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Is Andy Roddick playing aggressively?
7 Comments · Posted by Dan Markowitz in Articles, Dan M
Roddick seemed to think so. In the presser after his four-set loss to Janko Tipsarevic tonight, Roddick said he felt he played well and it was just that Janko was “coming up with the goods.”
“At the same time,” Roddick continued, “I was just trying to keep making him come up with it, you know, from all ends of the court just firing, pulling the trigger down the line flat, you know, time after time is not an easy thing to do, and he was able to do it.”
Roddick said he felt like he was hitting the ball firm, but by my count, watching the match from the middle of the second set, I didn’t see Roddick hit one winner off a ground stroke for 2 1/2 sets. Not one winner! Even when he had short balls in the middle of the court, Roddick could not hit an untouchable winner against Tipsarevic.
But when I asked Roddick whether he thought he played aggressively, he said, “I mean, yeah. A little tough to be aggressive when a guy is hitting every ball as hard as he can. I felt like I was hitting the ball pretty firm.”
Tipsarevic saw it differently. He came into the Press Conference room right after Roddick tonight around 12:45 a.m., and said, “I follow his matches (Roddick’s). Normally, he starts off defensive, and then when he sees that things are not going his way, he starts playing aggressive. That’s when he’s really dangerous.”
Later, Tipsarevic elaborated, “I don’t know how many winners he made during the match, not counting his serve…He has a great strength (in his serve), he has a good return and he’s incredibly fit. People say he was much more dangerous when he was young because he was really going for the forehand every chance that he had. And now I don’t see that. He’s a kind of player you need to beat…He’s going to wait for the mistake of the opponent rather than go for the big shot.”
Later, Tipsarevic said bluntly, “He needs to be more aggressive.”
A fan early in the third set tonight called out, “Be more aggressive, Andy.” But Roddick kept waiting for Tipsarevic’s “expiration date,” as Roddick stated, to show and it never did. Instead of trying to be more aggressive and hit winners, Roddick played a deadly waiting game. And now he’s out of the 2010 U.S. Open in the second round.
Patrick McEnroe stated on Thursday morning’s SportsCenter that “Andy Roddick will not be a factor in grand slams if he continues too play like he did last night.”
Did Roddick play aggressively?
Tom Michael · September 2, 2010 at 12:10 pm
First, Roddick did not play aggressively from the baseline because he can not in the first place. There is just a talent deficiency from the baseline. He is not the most crafty baseliner. His ability to plan points out, is not at the level of Federer and Nadal.
Despite most of his shots being deep and well-directed, there still was not much pace on his shots, whether he was on defense or offense. He had good speed on his serve, but it seemed like little action on the ball.
I am giving Roddick the benefit of the doubt. I believe he has not fully recovered his conditioning from being wiped out from the mono.
Andrew Miller · September 2, 2010 at 12:30 pm
I agree that Roddick’s gameplan for Tipsarevic wasn’t good and didn’t work. He also seems a little sick out there – Roddick was missing serves in important games that he usually has. So: bad loss for Roddick. I wonder if this officially marks the changing of the guard in U.S. tennis.
Author comment by Dan Markowitz · September 2, 2010 at 1:47 pm
Well, again, you can take Tom Michael’s approach, and say, Roddick has not fully recovered his fitness and match toughness. Roddick did say that he followed his game plan that he drew up before the match with Stefanki to the T.
“You know, on my little cheat sheet that Larry and I put together,” he said, “I wanted to keep my unforced errors down, which I did. He’s going to take big swings and pot shots at the ball. I wanted to make him do that from stretch positions, maybe on the move; I did that. I wanted to get a very high percentage of returns in play; I did that. I think it was close to 75% of returns in play.”
I agree with TM, watching the match, I wrote in my notebook, that when Andy starts missing first serves and not hitting aces regularly, he’s in trouble. And that started happening in the second set. Tips actually hit a 130 mph ace and Roddick’s best was 133 mph, and that was just once. So his serve velocity wasn’t there.
Author comment by Scoop Malinowski · September 2, 2010 at 3:21 pm
Enjoyable read Dan. Tips looked very very sharp on Court 5 as he practiced in late afternoon, focusing on returns. He looked like a man who was coming to win. Very businesslike and fast paced practice with only a small handful of people watching, including Richard P. Well done by Tipsy and Roddick took the painful defeat with class. Does anyone know what Roddick said to Tips at the handshake, it looked like a classy exchange by Andy, which Tips clearly appreciated. Nice match.
bibi · September 3, 2010 at 1:04 am
“Does anyone know what Roddick said to Tips at the handshake”
According to both guys’ pressers, Roddick told Tipsy he better not lose his next match, like he did when he had beaten him in the 2nd round at Wimbledon 2008, otherwise he’ll f-ing kill him. To which Tispy laughed and sort of rubbed his head against Roddick’s chest.
NAME · September 3, 2010 at 3:53 am
Scoop, when you went over to see the end of Melzer-Berenkis (I went over myself) did you happen to notice the ex-governor of NY standing up on the metal barrier surrounding the tree behind the ump ? Do a biofile on him.
Author comment by Scoop Malinowski · September 3, 2010 at 3:19 pm
Did not Name, I was in the seats on other side of court, directly across from Melzer’s chair. that’s very surprising to hear the Guv was out and about with the people, and not in some corporate box. Guv got to see a great finale by Melzer and Berankis.