A Message for Roddick - One of the worst articles on Tennis

[illkhiboy]

So I was browsing through CNNSI.com to check out some tennis articles and I came across one of the worst I have ever read. This woman's giving advice to Roddick on how to beat Federer. Some excerpts,

Yes it may be pretty, even poetic at times, but aesthetics don't win points in tennis, and with a return as potent as Roddick's he should be all over Federer's feeble backhand.

Attack the net: Federer struggled early in his match against Hartfield because the Argentine offered up big kick serves and wasn't afraid to come to the net. With Hartfield's adept net play, Federer struggled to maintain his consistency throughout the first two sets.

Use some gamesmanship: Tennis is as much mental as it is physical. You have to get into your opponent's head. After dropping the second set 6-1 and going up 1-0 at the beginning of the third, Federer waited patiently for Nadal to begin his serve after the changeover. Federer waited. And waited. And waited. In fact, in what can be only seen as an effort to rattle Federer and throw him off his game, Nadal took almost a three minutes to come back to the baseline and begin his serve. Federer was visibly annoyed. Nadal won the game at love and Federer's game began to really unravel. This is what Roddick needs to do against Federer. Slow the game down, letting Federer know that Roddick is in control.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2006/writers/elizabeth_newman/06/22/andy.roddick/index.html

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2006/writers/elizabeth_newman/06/22/andy.roddick/1.html

What the hell is wrong with this woman? Come to think of it, she resembles Condi Rice a lot.

 

[Swissv2]

I am sure she knows quite a bit on how to be a champion tennis player

 

[snark]

That is truly idiotic. Attack the backhand -- who would have though of that brilliant strategy? I think Roddick is all set now.

 

[The tennis guy]

Maybe French Open is the only tournament she watched in the last 3 years which is why she is offering these advices to Roddick. Roddick already knew, and tried, and didn't work. Poor Roddick, maybe he has just accept that unfortunately his best surface is also Federer's best.

 

[The tennis guy]

Maybe French Open is the only tournament she watched in the last 3 years which is why she is offering these advices to Roddick. Roddick already knew, and tried, and didn't work. Poor Roddick, maybe he has just accept that unfortunately his best surface is also Federer's best.

She got the same idea as some posters here: Federer is more vulnerable now. Why, because he lost at French final? Why wasn't he more vulnerable in 2004 when he lost in the 3rd round of French, or why wasn't he more vulnerable last year when he lost to same Nadal at the semifinal? Pretty strange logic.

 

[Tennis_Monk]

I wish we had this article a few weeks ago. I would have signed up for wimbledon. With her tips, i would have easily beaten federer (6-0,6-0,6-0
??) and whoever beats no:1 player in the world will be new No:1.

I wonder what tips she would offer for Federer to beat Roddick (now that roddick will be attacking federer's back hand)


Her statements should be added to the "Myths by this board" section.

 

[Virtuous]

...and with a return as potent as Roddick's

lol, this alone screams that she has no clue

 

[superman1]

She's right that it's all mostly mental, if you don't believe you can beat Federer then you have already lost. And she's right that Roddick does have the talent to beat Federer at least once in the entire time that they are on tour together, and he would be well advised to become more adept at net and shorten points that way.

The only problem is, Roddick is having a hell of a lot more problems with the rest of the ATP than with Federer right now. He and Federer have not even played since Cincinnati last year, so maybe Roddick should be more focused on actually winning enough matches to meet Federer.

 

[Bassus]

Potent return???

Since when does Roddick have a potent return game? I'm not one to slam Roddick, as I like him as a player and generally hope he does well, but his return game is terrible.


Plus, Roddick cannot attack Federer's backhand like Nadal can because his own backhand isn't that good, and of course because the grass won't allow the ball to bounce as high, and because he can't move as well as Nadal, and so on and so on. Roddick, like Hewitt and most players not named Nadal, needs Federer to have an off day -- its as simple as that.

And I don't think that Nadal 'sensed' Federer's weakness in the French final. Everyone knew he was going to try and breakdown the backhand. The only question was whether or not it would work, but everyone knew that would be Nadal's strategy from start to finish, he just didn't play well in the first set, and gave it to Federer, who then promptly returned the favor the next set.........that match was such a disappointment.

 

[Bassus]

lol, this alone screams that she has no clue

Exactly. Sometimes it may be frustrating that tennis doesn't get more attention from the SIs and ESPNs of the world, but often times when they do you read or hear something like this that makes you think they have absolutely no idea what they are talking about.

 

[textbook strokes]

Her second advice is also suicidal, given the lowsy net game Arod has. Who is this woman?... or beter yet; Is SI a good magazine for tennis?

 

[Punisha]

LOL roddick coming to the net always makes my day. Seeing him screw up touch volleys cos of the boomstick hes using is so amusing.

Seriously though... federer wouldnt even need to try for the pass or lob. Just hit a decent shot thats not straight to him and you have the point.

 

[baseliner]

Its one thing to have the right strategy, an entirely different to carry it out. For ARod to attack Fed at the net he would have to learn to volley--probably not going to happen at this stage. Funny read nonetheless.

 

[Shabazza]

She's not writing for "onion"?! - and I thought it was a good joke... :|

 

[lucky leprechaun]

some real silly assumptions in there. like if nadal can do it, why not roddick. dumbest leap of logic i ever seen.

 

[na2b]

she sounds like she knows what she's talking about when in fact she really doesn't.

maybe she thought she could get away with writing such an article when she hasn't really done a lot of research to prove her points.

some people. tsk tsk.

 

[Shabazza]

she sounds like she knows what she's talking about when in fact she really doesn't.

maybe she thought she could get away with writing such an article when she hasn't really done a lot of research to prove her points.

some people. tsk tsk.

It's called "B-u-l-l-s-h-i-t-ting" ask Prof. Harry G. Frankfurt

damn I hate censorship

 

[Tennis_Monk]

She's right that it's all mostly mental, if you don't believe you can beat Federer then you have already lost. And she's right that Roddick does have the talent to beat Federer at least once in the entire time that they are on tour together, and he would be well advised to become more adept at net and shorten points that way.

The only problem is, Roddick is having a hell of a lot more problems with the rest of the ATP than with Federer right now. He and Federer have not even played since Cincinnati last year, so maybe Roddick should be more focused on actually winning enough matches to meet Federer.

Roddick has nothing that troubles federer. Sure he can beat federer once when federer's game is really off and everything falls in place for Roddick.

Its proven well beyond doubt that to win against federer you need a
Solid Potent backhand (something which Nalbandian, Richard gasquet, Andre Agassi , Marat Safin has) Or a huge lefty topspin forehand (like Nadal)
Accurate shot selection (refer above list..)

None of the above players (barring Safin) has a huge overpowering serve. They all have good and accurate serves.

All in all.....Roddick...no luck.

 

[superman1]

Roddick actually threw everything he had at Federer in the last 2 Wimbledon finals. I mean, he really gave it his all on every point. Even Nadal doesn't fight that hard. He was constantly charging the net last year and Federer would still rip the backhand crosscourt passing shot. He was even hitting his backhands harder than I've ever seen him hit them. I guess he really doesn't have what it takes.

 

[dmastous]

LOL roddick coming to the net always makes my day. Seeing him screw up touch volleys cos of the boomstick hes using is so amusing.

The racquet's not the problem..

 

[127mph]

who is a woman to tell us how to play tennis in the first place, she probly wants equal prize money.

 

[jukka1970]

She writes for sports illustrated, that should be a signal right there to ignore the article in its entirety. Sports Illustrated has never been good with the for lack of better words, lesser played sports. They mainly cover basketball, baseball, hockey and football, oh and of course the swimsuit models. what a joke.

Jukka

 

[jukka1970]

Thanks for giving us the article. I read it, and I just sent off an email to sports illustrated dot com, and basically said if you're going to cover tennis, try hiring someone that has at least a clue about the sport.

Jukka

 

[Chang]

1. Roddick's forehand is not as good as it used to be.
2. Federer seems to be quite good at pulling off low percentage shots on grass.
3. Roddick's returns potent?
4. Federer's feeble backhand? I suppose Roddick's backhand is good then.
5. Eastern backhand probably won't work on clay but it will work on grass.
6. Roddick attacking the net?
A very one sided article. Focuses on Federer's weaknesses but doesn't tell Roddick how to cope with Federer's strengths. Federer hater for sure. As for American tennis, why doesn't she mention James Blake?

Overall, very biased and it's a lot easier said than done. It's grass not clay.