It was a moment of magic—followed by ten days of bliss.
Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah became the first Colombian duo to win a Grand Slam title at Wimbledon in July and what followed was the ultimate wild ride.
"You cannot imagine it," Cabal told USOpen.org on Monday after a Round-of-16 victory over Robin Haase and Wesley Koolhof at the 2019 US Open. "Seriously I don't have words to describe [the reaction from their Colombian fans]. It was totally crazy! Just insane how much love the people gave to us. We even went to the President's house."
The Colombians spent ten days touring in their home country. They celebrated and were celebrated, and then it was back to the business of doing what they do best.
Playing winning doubles.
"At some time, we had to come back to normal routine," Farah says with a smile.
Here in New York, the pair will continue their quest for more Grand Slam hardware in a place that feels like home. Of all the stops on the ATP Tour, Cabal and Farah say that Miami and New York have the largest contingent of Colombians. On Monday, they came in large numbers and cheered gleefully between points on Court 17, as the world No.1's notched a 6-4, 6-4 victory to increase their Grand Slam winning streak to nine matches.
They want to keep winning, like any world-class doubles team, but they don't just want to win for themselves.
"The Wimbledon title was for us but it was for them, also," Cabal says of the people in Colombia. "Hopefully, we can give them more than one."
It's a treat to watch the synergy between Cabal, Farah and their fans. The duo play with passion and they wear their hearts on their sleeves. As they battle for every point on the court, their loyal fans live and die with every serve, volley and smash, chanting and waving flags adorned with the nation's yellow, blue and red tricolor.
And this year in New York, a new team member has joined the festivities: Cabal's two-and-a-half-year-old son, Jacobo, has run out onto the court after the pair's last two victories to celebrate with his proud papa. If Cabal ever finds himself lacking motivation, he's now got another reason to keep striving.
"For me it's amazing, that I can live these moments with my family here, memories forever," Cabal says. "When he grows up we can show him videos and all this stuff, we are creating memories, it's amazing. He's two-and-a-half but you can see he loves sports."
Jacobo also loves Farah, who picked him up after Monday's match, and gave him a big kiss before putting him back down so the little man could lead the fans in their cheering.
"He calls him 'Uncle,'"Cabal says.
What makes Cabal and Farah tick as the world No.1 doubles team is what they love about each other.
"He wants it as badly as I want it so that's a good connection we have there," Farah says of Cabal, adding: "As a tennis player, I think he is very crafty and he reads the game really well, when he starts returning, amazing—it's very tough to go through him. He's going to give you a lot of returns, and then he just reads the court. It's not about power with him."
Cabal returns the favor to his partner, without delay.
"Robert is really professional," he says. "All the time he is looking for a way to get better. Fitness, food, everything you can think about he's looking for ways to get better so it's really amazing you can learn from it every time. And on the court he just has the power so it makes my job even easier. He's tall, he's big, he covers the court and he puts so much pressure on the opponents and it's not easy to be across the net from him."
The synergy, the family and the fans. It's the perfect trio for Cabal and Farah, a doubles tandem that has come into its own after years of climbing the ATP's rankings ladder, step by step, until they reached the top.
The Colombians are ready to make more history for their country in New York as they prepare for their quarterfinal match with Luke Bambridge and Ben McLachlan on Day Ten. But they know that no matter what happens the work never stops.
"Of course you have to keep working and you have to keep surfing the wave, let's put it that way," Farah says. "Now that the things are going your way, your confidence is high, you have to work even harder to keep creating that momentum and keep digging deep."
