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.

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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.

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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…)