Andy Roddick: Downward spiral to retirement? – Tennis Special
Former world number one and once the top ranked American on tour, Andy “A-Rod” Roddick has taken a plunge in the rankings as of late as he first dropped out of the top ten and then now out of the top twenty.
Once the fastest hitting professional on tour with the highest ace count in a tournament, Roddick has now recently disappeared from the world of tennis making not so much as splash in Masters let alone the Majors. Starting his year at the 2011 Brisbane International as the defending champion, Roddick met with his first in a series of unfortunate incidents as he failed to defend his title against Robin Soderling. He next met with some bad luck at the 2011 Australian Open where he not only lost to Stanislas Wawrinka in the fourth round but also had his record of most number of aces hit and fastest serve broken by the rising Canadian Milos Raonic. Roddick did, however, have his revenge when he clinched the title at Memphis defeating the Canadian in three long sets.
Roddick’s win at Memphis was the highest point of A-Rod’s season as he set off on a downward spiral from there on. Losing early in the four Masters events, Roddick’s ranking points took another hit when he failed to defend his title to Miami exiting in his first match against Pablo Cuevas. Slipping out of the top ten for only the second time in a decade, Roddick soon started becoming news from the yesteryears. Although he crawled his way back into the top ten, Roddick would once more took a major hit as he pulled out of the French Open due to a shoulder injury.
The three time runner up at Wimbledon was expected to make a comeback at the 2011 Wimbledon following his semi-final appearance at the 2011 AEGON Championships at Queen’s Club. However, fate had other plans. Losing to Feliciano Lopez in the third round, Roddick came crashing out of Wimbledon with probably all hopes of ever winning Wimbledon crushed.
Recovering from a shoulder injury and battling mononucleosis, Roddick has had a tough time on tour and it’s amazing he’s made it as far as he has. However, the plague of injuries just wouldn’t let Roddick go. Scheduled to appear at the 2011 Legg Mason Tennis Classic in Washington, Roddick again pulled out of the event as he cited an abdominal injury. His injury stint continued as he again pulled out of the Montreal Masters citing an oblique injury. With so many tournaments missed the American kept taking blows one after the other. He finally returned to the tour as the eighth seed at the Cincinnati Masters, only to lose in the first round to Philipp Kohlschreiber. Roddick’s first round loss was the final nail in the coffin as he failed to defend his 2010 semi-final showing here, drastically dropping in the rankings and to right outside the top 20 at 21.
Is the A-Rod over and out? Can he return to the top ten before the year draws to a close? Competing at the Winston-Salem event, Roddick was surprisingly still the top seeded player. Perhaps in this field of lowly ranked professionals, the fast hitting American can clinch a title win and grab some valuable ranking points before arriving at Flushing Meadows.
A gift horse stares Roddick in the mouth at New York. With a vast pool of experience of eleven years sporting a 36-10 win loss mark, a title here in 2003 and a second round showing here in 2010, Roddick has much to gain should he make it to the quarterfinal or higher here. Although many critics believe that A-Rod like the Old Man Swiss should hang up his racquet now, Roddick should take the advice seriously considering his recent form. Though a re-entry into the top ten may add one two years more to his career, Roddick is seen exiting the tennis world as the big picture is painted.
Disclaimer: The ideas expressed in the article are the writer’s own personal views and have nothing to do with bettor.com’s editorial policy
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