Andy Roddick has played some great tennis yesterday in the semi-finals of Miami Masters 1000 to beat Rafael Nadal 4:6, 6:3, 6:3.

Nadal has been playing great the whole week (except the first set against Nalbandian) and while Roddick didn’t have big problems with his opponents either, I personally had big doubts that Andy could beat Nadal in his current form.

The reason for my doubts is this: Andy has been playing too controlled and too conservative tennis – in my opinion.

I mean too controlled tennis to win major tournaments and to get into the top 3 in ATP rankings.

His game has matured so much in the last 5 years as a result of his work with Jimmy Connors and other experiences coaches but there was also a hidden drawback to this – all the coaches were focused on eliminating Andy’s errors and weaknesses and Andy has been listening to them too well.

He cut down on his unforced errors and I believe that he became just too focused on not making any mistakes at all.

If you’ve been watching tennis closely in the last few years, try to remember some spectacular or inspirational shots from Roddick. I personally cannot remember many. (more…)

Let me just say for the record , that I would really like to see Andy Roddick win at least one Wimbledon since he is a great player, has been improving his game and is really an honest guy.

I’d also like to see Roger Federer crack that record of Pete Sampras too since he is really in a league of his own when it comes to the mastery of the complete tennis game.

So I basically wanted both players to win but that’s of course not possible. So let’s see how the match went…

Roger Federer wins against Andy Roddick in the Wimbledon 2009 / Photo by Julian Finney/Getty Images

Roddick started the match very relaxed, hitting his first serves around 135 mph and easily won the first game. Federer showed in his first service game that he can serve well too although the players did engage in 2 baseline rallies.

But the games went really fast as there were many first serves in (around 80% for both players!) and the Federer and Roddick finished the first 3 games in 5 minutes… (more…)

Andy Murray and Andy Roddick started the first set of their Wimbledon 2009 semifinal playing their typical grass court tennis; Roddick relied on his big serve and controlling points with a forehand and Murray changed pace and rotation of the shots all the time; from fast flat forehands to slow backhand slices.

One of Murray’s tactics at the beginning was to lob a lot but none of the attempts was really good. If you read Brad Gilbert’s Winning Ugly, you may remember Brad suggesting that it’s good to lob early in the match in order to keep the attacking player from closing in on the net too much.

You need to instill some doubt in the player at the net by lobbing regularly and then it’s going to be easier later to pass with a short cross court for example since the attacking player will stand further back to cover the possible lobs.

Both players held serves, keeping the first serve percentage very high. Andy Roddick’s first serve percentage at 5:4 in the first set was 85% which is unbelievable for the speed with which he serves… (more…)

Roger Federer – Andy Roddick quarterfinal match at the US Open 2007 was one of the highest quality tennis matches I’ve seen lately.

It reminded me of the famous Agassi – Sampras quarterfinal match in 2000 when all 4 sets went to tie-break and Sampras won 3-1.

Andy had the right tactic to play Roger – attack the attacker.

Roger is at his best when he controls the game, makes you run, makes you hit low sliced balls and forces you to make impossible passing shots.

(more…)

Hi Tomaz,

What is Andy Roddick missing from his game?

From a technical point – his backhand is just solid and not a weapon. It used to be a weakness and Andy had to work really hard to compensate for that weakness with his serve and forehand.

Consider also the possibility that if his backhand wasn’t a weakness, he might have never developed such huge forehand since there wouldn’t be a need for it!

So basically his just rallies with his backhand and doesn’t put enough pressure on his opponents. They are able to neutralize him.

(more…)

Wimbledon saw yesterday 3 exciting and surprising matches where top ranked players lost their leads. 2 of those lost the match, 1 managed to win.

First, Andy Roddick was two sets and a break up against Richard Gasquet and lost this lead and the match 4-6, 4-6, 7-6 (2), 7-6 (3), 8-6.

Second, Justine Henin was a set and a break up against Marion Bartoli and lost the lead and the match 1-6 7-5 6-1.

And third, Novak Djokovic was two sets and a break up against Marcos Baghdatis, lost the lead and eventually managed to win in the fifth set 7-6 7-6 6-7 4-6 7-5.

(AFP/Adrian Dennis)

So why do such experienced players lose a lead? Why does this happen? (more…)

Everything started with a very tough draw for Michael Russell, ranked 67th, who had to face Roger Federer. Russell of course didn’t have a chance but did put up a good fight losing 6-4, 6-2, 6-4.

Next to go out was Justin Gimelstob who played an experienced clay courter Nicolas Almagro and lost in straight sets too.

Amer Delic was also unlucky with the draw since he played a former world nr.1 and French Open champion Juan Carlos Ferrero.

All these 3 defeats were not as shocking as the next two: Andy Roddick and James Blake.

Andy had a good preparatory period before the French Open, playing lots of matches on clay courts and getting used to grinding it out. But Igor Andreev was too tough in the first round. Andy lost 3:1 in sets after winning the first set. (more…)