http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/tennis/19431708 Not much of a winner, but I enjoyed his booming serve and the epic Wimbledon final with Federer. Tennis hasn't been the same in America since Sampras retired and you have to hope a legit threat comes along soon or tennis will fade out from the hopes of dreams of young Americans and become a truly European game of class, etiquette and power.
I was sad to hear about this. In spite of everything, he was always one of my favorites. I didn't care for his berating of linespeople and chair umpires, but I always loved how he was a battler. You also had to love his approach, particularly when he was a younger player. He was just going to blast a serve at you and dare you to try to return it. Most tennis analysts would say his repertoire was limited, and they would be right, but it sure was fun to watch when he got his serve going. I also can't help but feel a little bit sorry for him. I guess I shouldn't feel too much sympathy because he made a boatload of money, he did win a major and his retirement will consist of hanging out with his swimsuit model wife and doing a sports radio show on Fox Sports Radio. With that being said, though, he was just unlucky that he was born when he was. His prime came at exactly the same time as Federer's prime. Had Roddick come along a little sooner, it's not hard to imagine him winning a couple more majors and at least one Wimbledon title.
Seemed like he got frustrated a lot. Here is DC saw him shoot some balls ito the stands and yell. Of course we know this worked for Mcenroe, but in general, seemed like his lack of control was bitterly beaten down by Federes mastery of it.
Game was too one dimensional. The big serve, big forehand combo was not enough for him to dominate. I did like how he changed his game up later in his career, when he made that last Wimbledon final, by incorporating more of a net game. Anyways great player, could have been better. But when it's all said and done everyone is jealous of his wife.
Before Federer, you had Sampras and Agassi. Before them you had Courier and Becker. The road to glory always requires you toppling someone who's at the top of their game. All the pro's are highly skilled and know how to hit their shots... but getting over the bump in tennis requires mental fortitude and some killer instinct - not lucking into an easy draw. Nadal and Djoker managed to slow down Federer, so I don't have much sympathy to give Roddick in terms of 'but he came along at the wrong time..' If you put Federer's brain or cool in someone like Almagro, I have no doubt Almagro would be a grand slam winner despite having a one-dimensional game of creaming shots from the baseline. It's a cliche but winners ind a way. That being said, it's been a decade since the US won a major after seeing so much success in the 70s, 80s and 90s, and I wonder when the next big talent will come around with Nadal, Djokovic and Murray entering their primes for the next 5 years.
He came at the right time. His prime was one of the weakest eras in Tennis. There was Federer and no other real strong player. Other than those few years at Wimbeldon, Fed wasn't the reason Roddick didn't win majors. That one U.S. Open he had one of the easiest draws of all time.
Roddick will live to play another day as he absolutely rolled a pretty solid player in Bernard Tomic 6-3 6-4 6-0. In that last set, John McEnroe made the comment that Tomic might be getting close to a point where he should expect a fine for lack of effort. He looked lethargic the entire time, but in the third set, he was hardly moving for anything. Tomic's effort may not have been great, but Roddick was also playing fantastic tennis. I don't know if he feels liberated because he knows he's done after this tournament or maybe he was just preying on a mentally weak opponent, but he was doing things he hasn't done in years. He was stepping up to take the ball early, he was crushing forehands and he was coming to net a lot. Patrick McEnroe took the words right out of my mouth when he made the comment that this is the Roddick we have been wanting to see for a couple of years. He got a pretty good draw, as he will face Fabio Fognini on Sunday. If he plays anything like he did last night, he will beat Fognini fairly easily. After that, though, things get tough. Assuming the draw holds, he would have to take on Juan Martin del Potro in the fourth round.
He came at the right time? That is like saying barkley, ewing, malone, etc. came at the right. Fed is the GOAT, during his prime there wasn't anyone in any era that was going to beat him. He literally didn't make mistakes, and had no real weakness. He also went against nadal who is the greatest clay player of all time and could make a case for being top 5 player of all time.
Fed was as close to perfect as you can come. How someone can make it to EVERY grandslam semi for so long is insane. How can someone never have a bad day? If Fed played in any generation I think he still would have been the best player. Maybe not as dominate as he was during his time, but still the best. I also think that Djoko is going to go in the books as one of the greatest ever. I think he will finish with more slams than Nadal.
Roddick wins again, but he had to work a little bit in this one. Fognini looked terrible early on, so Andy was largely able to sleep walk through the first set. The second set contained a lot of really entertaining tennis, including a few points where Fognini almost ended up in the stands and some others where Roddick really let loose and celebrated, which is rare for him. The third set was the one that got away for Roddick. It looked like he took his foot off the gas, Fognini sensed that and took over. Andy came back and won the fourth set to win the match, but by the end of it, he had been forced to work hard and it even looked like he was moving around gingerly.
He was really taking it to del Potro early in that first set. He was getting in and winning a really high percentage of his first serves. Later in that set, though, DelPo was dictated pace with his groundstrokes which is exactly what Roddick didn't want. As a Roddick fan, I'm a little worried about del Potro coming out and playing well tomorrow. He looked tight when he first came out tonight and I'm not sure that's going to happen twice.
Gotta say imo that's pretty spot on. Always rooted for him but never enjoyed his game. Forehand was way too loopy not penetrating or deep enough and made it hard to hit placement shots. Backhand was a nice shot just not a strength of his. I always felt like if he had someone else's forehand it would all be another story. Also, he was a one hit wonder and got lucky that all the good players got knocked out for him when he won that US Open. Federer was beaten by I think Nalbandian and he beat Ferrero for the title, who I was never impressed with.
Never liked Roddick since his early years. This one girl in my English class was obsessed with him during his breakout year and maybe that annoyance made him dislike him. I think that was around the time Goran Ivanisavic finally won vs Pat Rafter @ Wimbledon. Two of my favorite players back then.
Thought he kept it together much better than I thought he would. Shows his toughness. Much better than Murray after losing Wimbledon.
Roddick went out fighting. American tennis will miss his game.. I hope Isner can be good consistently. As much crap as Roddick catches, I'm sure many heard the commentary today--only he and Federer have won a title in 12 straight years. And he has been in the top 10 for the last 10+ years or something.. very consistently good. Just didn't have the spikes of greatness (that were greater than Federer at his peak, at least) that would have left him with another Slam or 2
