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Roddick Is an Effusive,Extemporaneous 0708_Roddick.final_0512:Feature 5/12/08 9:07 AM Page 66 howled, pumped his fist, and turned to the and, despite rumors of his demise, very much crowd, which erupted. In the stadium, the still a force on the ATP Tour. Barring injury, momentum shift was visceral. he’s got at least five years of elite tennis left In the third set, the two players traded holds in his body. While he’s unlikely to take the until Roddick, up 5-4, struck one of the most throne back from Federer, Roddick clearly memorableshots ofhiscareer,ano-look back- believes he’s going to win more Grand Slam hand flick on a ball that had seemed impossi- events. And he’s probably right. ble to reach. Not only did he reach it; he hit it Here’s what he says he was really thinking LOOK AT ANDY RODDICK between sets one pastTroickiintoatinysliverofopencourt.The between those sets in Miami,when I was ready and two of hTis first match at thoe Sony Ericsson trajectory seemed to defy science. You won- to stick a fork in him: “I lost a set 7-5. The guy Open, in Miami, this past March was to see a dered if Ang Lee was directing. Roddick later played great.I served 35 percent first serves.So . man apparently deflated. He sat slumped, his calledita“freak-showtrickshot.”Thenextfew I was just thinking over stats and telling my- T N E face pointed straight down as if searching for points hardly mattered. Troicki was finished. self, You know what,this could turn quick,and M T R solace in the purple hard court beneath his Upon winning, Roddick thrust his arms to when it does, it could go fast.” A P E sneakers. There was no movement save for the the sky. It was a big reaction for a small match After dispatching his next two opponents, D T R A occasional twitch of the water bottle dangling and, as the tennis world would find out a few Czech Ivo Minar and Frenchman Julien Ben- / N from his fingers. He had just lost his first set days later, a sign of more to come. neteau, to reach the quarterfinals, something A G E since bowing out in the second round at his This year, Andy Roddick will not go quietly. momentous happened: Andy Roddick slew the R R I B previous tournament, the Pacific Life Open, in dragon.He beat Roger Federer.And as he did in A I L I Indian Wells, California, an undeniably disap- OF COURSE, ONE could take an alternative the match against Troicki, Roddick took some L Y B pointingresultina seasonthat had seemed,for view: that struggling against a middling player punches.Hewonthefirstset,thenlostthesec- G N I L the most part, overstuffed with promise. was just a harbinger of the Next Great Ameri- ond, and Federer entered the third in one of his Y T S It was the sort of match that, in previous can’s ongoing fade into mediocrity. bizarre zombie zones, in which he reels off P O R years, Roddick would probably have lost. His It’s a reasonable sentiment. After bursting points bythe dozens,hitting shots that mystify P ; Y talent is unmistakable (hence the 25 singles onto the global tennis scene with a nuclear and frustrate opponents. N T E titles, including the 2003 U.S. Open) and his serve (world-record speed: 155 miles per hour), Only this time Roddick hung in. “When he N G A physical condition is almost peerless (he hired a howitzer of a forehand,and a bombastic per- was hitting the shots,I would turn around and M / E L his first full-time traveling trainer in 2001 sonality that charmed beat writers and agi- walk back [to the service line] and wouldn’t do L E C and has continued to upgrade a massive off- tated the competition,Roddick rocketed to No. anything,” he told me later.“I would just go to N A R season routine—see “I’d Rather Be Playing 1 in the world rankings in 2003—then crashed the next point.As simple as that sounds,that’s F Y B Tennis,” page 117), but the American’s mental into a wee bit of a brick wall in the form of literally what I was thinking. I got through a G N I strength has not always been so certain.While Roger Federer, a.k.a. the Greatest Player in the game with three or four break points and all of M O O Switzerland’s Roger Federer is implacable, History of the Sport. Over the ensuing four a sudden he actually froze. I think me actually R G ; Roddick is the opposite: an effusive, exuber- years, Roddick lost to Federer 15 of 16 times, staying the course gave him the opportunity S G N I ant, extemporaneous bundle of emotion, ca- including twice in the Wimbledon final.In the to make mistakes.” T S A pable of winning—or losing—a match on the past several years, he’s also fallen behind Whenreportersswarmedtheinterviewroom H N whim of a moment. As his mood goes, so goes Nadal, the 22-year-old Spanish capri-pants to ask a very happy Roddick what had pleased A Y R the match. At least historically. Y B G N There in Miami,Roddick,ranked sixth in the I L Y world, had just fumbled the first set against T S . S an all-but-unknown opponent—Serbia’s 22- R RODDICK IS AN EFFUSIVE, EXTEMPORANEOUS BUNDLE E D year-old Viktor Troicki, No. 103—and was N E OF EMOTION, CAPABLE OF WINNING—OR LOSING—A MATCH P strugglingwiththeaccuracyofhiscannon-like S U S serve,trudgingaround the court infrustration. ON THE WHIM OF A MOMENT. AT LEAST HISTORICALLY. E G A ForallIhadheardaboutanewRoddickstillrid- T N I V ing the momentum of December’s Davis Cup enthusiast who dominates the French Open him most about the match, the first thing he ; N O championship, an energized player who had every year; and Djokovic, the lanky 21-year- said was“I thought I stood the course mentally T L I M won two tournaments so far in 2008 and de- old Serb who won the Australian Open in Jan- pretty well.” Pressed to assess the significance A H M feated both No. 3 Novak Djokovic and No. 2 uary. If you listened to critics—and there were of this quarterfinal match, Roddick said, “It’s I T Y Rafael Nadal in the process, I couldn’t help but many—Roddick had drifted into the second probably what’s been missing the last two, B S T think I had flown to Miami to witness a famil- tier of top pros. He was an athletic player who three years.” R O iar sight: Andy Roddick imploding. could make a run at any given tournament but Talk about an understatement. H S ; A The early moments of set two weren’t much was destined to languish somewhere in the Taking the long view, the win over Federer in L E I G better. There was barking, cursing, even a lower half of the top ten. Miamiwasasortoftangibleproofofsomething R A chucked racket. But Roddick fought, improv- It seems funny to imagine that someday bigger: a slow rebirth that dates back to the M N I T ing his service game, and then, up 3-2 and this trivia question might stump people: Davis Cup title last December, the first for the R A given an opening to break Troicki’s serve, he Who was the last player to hold the No. 1 U.S.since1995.Entering2008,Roddickwonin M Y B pounced on a lazy forehand and cracked a siz- ranking before Roger Federer’s epic reign? SanJose,thenwonagaininDubai,beatingboth T R I H zling crosscourt winner for the game. He The answer: Andy Roddick, then 21, now 25 Nadal and Djokovic.Despite the stumble at the S 66 Outside 0708_Roddick.final_0512:Feature 5/12/08 11:13 AM Page 67 UPSETTING KING FEDERER AGAIN WILL TAKE MORE THAN BEING THE FITTEST MAN IN TENNIS. ANDY RODDICK ALSO HAS TO CHILL OUT. MO OD SWI NG photo- graphs bymarc hom byjosh dean 0708_Roddick.final_0512:Feature 5/12/08 9:08 AM Page 68 his commitment to off-court training. He has always been ahead of tennis’s fitness curve. Though he’s gone through a string of coaches, including, from 2006 until early this year, Jimmy Connors in the role of consultant (Rod- dick insists they parted amicably after Con- nors decided he didn’t want to endure the travel obligations of the pro tour), he now seems to have settled into a groove with a team composed of his coach/brother, John, 32, and athletic trainer Doug Spreen, 38, hired away from the ATP in 2003. On a remote practice court in Miami,the day before Roddick would face Federer, I watched Spreen dilute a sports drink, cutting it in half with water so that it “absorbs quicker.” Rod- dick, Spreen said, has two things working against him when it comes to fitness.One is his size: At six-two and 195 pounds,he’s taller and Roddick in New thicker than most top pros. The other is a York, April 2008. higher-than-normal sweat rate.(“I’mdisgust- For a video of this photo shoot, go to ing,” Roddick said, pausing to set up his own outsidonline.com/ joke, “which was a real problem with my per- andyroddick.
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