Tag Archives: Andy Roddick

August 6, 2012

OLYMPICS: Andy Roddick’s Career is Stuck. He’s Going to be Great TV Analyst, Though

By gregcouch

REPORTING FROM THE LONDON OLYMPICS

WIMBLEDON (Aug. 1) — It’s getting hard to watch Andy Roddick play tennis. You can’t figure out what his spot is anymore. What his role is. Is he the great American tennis star? No. Well, sort of, maybe.

He isn’t going to win another major or get anywhere near the mountaintop again, but he’s still the only men’s player to be a star in U.S. pop culture, married to Brooklyn Decker, swimsuit model. Can he win a big match? Maybe one. He’s not coming, he’s not going. He hasn’t stayed too long, but it’s hard to know what he’s staying for. Maybe he just likes it.

But he’s sort of just suspended there, killing time. And it could go on, uncomfortably, for a while.

“I feel like it’s extremes with me right now,’’ he said after getting crushed Tuesday by Novak Djokovic in the Olympics at Wimbledon. It was 6-2, 6-1 in 54 minutes. “If I win one, it’s like Career Appreciation Day. Then if I lose one, it’s like we should take him out in the field and shoot him in the head.’’

Roddick is going to be a great TV analyst. That’s where he can mean the most to U.S. tennis now, if he brings his sharpness and his brutal honesty with him. You might not know it, but privately he is thoughtful about all sorts of issues. His sarcasm and meltdowns can become selling points for TV, too.

Please read the rest of my column at FoxSports.com

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July 7, 2012

WIMBLEDON: How Does a Champion Know When it’s Time to Say When? Andy Roddick, Venus Williams Face the Big Question

By gregcouch

REPORTING FROM WIMBLEDON, ENGLAND — If you’ve never seen Venus and Serena Williams play doubles together, it is a beautiful thing. There is something about the body language, the togetherness, the love. But on Wednesday at Wimbledon, it was painful. They had two long matches in one day, when Serena would have been better off resting, as her singles semifinal would be coming the next day.

She was there for her sister, and that was nice, but it was also the uncomfortable part. They won both matches, but Serena was carrying Venus. It was Venus double-faulting, double-faulting, double-faulting. Three times in a row. The opponents trying to hit everything to Venus, who was missing easy volleys close to the net. Venus not moving well.

Earlier in the tournament, her tournament, Venus looked even worse while losing in the first round of singles.

Who wants to remember Venus Williams like this? Thirty-two years old, fighting Sjogren’s syndrome, which steals her energy, and struggling on the court.

“Am I struggling?” she said uncharacteristically defensive after losing her singles match. “Am I? I don’t know. Tell me what the struggle is.”

To win matches, someone said.

“I don’t know. I just want you to be clear,” she replied. “If you say I’m struggling, tell me how I should do better, you know? I feel like I am a great player. I am a great player.”

How does a great athlete know when it’s time to say when? That question is up with Andy Roddick, too. Roddick and Venus have been two of the three faces of American tennis (with Serena) for the past decade. Both are in decline.

Are both in denial?

Please read the rest of my column at FoxSports.com

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June 4, 2012

FRENCH OPEN: Yes, Andy Roddick Lost Again. But it’s not His Fault No Other Americans are Good Enough to Boo

By gregcouch

Andy Roddick loses again at the French Open

At some point, routines just become ruts. And while watching Andy Roddick in the first round of the French Open Sunday, you might have gotten annoyed at him. Irritated. Frustrated. You were in the rut.

It has been years of feeling that way about Roddick, especially at Roland Garros. But the truth is, it’s time to get off Andy Roddick’s back.

He’s not the present anymore. He’s the past. And it’s not his fault that no other American player has been good enough to move into the present and take the torch of U.S. tennis from him. Roddick, aging, stands there holding it, judged by it.

He lost 6-3, 6-3, 4-6, 6-2 to Nicolas Mahut, the guy known for losing the marathon 2010 Wimbledon match to John Isner, 70-68 in the fifth set. Mahut is 30, and a journeyman. Before Sunday, in his long career, he had won just one match in the main draw of the French Open.

Please read the rest of my column at FoxSports.com

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September 11, 2011

U.S. OPEN: Was this Andy Roddick’s Last Run?

By gregcouch

Andy Roddick

Reporting from the U.S. Open for FoxSports.com

FLUSHING, NY — Whatever Andy Roddick is, he’s energy. Either he’s an overachiever reaching No. 1 without much talent or an underachiever winning young and then letting the game pass him by. But he’s emotion.

Either he’s a feisty competitor or a creep, but he’s passion. And that spills over into the crowd, which wants to cheer him on or curse him out. Sometimes both.

Either way is fine with Roddick. With him, everything is an argument.

But on Friday in the world’s biggest tennis stadium, in the world’s loudest city, in the quarterfinals of maybe the world’s most important tournament, the US Open, the crowd did something different.

It sat there quietly while Roddick was crushed by Rafael Nadal.

Crickets.

And it was so strange that it threw Roddick off, made him suspicious about what was going on and why.

“I think you’d rather be booed than have silence,’’ he said after losing 6-2, 6-1, 6-3.

“You know, it’s an empty feeling.’’

The match, as well as the crowd, was the sound of one hand clapping.

And you can’t be certain what thousands of fans are thinking. They might be thinking thousands of things. But they all acted as one, and I’m pretty sure I know why:

American tennis fans felt sorry for Roddick. Not just for the moment, but also for the realization of where his career is. This was Roddick’s last stand. Jimmy Connors’ famous run? Andre Agassi’s? Pete Sampras’?

This was Roddick’s. The last stand for the longtime face of American men’s tennis.

 

Please read the rest of the column at FoxSports.com

1 Comment   |  tags: , , | posted in Andy Roddick, Rafael Nadal, US Open, US tennis

September 9, 2011

U.S. OPEN: Tennis’ Conflicts of Interest Leave Players out in the Rain

By gregcouch

Reporting from the U.S. Open for my column in FoxSports.com

Rafael Nadal not looking happy in the rain

NEW YORK – It doesn’t look good when super-rich athletes who travel the world for work, with supermodel wives or girlfriends, are complaining about working conditions, publicly talking about the need for a union because they were expected to compete when it was misting outside.

I mean, boo hoo.

But Rafael Nadal, Andy Murray and Andy Roddick went into the US Open tournament referee’s office Wednesday to stand side by side and complain after they had been forced to play. And despite appearances, this was important.

“They know it’s a lot of money, and we are just part of the show,” Nadal said later, on ESPN. “They are working for that (show), not for us.”

The thing is, the players were right. And it’s a much bigger issue than the player mini-revolt suggested. It might be a turning-point moment in tennis.

It might be, but I doubt it. That would take untangling the world’s biggest ball of yarn first.

 

Please read the rest of my column in FoxSports.com

2 Comments   |  tags: , , , | posted in Andy Murray, Andy Roddick, Rafael Nadal, US Open

August 16, 2011

Widdle Andy Woddick has Another Tantrum. But this one had a Twist

By gregcouch

Andy Roddick had another embarrassing tantrum

I don’t dance unless there’s music playing.

That’s what Widdle Andy Woddick said to the chair umpire during his latest itty bitty temper tantrum Monday night in Cincinnati. He had blown the second set, broken his racquet and then, a little later, angrily drilled a ball into the stands.

He didn’t think the chair umpire should have done anything, I guess, much less give him a point penalty, as the rules called for. From there, Roddick fell apart. Time spent on the court during play was sort of the filler for Roddick until he could get on with his main objective, which was to sit down during changeovers and argue some more.

We’ve seen plenty of tantrums from Roddick before. He once spent endless time arguing with a line judge who had said he foot-faulted with his right foot. Actually, it had been his left, as if that mattered.

Roddick is great when he gets ahead. But any speck of trouble, and he falls apart. That’s not new. What is new is this:

Roddick gave up. He stopped running for balls. His comfort wasn’t in winning, but in whining. That was pretty stunning, as he took a 7-6, 4-2 lead over Phillip Kohlschreiber, and then lost 6-7, (7-5), 7-5, 6-1.

He just quit trying. Why? I think it’s starting to hit him that he isn’t going to win another major, that his time as a top tier player has passed, that his career isn’t going to end up the way he expected. Continue reading

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July 29, 2011

How Far Can Mardy Fish Go? Should We Buy in? Does he Believe?

By gregcouch

 

Mardy Fish

The feelgood story that is Mardy Fish just keeps feeling better and better. He is into the top 10 now, won in Atlanta, and is heading straight for the finals again this week in Los Angeles. The problem with Fish is this:

How much should we buy in? How far can he take this?

Up to now, his story is about his newfound maturity and commitment late in his career, his weight loss and commitment to fitness. It was a cute story when he passed Andy Roddick in the rankings this spring to become the top-ranked American. Roddick wrote him a note of congratulations and said he’s coming back to reclaim that ranking.

But the truth is, it wasn’t just a nice moment for Fish, and Roddick isn’t going to pass him back. Fish isn’t just the top-ranked American.

He is the best American.

For now, no other American man can win a major championship. Can Fish? The stars would have to align.

He is rolling through the first part of the U.S. hard court season, leading up to the U.S. Open. But Americans have been duped for years by believing in Roddick. And if they’re going to buy into Fish, it would be nice to know that he’s buying in, too. Continue reading

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