Andy Roddick at Grand Slam crossroads
It’s not been a great year at the Grand Slams for Andy Roddick, and Janko Tipsarevic yesterday ensured there was to be no happy ending for the American No. 1 at the US Open.
Roddick, who won his sole major title in Flushing Meadows in 2003, was knocked out of the 2010 tournament in the second round, as the Serb overcame a one set deficit to post a 3-6, 7-5, 6-3, 7-6(4) win over the ninth seed.
And as frustrations boiled over for Roddick, it was a line judge who foot-faulted the world No. 9 as he served to stay in the third set who bore the brunt of his ire as Roddick ranted at on-court officials for more than a minute. Television replays indicated the 28-year-old might have been better advised to hold his tongue.
It’s not the first time Tipsarevic has inflicted a surprise defeat on Roddick at a Grand Slam either, with the world No. 44 also knocking Roddick out of Wimbledon in the second round in 2008. Roddick bounced back the next year to challenge Roger Federer for the Wimbledon crown in an epic final that finished 16-14 in Federer’s favour in the fifth set.
The question now is whether Roddick can bounce back from this loss in a similar manner to the way he did at the All England Club, or whether his recent results are indicative of greater problems with his big-serving, big-hitting game.
Tipsarevic certainly seems to think that may be the case.
"People say that he was much more dangerous when he was young because he was really going for the forehand every chance that he had," said Tipsarevic. "And now I just don't see that. He's a kind of player that you need to beat. Let's just say, in my opinion, he's going to wait for the mistake of the opponent rather than go for a big shot."
The statistics from yesterday’s match seem to bear that assessment out. While Roddick produced 23 winners, excluding his 17 aces, Tipsarevic was the more aggressive of the pair, finishing with 50 winners in addition to his 15 aces.
To be fair to Roddick, he’s been a bit under the weather of late, and after losing in straight sets to Frenchman Gilles Simon at the Legg Mason Tennis Class in Washington in August revealed he’d been suffering from a mild case of mononucleosis (glandular fever) for the previous couple of months.
The diagnosis may have offered some explanation for his defeat by the relatively unknown Yen-Hsen Lu in a five-set fourth-round match at the All England Club, while his third-round exit from the French Open can be explained by the fact Roddick has never had any real affinity for the clay courts of Roland Garros. His best result came at the Australian Open (where he was a semi-finalist in 2009), where Marin Cilic claimed a five-set quarter-final victory over Roddick.
The 2011 season now looms as a pivotal one for Roddick, who is now at risk of not only losing the mantle of American No. 1 to one of two compatriots who have enjoyed career-best years this year in John Isner and Sam Querrey or the slim-line and rejuvenated Mardy Fish, but also of entering the majors not as one of the player expected to feature in the second week of competition, but one of the challengers to those who are.
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