Andy Roddick confirms to play at the SAP Open 2012 - Tennis News
A former world number one, Andy Roddick, is geared up to play at this 123rd edition of the SAP Open taking place from February 3rd to February 20th. This tournament is part of the ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals)
World Tour 250 series event held at the HP Pavilion in San Jose, United States.
The American veteran withdrew from the first Grand Slam, Australian Open, due to a hamstring injury. His increasing age restrict him from participating in tournaments every week.
"The years of me playing 20 events are probably finished," the 29-year-old Roddick said. "I've got to get healthy, and I don't think playing every week will help that."
The Best American player of the decade, Roddick hasn’t hit the ball since his withdrawal from the Grand Slam event held in Melbourne, Australia.
"It's a concern," the American said during a conference call Wednesday. "We've been working on different treatments. I hope to hit balls next Monday and if all goes well that should be enough time."
However, the American is bidding for his fourth title at this hard court tournament. He previously triumphed in 2004, 2005 and 2008. Roddick also reached the title-round two years ago. After being a top four player of this tournament, the veteran will not
play his first match until February 15th.
Roddick is seeded second in this event, landing behind France’s Gael Monfils, world number 13. The booming Canadian, Milos Raonic, is the third seed at the HP Pavilion. The Canadian youngster is ranked 28th in the ATP rankings and is in awesome
form. He cruised at the Aircel Chennai Open in the first week of January and after upsetting the top two seeds, Nicolas Almagro and Janko Tipsarevic, Raonic grabbed his second career title.
Other seeded players featuring in this hard court event are Kevin Anderson, Radek Stepanek, Julien Benneteau, Donald young and Olivier Rochus. In addition to this, Austrian ace, Lleyton Hewitt, and the local rising star, Jack Sock, received wild cards for
this event.
After this event, Roddick will play at Memphis where he won his maiden title last year. Currently ranked at 19th, the American is also scheduled to play an exhibition match against the world number three, Roger Federer, at the Madison Square Garden.
He widely talked about his opportunity to play in New York and when asked about his chances to overpower Federer, Roddick said, "If I had figured out (how to beat Federer) by now, I'd have a couple more Wimbledon titles."
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