in an improvised and scheming performance. The King felt the earth sliding down his shoes, saw his narcissistical ego shattered with the mirror of his apparently asettical beauty. Palito multiplied his forehand winners, as many stabs to the ex-King wounded pride. So rattled was the Swiss to launch an unusual before than angry complaint towards Jake Gerner, the umpire, after he allowed the Argentine a call late (he took a lot longer than what is allowed) in the third set: "No, it’s too late,” an angry Federer said. “I wasn’t even able to challenge after two seconds and he takes ten seconds every time. Do you have any rules in there?”

And reprimanded a gesticulating Gerner in this way: "“Don’t do that with your hand. Don’t tell me to be quiet. I don’t give a s*** what he said. Don’t f***ing tell me the rules.”

The match, surely not the most enchanting of this edition (for real spectacle see Navarro-Dent, the best show of the 2009 Us Open), was by no doubt the greatest upset in the last ten years. Roger, benefitting from the Roddick indecent backhand volley, found a real contender for his next Grand Slam campaigns. Anyone who beats Nadal and Federer on consecutive days is a force to be reckoned with.

His renewed consciousness made him the most possible danger for the Big Four in the big events, cause they would face him in quarters. He can now win other slams, probably not on the clay, because his fisiological lack of horizontal mobility, and his scarce confidence in his backhand that brings him hit forehands from the left side and cover more free court. But on hardcourts and on the grass he's a menace for everyone, above all for the half-dull Djokovic or the Higueras-like Murray of this period.

Honour to Del Potro

The Goat (or what many considers as the Goat) lost to the best of his generation, beaten in the previous 6 meetings (also if he went two sets up at the 2009 Roland Garros with 2 hours and a half of incredible tennis).



Federer-Del potro was not the most thrilling of the Grand Slam final, the game quality was complessively a bit more than decent; but surely it has been the best Us Open final since 1999 when Agassi surprised Martin coming back from 2 sets to 1 down (the last concluded with a five setter before the yesterday's clash). This was anyway the most surprising final since 2000, when another first-timer, Safin, stunned Pete Sampras. So Del Potro, 20 years and 355 days old, has become the fifth youngest player to win this tournament

Roger Federer lost a great chance. For 90 minutes he played almost perfectly, also if not in the enchanting and intriguing way he defeated Djokovic in the

semifinals. But incredibly the Swiss went out from the match at 5-4 30-0 in the second set. He was nervous for an ace not validated because Del Potro, ready

to return, complained that he was disturbed by something not better defined while Federer was launching the ball. And then, when an astonishing down-the-line

passing shot bounced on the line, Federer claimed the ball was out but the Hawk Eye confirmed the umpire decision.

From there Roger has never been the same, and the match developed very similarly to the recent Australian Open final. Del Potro started hitting his proverbial

forehands with stubborness and precision, he "drew the lines" more and more. It was surprising how often the Palito went hitting his forehands on the

backhands side and how many kilometres he ran to cover the court. Palito from the secon set displayed all his full force groundstrokes that overpowered Nadal

and definitely abandoned the shackles affecting him in the first set.

DP served not so well (even if he concluded with the 65% of first serves), because he handed 22 break points, saving 17 of them. Federer was conditioned by

the only 13 aces, by the less than 50% of points on his second serve and above all by the 11 double faults. But in the third Federer gave a glimpse of what inexperience could do when DP gifted the Swiss two consecutive breaks because of two bleeding double faults in a row. As had been the case in 2005 (vs. Roddick) and ’06 (vs. Agassi) US Open finals, upon losing the second set Federer had hit back to regain the lead.

The World No. 6 defied his heavy legs to continue to work Federer and was rewarded with a break of serve to love in the fifth game and, in the fourth set tiebreak was gifted an early mini-break by a Federer double fault and did not look back. A bit off topic: Federer had yet to lose a tiebreak in a Grand Slam final before facing del Potro, and was 166-4 in career when he wins first sets.

But Federer continued to lose chances on break points, in what revealed to be his Achilles heel against Nadal and against the Argentine and costed him dearly. While Del Potro, in what would be his last service game of the final, showed no signs of nerves holding to love. In the end Roger handed him two match points he saved before serving the 11th double fault of his match and seeing the last backhand flow long.

Classy Cilic outpowered Murray

The Croat won 75 62 62 and went through to the Us Open quarters



When Murray hit the last forehand long ending his misery, Marin Cilic realized probably to have completed his personal puzzle finding his missing piece and starting filling his standards. The Croat, indicated by many as a future and bright star, had failed in big appointments (also if recently he defeated Blake in a dramatic Davis Cup five-setter). But today he was simply perfect, enjoyable, powerful and precise. This was the best performance of his career, he gained the first Grand Slam quarterfinal and the crowd could rub their hands thinking to the clash between the two big-bombers of this decade: Marin Cilic and Juan Martin Del Potro.

The Scotster in the first set held break points during the sixth game, but he wasted them with a backhand return dropping well wide and long and a crosscourt forehand wide after a remarkabler defense from the Croat. An ace and a backhand into the net at 5-4 15-40 (with Cilic serving) was practically an anticipated swan song. Cilic held, broke to 5-6, thanks also to an untimely double fault, and sealed the first set after another error from the Scot.

From that point, till the end of the match, Cilic didn't look back, despite the not extraordinary 31% of first serves in the second set, dropping only four games between second and third set.

The key of the match, apart from the paltry thirteen winners registrered by the Scot, was his oltranzist defensivism, his flat attitude, his low energy. Cilic showed an enviable bio-mechanic of strokes while Murray remained passively behind the baseline almost waiting for the unavoidable. The Croat turned the knife in the wound exacerbating the lack of a kliller-stroke in the Scotster game. On this kind of surface to emerge you have to be Nadal or you have to attack, and to do that profitably you have to devolve upon an ultimate stroke. Murray doesn't belong to any of theese two catehory.

And now, if Nadal, despite his being abdominally strained, succeed in beating Gael Monfils, the Mallorcan could come back nr.2 in the world ranking.

Us Open first week – Ups and downs

Roger Federer – Not extraordinary, not so bad anyway. He managed his energies remaining on court enough to find his form. Devin broke him twice, he lost a set to Hewitt then but Roger defeated the Aussie for the 14th time in a row. He’s the main candidate to win the title. Vote: 6.5

Rafa Nadal – Not so bad. He’s in the third round despite an abdominal injury against Almagro, who has to learn the difference between playing a series of beautiful strokes and playing a match. Rafa was broken five times, really too many, but the Spanih derby was exactly what the new, leaner Nadal needed: a straightforward three-setter that tested him enough... but not too much. Vote: 6.5

Andy Murray – The Scotster fall asleep for a set against the Chilean Capdeville, but found the usual variety and effectiveness of his game against Taylor Dent, apart for the under 50% of first serve in the first set. Now he’ll face Marin Cilic: the Brit has won all three of their previous meetings and will be confident of making the quarter-finals. Vote: 7

Andy Roddick – For the second time he lost without evident guilts against big bombers. Andy demonstrated again to suffer this kind of player capable of maintaining high standards on his serve, to erase any shadow of rythm from the match. Like against Querrey in Cincinnati (Andy lost 76 76), against John Isner (vote: 8), defeated some weeks ago in a dramatic three setter in Indianapolis, Roddick fought hard but there was nothing to do – vote 6

Taylor Dent – The serve-and-volleying panda was extraordinary. He came back to win a match in a major after four years after three back surgeries and 11 months passed immobilised in a bed for 23 hours a day. He tried to reach a real estate license, studied politics and religion, played to World of Warcraft videogame. But finally came back to tennis. Against Feliciano Lopez (vote: 5.5), a great talent wasted, he won a great match but completed his masterpiece against another atypical Spaniard, Ivan Navarro (ex Navarro-Pastor, who decided to cancel his second surname), who plays with two racquets (one to serve, another to return, forcing the ballboy to change it every two points in the tiebreaks) 255 net points in 252 minutes of incredibly enjoyable tennis, with the game suspended for 7 minutes because a 138 mph service by Dent unseated the net. A match who saw Dent celebrating shouting “You guys are unbelievable!” to the crowd and and emotional high-five to all the viewers in the first row. The successive defeat against Murray didn’t ruin his unforgettable joy. Vote:9

Italian tennis – The worst performance ever in Flushing Meadows for Italian guys. Five men in the main draw, as many defeats with only one set won (by the player with the most unfavourable odds, Flavio Cipolla against Benneteau). More than the results, Italian fans are concerned about the way these defeats arrived, without signs of reaction, without fighting, like Starace who lost 76 76 60 by the Swiss journeyman Chiudinelli (losing 7 points in a row in the second set tiebreak). Not the best way to head towards the Davis Cup playoff against Federer and Wawrinka. Vote: 4

Us Open day 1 - Highlights

Youzhny d. Mathieu 26 75 62 60
The 2006 Us Open semifinal Michael Youzhny defeated for the 5th time in 6 h2hs Paul-Henri Mathieu in the Psycho Match of the Day. At 2-5, with 10 errors and 3 winners, the Russian launched his racquet against the bench before a solid PHM (4 aces and 6 points to the net in 7 attempts in the first set) closed 62. But the Russian broke immediately in the second and caused some decisive regrets in the French saving two break points and go leading 42. The 10th game could become the key moment of the match. Youzhny, leading 54, committed three double faults handing the game to PHM, who, in the next one, gave back the courtesy. Youzhny with an astonishing winning backhand went 65 and sealed the set 75. Since then the match had no history. Youzhny won 26 75 62 60 with 49 winners and showing an increaing consintency from the back and to the net (20 points). Too many errors, 41, instead affected the French transforming only 53% of points with his first serve. Definitely not enough.

Federer d. Britton 61 63 75
Understandably moved, last year's junior Us Open runner-up devin Britton lost the first set 61 in just 18 minutes. But the rest of the match wasn't a stroll in the park for the number 1 anyway. Devin, n.1370 (so twice lower than Chris Eaton when he shocked the world not only for his Vauxhall with duck-taped rearview mirror but for his victory over Boris Pashanski at Wimbledon), notwithstanding an often uncontrollable forehand, showed glimpses of aggressive returns and smooth net-play leaving good impressions about his future. Even more, he broke twice King Roger. Firstly to go up 3-1 in the second: he played the best game, probably, of his life. breaking to love with two surpsising forehand cross-court winner.

But emotion wasn't a good company and he lost immediately his serve, and the set, because of a streak of 12 points to love for Roger, profiting from an inopportune double fault from Devin in the ninth game and clinching the set in 29 minutes with twi stinging returns.

Britton wanted to make his dream last more than is possible and mixing courage and inconscience, started serving well, mixing them up to good effect, and sometimes seemed unbeatable at the net; but he suffered when he had to stoop. His dream culminated in the break to 4-3 when he forced Federer on the back foot and into a series of mistakes, as the netted backhand giving Britton the game. But he wasted his chance: in the next game he saw a forehand volley fly long and mishit a forehand to 4-4. Federer never looked back, and sealed the success with a crosscourt forehand.


Definitely, even if he was given a bit of scare, above all in the third, Britton seemed too inconsistent to sustain a threat, but he showed to be more than a sparring partners and to have encouraging skills for his future career.

Isner d. Hanescu 61 76 76
Hanescu was bewildered for a set and a half. Lost the first 6-1, he was broken to 1-2 in the second after a sloppy and unfortunate game: Isner missed a sitter on the first point after getting a fortunate net cord, then Hanescu serves a double, and missed a volley on the break point, conquered by the American with a forehand approach shot. But a shocking smash by Isner who went long gave Hanescu a key break at 3-3 and the set was decided by a dramatic tiebreak. Hanescu dashed 4-1 and went 5-2 after an easy shot netted by the American. But a double fault and a series of not converted set points restored the score at 6-6. The Romanian failed another set point on his serve and a net cord gave the American one at 9-8. Nothing. Another chance for Hanescu (at 10-9) but this time he hit long. He went 11-10 up, but Isner saved the setpoint with an overpowering forehand bouncing on the line and finally sealed the tiebreak 16-14. In the third they went with serve until a second tiebreaker.

And Hanescu conquered, as he did last time, the first point against serve, but Isner took it straight back with a nice pass. Isner flight 6-3 up, but hanescu with a net approach and a good serve reduced the arrears to 5-6. But Isner closed at the first attempt. In the second round he could face Andy Roddick for a revenge of the recent highly contested Washington semifinal.

Blake d. Hidalgo 61 64 75
Easy success for James Blake, playing just after the ceremony in honour of Andre Agassi. A bit more of a practice session for the American, afflicted by a series of light injuries during the season. After an easy first set, they went on with serve until 4-4, then Blake broke at his sixth opportunity after forcing the Spaniard to deuce with a thunderous forehand down the line which the Spaniard can only slice into the net; another error by the long-blond haired Spaniard handed Blake the second set.

Hidalgo tried to play at higher standards than usual, but cracked down to 3-4. A bit of performance anxiety, probably, affected Blake who squandered a forehand long to lose the advantage to 5-5. It was the swan song for Hidalgo, though, blown away by Blake's power and conviction. A rasping forehand winner followed by a precise shot into the corner gave Blake the possibility to serve for the match. And he easily hold to come through to a second round against Olivier Rochus.

In the night session easy and largely predictable wins in straights sets for Andy Roddick (61 64 62 to the Bjorn Phau) and "Rusty" Hewitt, 60 63 63 to Alves.

Mario Ancic to leave tennis?

Last July, Mario Ancic hired in the law office of Mary Turudic, sister of the famous Croatian judge Ivana Turudica, in Zagreb and recently he's seen in the building of Commercial Court. Ancic is working as an intern, and his working hours turns on increasing doubts about his return to professional tennis.

The gangly 6-5 passed a brief but extremely intense lustre in top tier tournaments, revealing himself in 2002 when, as a wildcard, he upset Roger Federer, then with a reputation of rising star after his success on Pete Sampras the year before. Ancic remained the last to defeat the Swiss at the Championships until the dramatic 2008 final.



Ancic grew to be known as "Baby Goran", a quite odd nickname because he definitely also grew an inch taller than Goran Ivanisevic, the national hero, the first to establish Split as the natural habitat for tall and nationalistic serve-and-volleyers. Mario and Goran are no strangers. Mario was one ballboy in a Davis Cup tie to his predecessor and he practised with Goran from the age of 10. He's right-handed, contrarily from his hero, but picked several movements and gestures from his mentor.

The semifinal at the All England Club in 2004 and the decisive contribute to Croatian title in 2005 Davis Cup in hostile surroundings (in Slovakia Ancic clinched the maiden victory winning the decisive rubber against Michal Mertinak in straight sets) now seem like a distant memory.

When everything was going great, when he was in great shape, in fact, destiny put him down with mononucleosis and a shoulder injury that nearly ended his career in 2007. For the Croat with thunderous serve and outstanding wingspan, it became necessary a change of perspective.

""When I was diagnosed, I knew it was going to take long to recover the first time, and I knew there would be a lot of these side effects because tennis is the No. 1 individual sport in terms of being physically demanding," Ancic said. "I can't hide. I just have to move on and every time it happens, try to come back stronger mentally and physically, to fight against this like I do on the tennis court. But I hope this is the last time".

Supported by a series of letter of people affected with mono, Ancic found an unusual, for a sportsman, way to channel his energy during the forced stop. He graduated in law from the University of Split with a thesis about tennis and the ATP organization. "I'm very proud of that; it took a lot of work. I show tennis from a little bit of a different perspective. In my research, I understood more things that were going on behind the scenes. [The ATP] was great for me. They gave me documents. They were not afraid that anything goes public. I talked about the players' medical care, the pension fund that kicks off after the career, the structure, the membership, how it works. Being out of tennis, it was a huge help to be focused on something else" he said in an interview to ESPN in March, when he addressed a sports law class at the Harvard Law School.

Ancic, down to n.136, tried to come back to top level. He reached the quarterfinals at Wimbledon in 2008 and was about to head towards the Beijing Olympics. But a relapse came at the wrong time. Having lost in an opening-round at the Canada Masters and having skipped Cincinnati Masters, as the fatigue intensified and the weight loss mounted, to about 15 pounds in total, Mario withdrew from Beijing and later from the Us Open.

His agent, IMG's Olivier van Lindonk, said he is a consummate professional who, not surprisingly given his academic interests, "is always closely involved with finalizing and approving his deals. He is a client that is aware of all the details in his contracts and likes to 'keep me sharp". And hasn't had any problem in finding an answer to the question every athlete ask himself after the last day of his career: what will I do next?

Good luck, Mario.

The triumph of patchwork tennis

With a creative fusion of different styles Andy Murray has interrupted the duopoly Federer-Nadal becoming the first player different from them, when both present, to occupy one of the first two spots in a Grand Slam tournament since Wimbledon 2005.


Multiplicity in unity. Andy Murray is the paradigm of a new tennistic poliphony, of a gestaltic synthesis of different influences and characters, styles and spurs generating an ensemble divergent and probably better in quality and quantity from the mechanical sum of the parts. He's a natural born showman, he speaks to his public with grimaces and snarls, with sulks and outbursts. He's genuine and spontaneous, on- and out-courts, and as a youngsters faced the inconveniences of journalistic misunderstandings.

In 2006, after a match during the Auckland tournament, he said that with seven breaks out of 12 games in the first set he and his opponent were serving like women. He said that jokingly, but many British tabloids' back pages wrote he was sexist.

He's a showman converted to the idea that theatres, and not the prosaic tennis courts are the ideal place to host a show. Andy has developed and brought on the threshold of perfection an hybrid style sacrificing talent for success, sacrifing a bit of beauty in the name of profit without erasing aesthetics from the horizon of his game. He's the most precise symbol of what we could define "patchwork tennis".

His rounded strokes have a Spanish perfume (probable inheritance of his Barcelonian period of practice) even if they are as far from the pronounced lob of the first generation of Spanish players as from the heavy 5,000 rpm rotations by Rafa Nadal. Murray's tennis is varied but sure, he paints a seducing and confusing spiderweb forcing even the most navigated to lost themselves in it. Among half-volley passing-shots and his trademark dropshot, Murray entangles for his displayed capability to mould his temper to better pursue his destiny, his cause, his goal.

In the perennial fight between es and ego, between a stubborn and rebellion-prone nature on one side and and the desire-need to be a good boy, at least on court, to live up with the expectations of an entire nation who wants him to be the new Fred Perry (or at least the last, in order of time, of the new Fred Perrys), responsibility won. Murray is an anti-hero, like the Swede, protagonist of "American Pastoral" by Philip Roth; like him he transformed into a professional success a two-faced personality, sharpened during the years.

He feels tennis, more than simply play it, preserving from his youth a sharp tactical and strategical instinct. At 11 years old he and his twin Jamie went to the European Badminton championships at Kelvin Hall. He seemed not to pay attention to a match involving the then n.1 in Europe, and suddenly asked his mother if they could go away, with a set remaining. He had already realized how to beat the n.1: play high on his backhand corner, and close the point with a drop shot. A scheme that gave him many satisfactions in his career as a pro.

A career inspired and governed by the omnipresent mother Judy, who didn't begrudge harsh critics about his son's game but strictly direct a Barnum of coaches, trainers and psychologists hired to channel Murray's instinct and talent. And whereas Brad Gilbert, the most expensive coach in the world at £750,000 a year, failed, Miles MacLagan, an ex journeyman professionist and anonymous tennis players (his best ranking was n.172), triumphed. This Zambian-born Scottish man, known because he guided Paul Hanley and Kevin Ullyett to become the couple n.4 in the doubles ranking, is "the quiet man" who discovered the secret of success.

Sponsored by (what else?) Judy Murray, Miles Maclagan initially seemed destined to a relationvery similar to the Mats Wilander-Marat Safin connection. Instead, although the premises were the same (mercurial player and calm coach), the result is very different from the few-months long Russian-Sweden experience.

Since 2007, MacLagan shaped a true champion, meant to answer to the yet unsolved existential questions accomunating every tennis fan throughout the Uk: How long can a nation fail in his dreams for? How long can a nation bet on the wrong horse (see Tim Henman) being constantly disappointed because of lack of timing (i.e. start of Federer-era) or "performance anxiety" (i.e. 2003 Wimbledon quarterfinal lost to Sebastien Grosjean)?

Hoping to see Andy Murray lifting up the trophy in front of the Royal Box British fans forgive him even his anti-English speaking before the 2006 World Cup in Germany ("I could support everyone but England"). So the revelation of his Metternichian belief that Great Britain is no more than a geographical entity passed away without touching or mark his deep link with the community of fans; the same who never forgived Rusedski, who won less than Murray, his Canadian origins.

Last year comeback against Richard "Lionheart" Gasquet and this year sweated and unusually nocturnal exploit against Wawrinka made him surrounded by an epic light, also if last year he surrendered lifting the proverbial white flag against Nadal and some months ago he was defeated by an inswinging performance anxiety more than an extraordinary Andy Roddick who went a backhand volley-far from winning the Championships.

His consistent results on every surface, the recent triumph in Montreal has confirmed that the Scotster is on the right way, and indicates that numbers and hutilitarism have their own reasons that aesthetics doesn't know; and the first subdued the last. Because no-one take to the field to play violino.

Four lessons we learn in Cincinnati

1-God bless Father Roger
The Swiss champion didn’t seem too much diverted by his one-month old twin daughters not to win his 16th Masters series title (in 25 finals), only one less than Andre Agassi, leader of this particular ranking. The surgical demolition of a slightly absentminded Murray and of Novak Djokovic are important signs of health, even more meaninngful with six days remaining from the last Grand Slam tournament of the season, where he could face his nemesis Rafa Nadal, before the final after four years.

2-Can Andy repeat last year final in Flushing Meadows?
Probably, yes. He’s deservedly number 2, the first different from Rafa and Roger to occupy one of the firt two ranking position after Lleyton Hewitt, and on hard courts he’s on his preferred habitat. But the lack of killer instinct he showed in the second set against Federer, when the benefits of his throwback tennis were cancelled by a series of errors in the key points, culminated in the final double fault, left a shadow of doubt. In Cincinnati he revealed his talent to the world years ago when, far from the top-10, defeated the Swiss in straight sets. Now his winning streak of five matches against the number 1 abruptly stopped. In his preferred Slam, where he 12 months ago he conquered the first final in a major, he will have to handle to increasing expectations, as at Wimbledon. And everyone knows how it ended there.

3-Suspended judgement about Rafa
A Masters Series semifinal after months of forced inactivity would be a bright result for anyone else but not for Rafa Nadal. The Mallorcan left a disappointing impression in the first set against Novak Djokovic and only his proverbial pride and fighting istinct sustained him in the second avoiding a more outstanding exit. He’s not on his surface, that’s true, but the lack of dinamicity, the decreasing efficacity of his most dangerous weapon could oblige him to almost superhuman efforts to defend the points conquered with the semifinal reached last year.

4-Novak bites the dust...again
The limbic season of the Serb seem not to have an end. He’s quite good, plays quite well, but this isn’t enough for the player considered an year ago the most dangerous rival for Roger and Rafa. But the racquet change (definitely a mistake), and a crack in self-confidence, exacerbated after the dramatic semifinal in Montecarlo against the Mallorcan, made his game become excessively passive and defensive. His bright display of strokes against Nadal was a swan song before a one-sided final. An year ago, in Cincinnati, he surrendered to Murray. This time against Roger Federer. But his attitude was the same, and the absence of tactical and technical relevant progress are convincing many that his Australian triumph and the Us Open final reached 2 years ago will remain the brightest stars in a left undone career.