US Open 2010: Birthday Boy Roddick feeling healthy to grab second title
The American tennis player Andy Roddick always seems to start the season’s final grand slam- US Open- with a reminder that time is running short for him in order to capture another major trophy.
This season his 28th birthday comes on Monday which is also the opening day of the 2010 US Open championship; however, Roddick hopes that the biggest party for him comes on the final day of the tournament at Arthur Ashe Stadium as it did happen when he captured his only grand slam title back in 2003. "The desire to win is always there. Whenever you come in, you always try hard to win,” he said. "As far as my birthday is concerned, I don't think much about my age, all I know at the moment is that I am going to play as long as I feel like.”
Currently world no. 9, Andy Roddick has lost four major finals, all at the hands of the Swiss Roger Federer since grabbing the US Open trophy back in 2003. He lost the 2006 United States Open final as well as a total of three grass court Grand Slam finals. This season, Andy made a stunning fourth round grass court grand slam departure and it was not until few days ago that doctors diagnosed him with mononucleosis, a bacterial infection. "At times during my practice sessions, I felt extremely weak as far as my physical fitness is concerned,” Roddick said.
"I felt something wrong after I returned from the grass court grand slam at the All England Club.” He further added, "It was actually quite frustrating as I wasn’t able to practice for long on the courts. Then I realized that something is definitely going wrong and I consulted a doctor.” The American was uncertain for the final grand slam warm up event at Cincinnati; however he not only participated in it but also made his way into the semi final round which would definitely help him for his confidence at the Flushing Meadows.
"That week was very important for the US Open preparations as well as for the confidence. To play five good matches in a total of six consecutive days is not easy. Just three or four days before the start of Cincinnati, I didn't even know whether I was playing or not? I had been facing problems with my fitness and nothing was sure at that stage.” Roddick said. However, after defeating the US Open fifth seed Soderling as well as the third seed Djokovic in back to back clashes, Andy’s confidence has improved a great deal.
Earlier, due to his illness Roddick couldn’t play at his best and thus fell out of the top ten rankings few weeks ago. But with a semi final run at the Cincinnati Masters, he has once again improved his ranking to number nine. "I didn't get upset when my ranking fell out of the top ten as I knew that I wasn’t playing at my very best due to illness. I am fully aware of my abilities and when I play well in my perfect form I am able to at least reach the later stages of the tournaments,” said Roddick.
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