nadal deserves to get abused by roddick

[devila]

I like his sense of humor off court, but he shouldn't make life difficult on court.

He should worry about winning a tournament and don't try to be an arrogant mind game player like Hewitt.

[Count Grishnackh]

I don't see Roddick's behavior to be an annoyance, I think its the fact that he's winning that ****es the haters off more than anything. If he lost all his matches and still did his so-called "antics" no one here would mention him. I'm from Spain and I love the Armada (Moya, Ferrero, Lopez, Nadal) but I was at Nadal's previous match against Heuberger and he kept doing the fist pumps every point he won. Ivo was giving him a stare down as well. When a guy is making fist pumps every time you lose a point you'd get ****ed too. I should know when I'm on the court too it really drives me nuts, even more so when you're winning because you think the other guy has lost his mind to get all jacked up while getting their *** kicked in the process. Yeah, you're destroying me tonight, c'mon!!!!!!

Another thing, I like Roddick and his game, I also like Hewitt, Moya and Ferrero. The thing is that w/o Roddick these message boards would be boring. Federer is number one and the best player right now but I don't see many posts about him, in terms of topics and people mentioning a certain player here Roddick is by far the most talked about by a mile over guys like Agassi, Hewitt, Moya and Federer.

Lastly, I suppose you decide right off the bat if you like a player or not, even if they didn't do anything to **** you off. I hated Sampras to death during all those years because I found him to be boring, unlikeable and just too dominant. I didn't find his personality or his game exciting and there was just "something" that I didn't like about him right off the bat. As opposed to Agassi and Courier, I just loved those guys because I found their games to be very exciting, revolutionary (at the time), intense and they made me want to go play tennis, eventually they got me into the game of tennis and for that I thank them.

The guys that make me want to hit the courts today are as I mentioned before (Roddick, Hewitt, Moya, Ferrero) and we all have something we don't like about certain players but please, get lives Roddick haters. I didn't like Sampras and I never posted a thing about him and I won't do the same for Federer either. I figure if I don't like a player, I don't waste my day posting about how much I hate them. I've got better things to do other than put posts all day about how much I don't like a player. One last time. Roddick haters, get a life and most importantly, get girlfriends to get you off these boards and in the bedrooms.

[yee]

It's always funny to see that whenever anybody makes a negative post about Andy, irregardless of whether they have a point in it or not, it's automatically viewed as haters by some Andy fans.

Some fans here need to learn the differences between criticisms and hatred.

[VamosRafa]

Now I can weigh in -- I couldn't have weighed in before, as I didn't have internet access after Wednesday. I left the US Open, and I went to the family cabin on the lake in Maine, with no TV or conventional phone access.

But I just HAD to watch the Nadal/Roddick match, so using my cell, I called my mother in Portland, and had her access the usopen.org site to get the order of play. And she did it. Which was great for her. I know you guys think I'm old; just think how old my Mom is, yet she's on the internet.

And my brother, who also is similarly old, came and got me by boat, and took me across the lake and then drove me to my Mom's house to watch the match. She does have cable.

As much as I like Golovin, I just wanted either she or Serena to win it so I could watch a part of the Nadal/Roddick match before taking the car/boat ride back to the cabin.

And Serena cooperated. Many thanks.

The first set from Nadal was less than impressive. Rafael was overwhelmed, and Andy was a man on a mission. And he set the tone for the match.

But Rafa didn't give up, and he settled down and played some decent tennis in the second set.

I knew which way the wind was blowing, so to speak, so my brother took me back to the cabin -- the winds kick up over the lake in the late evening. So I didn't want to get back there too late, but I was glad that the third set was more interesting, and from what was posted in the press, and by the two players, it sounds like it was a half-way decent match, with no bad blood.

I saw Andy's antics, and I think they were directed at the chair, not at Rafael.

As for Rafa's fist-pumping, he does it all the time. He does need to tone it down, and he didn't do much of it in the two sets I saw, but I'm sure when he got up a set in the third set, he was acting as if he won the match. That's his youthful energy. It's the way he pumps himself up. And Andy was asked about it in his interview, and he said:

Q. You looked pretty ticked off sometimes with Nadal's fist pumping?

ANDY RODDICK: No, I'd be hypocritical if I said anything. I think more than anything, it was just me being frustrated with the way he was playing there in the third set. On the court you might not like it, but I respect it. I like someone who's that competitive. He's down two sets to love, he's getting a pretty good whooping, and he's still in there fighting every point, living and dying every point. That's going to bode well for him in the future.

I think Andy said it all. It does bode well for Rafa's future, but no doubt, Andy did give him a whoopping here.

But so far, no one else has taken a game off Roddick's serve. But I'm sure things will change soon.

And Rafael and Tommy Robredo are into the doubles quarters. They beat the No. 4 seeds, Mahesh Bhupathi and Max Mirnyi, 6-4, 6-4.

Not a bad result for a couple of young claycourters, who specialize in singles.

Its all part of his game. Right now he is unbelievably hot and focused and it is easy to see. For god's sake he already hit several 152 mph serves in his last few games. He is simply overwhelming his opponents, and if he were to ease up at all he could lose his edge. He is playing in an intimidating style and it is working.

[VamosRafa]

If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

I think that will be his tactic against Robredo. It likely will be successful, unless Tommy has something up his sleeve that his compatriots haven't shown.