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| Andy Roddick© Getty Images |
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| Andy Roddick© Getty Images |
By Erin Bruehl, USTA.com
It has been a tough few months for Andy Roddick.
The top-ranked American man has not played since losing in the second round at Wimbledon and missed Roland Garros with a shoulder injury that also forced him to retire from a semifinal match in Rome in mid-May.
However, Roddick will be back on the court this week at the Rogers Masters in Toronto, the second men’s tournament in the 2008 Olympus US Open Series, where he is also scheduled to play doubles with friend and fellow American Mardy Fish.
It is the first of four Olympus US Open Series events that Roddick will play, and the current world No. 6 is finally feeling 100 percent again and ready to head into the 2008 US Open.
“I feel great actually. I’m probably healthy for the first time since before Rome -- probably for the first time since our Davis Cup match against France,” Roddick said in a conference call. “(In practice) I’ve been able to go as long as I want, as hard as I want, which is a good thing. I’m not short of practice, which is really good.”
Roddick was playing well in the spring season before the shoulder started to bother him. After a third-round loss at the Australian Open, Roddick won his first title of the year on hardcourts in San Jose in mid-February and three weeks later won the title in Dubai, including a defeat of world No. 3 Novak Djokovic in the semifinals.
And as he usually is, Roddick has been stellar in Davis Cup play, going undefeated in the first round against Austria and the quarterfinals against France, as the U.S. tries to repeat as Davis Cup champion in 2008.
He also became engaged this year to model Brooklyn Decker, who has appeared in the Sports Illustrated swimsuit edition a few times, among other magazines.
“I feel like I had a lot of momentum going through April of this year, then kind of had a little bit of hard luck with the injury and stuff,” he said. “I kind of almost feel like I’m starting again. I’m starting a new season because I haven’t played that much. I’ve only played a couple matches in the past couple months.”
The second-round loss at Wimbledon was disappointing, although because of the injury, Roddick did not prepare the way he would have liked, and it affected his performance. Now, for the Olympus US Open Series and the 2008 US Open, that has all changed.
“I was feeling a lot of different pressures at Wimbledon just because I expected myself to perform, and I wanted to perform in a big tournament, even though I maybe might have had a reason not to be there,” he said. “So you’re fighting a battle of wanting to do well but then still not being prepared. It showed in my practices and in my matches. I feel physically prepared now, which is big for confidence.”
Roddick has shined at the Olympus US Open Series in the past, finishing third in the points standings last year behind Roger Federer and fellow American James Blake. He won the Legg Mason Tennis Classic in Washington, D.C. in 2007 and wanted to return to the tournament this year to defend his title. To play the Legg Mason, it meant Roddick could not compete at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, as the tournaments are the same week. The Legg Mason starts Aug. 11, and the Olympic tennis competiton begins Aug. 10.
It was a hard decision for Roddick, who played at the 2004 Olympics in Athens, reaching the round of 16.
“It was probably one of the most difficult decisions I’ve had to make in my career. You normally don’t have to choose between two huge events,” he said. “My decision had nothing to do with lack of respect for the Olympics or anything like that. I completely am the biggest fan of it, and I’ll be a huge fan watching from home. It had to do more with, at the end of my career, I want to have been making runs in slams.”
“So I felt the best way to do that is to play a lot in the hardcourt season and get my body ready for it,” he added. “I didn’t feel like a trip to Beijing, followed by playing a first-round match five days later at the US Open, was the best preparation for Flushing.”
The fast hardcourts at the tournaments during the Olympus US Open Series and the US Open play well for Roddick and his lightning-fast serve and crushing forehand shots. He won the 2003 US Open for his only Grand Slam title to date.
He has run into Roger Federer at the past two US Opens, losing to the world No. 1 in the final in 2006 and in the quarterfinals in 2007. The US Open is one of his favorite tournaments, which also falls on his birthday (Aug. 30) every year. During the 2008 US Open, which starts Aug. 25, he turns 26.
“I don’t think any other tournament in the world has that kind of almost rock show kind of feel to it. Night sessions at the Open are probably the most electric atmosphere that you’re going to find in our sport,” he said.
“I remember last year when I played Roger, the feeling before, you can feel the energy in the air and the buzz,” he added. “It’s not just a tennis tournament. It is an event in everyday life and even in pop culture. It’s kind of transcended tennis, and it’s just really fun to be a part of that.”