Embarrassing WTF for Roddick

HunterST

Hall of Fame
This was a disappointment for Roddick. I was hoping he could play well and it looked like he might when he took the first set off of Rafa and had a good shot at taking the second.

Unfortunately, it seems he revived his grinding strategy. He should have at least won one match. Now it looks like he can't compete with the top 8 players in the world. I'm not convinced that is true, but that is certainly the impression it will give off.

The pusher/grinder strategy is fine for early rounds, but he should know that he's going to have to step it up against the top 8 guys in the world.
 

mawashi

Hall of Fame
Roddick, Roddick... that's what you get for marrying a super hot, gorgeous girl... you spend more time with her than on the courts lol!

Lesson to players who have hopes of getting big... marry hot, gorgeous people AFTER retiring aka Elena Dementieva :)

mawashi
 

IlliniSky

Rookie
Roddick, Roddick... that's what you get for marrying a super hot, gorgeous girl... you spend more time with her than on the courts lol!

Lesson to players who have hopes of getting big... marry hot, gorgeous people AFTER retiring aka Elena Dementieva :)

mawashi

It looks like this may be Roddick's last appearance in the WTF.
 

wilkinru

Professional
i see no reason for roddick to not be there next year. he still gets solid wins and honestly had almost no luck this year - yet still made the final 8!
 

Agassi-Fan

Rookie
Yea Roddick didnt have a good tournament this year. For a hot second I kinda thought he was going to be able to be beat Nadal...but that shipped has sailed.

Who knows...maybe this really will be his last year in top ten? Its become quiet obvious that his forehand is junk and can't hurt anyone in the top 10 anymore.
 

Cloned_Spud

New User
We were sat approx 10 rows from the court and I have to say Roddick was no match for Djokovic who played a very solid & consistent match.
 

JoelDali

Talk Tennis Guru
We were sat approx 10 rows from the court and I have to say Roddick was no match for Djokovic who played a very solid & consistent match.

I saw ewe in the crowd on TV .... you looked Hawt beating dudes up.


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NadalAgassi

Guest
Roddick next year I think could end ranked anywhere from about 7-15. It is amazing he has stayed in the top 10 so long, 9 straight years now, even though he is far from a legend of the sport. It is a commendable achievement.

Making it back to the WTF next year? I would think he wont but it isnt impossible. Of the guys currently above him Ferrer is likely to drop, even more than Roddick probably, while Berdych is not a certainty to stay up there. Of the guys ranked below him there are many with the potential to pass him both amongst fellow vets or younger players, but few of them are a safe bet. Who knows how Del Potro will come back, if Davydenko will ever regain form (he is Roddick's age isnt he), how the erratic French players particularly Monfils and Tsonga will fare, if Cilic will come back strong from his sophomore slump, whether Querrey and Isner can take the next step, if Gulbis and Wawrinka can gain some consistency, if Verdasco is finished as a top 10er.

While it would seem strange to imagine Roddick being at #7 or #8 at this time next year it isnt impossible either.
 

HunterST

Hall of Fame
He's got to learn to take some risk if he wants to have a shot at beating the top guys.

He could crank that serve in with huge MPH, but he chooses to get 75% 1st serve percentage at 120.

He could flatten that forehand out and make some powerful shots, but he chooses to sacrifice pace for spin and keep his unforced errors (and winners) to a minimum.

Those strategies all work against guys below the top 15 or 20, but he's got to realize that to beat the top 8 he's got to take some risks.

Against the top 5-10, he basically has the choice between the possibility of making a lot of errors or the certainty of being out-gunned.
 

Cindysphinx

G.O.A.T.
Roddick's problem is that he isn't aggressive enough with his feet. Compare the way he hits with players like Ferrer and Davydenko. They are constantly taking balls early. Roddick waits on the ball, which is why he can't penetrate through the best players.

I was watching his offensive BH slice. He often doesn't even step into it. He just arms it. Compare this to Nadal or Fed's BH slice. They really try to nail it.

I think Roddick might as well retire. He is nowhere near winning another major.
 

Raistlin

Rookie
Roddick is a hard worker and even though he has shown that he is willing to make adjustments like firing coaches, changing up his style....when he is on court he looks like doesn't want to be there. And well, his serve really isn't a weapon anymore considering everyone above also have good servers and a good returners of his. He needs to diversify his game a bit more, and I honestly think he should indeed retire. As McEnroe once said, Roddick arrived at the wrong time in tennis...If there was no Nadal or Federer......maybe, just maybe....
 
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NadalAgassi

Guest
As McEnroe once said, Roddick arrived at the wrong time in tennis...If there was no Nadal or Federer......maybe, just maybe....

In every era there would be people better than him. Sampras and Agassi would dominate him in their mutual primes, heck he is 1-5 against Agassi and he played Agassi in his old age. Before that Lendl, Becker, Edberg, and Wilander would be better than him. Before that McEnroe and Connors, before that Borg. Hewitt in his prime had Roddick's number too.

It is not like Roddick is usually the World #3. He is usually ranked just outside the top 5 from #6 to #8 around. Someone like Davydenko ended the year ranked higher than Roddick for 4 years in a row. And it is not like Nadal being there makes much difference to his success anyway. Roddick has not even played Nadal in a slam since the 2004 U.S Open.

Roddick though deserves massive credit for being in the top 10 for 9 years in a row now. Amazing. That is a stat some much greater players than him dont even reach.
 
He's never 100% at the end of the season. He hasn't been playing good tennis for a while.

He just pushed against Nadal and Djokovic. I didn't see the Berdych match.
 

vive le beau jeu !

Talk Tennis Guru
if he didn't let the first match (which he should have won) slip away from his hands, he might have played better in the 2 last matches... but still, it was a disappointing performance.
 

Colin

Professional
He's never 100% at the end of the season. He hasn't been playing good tennis for a while.

He just pushed against Nadal and Djokovic. I didn't see the Berdych match.

He was dispirited after that close Nadal loss, and it showed. It's a shame because — despite what people in this thread seem to think about how he matches up with the other top players — he came into the tour finals with the best winning percentage for the year against the others in the tournament. Nadal was No. 2.

And the match he played with Nadal was the only competitive one so far, and the only mildly entertaining one. He had some great shots in the first two sets, but after he lost that tiebreaker it was like he was ready to pack his bags.

The key test will be how he performs in the first few months of next year — that's where he did well this year and amassed many of his points.
 

P_Agony

Banned
Roddick should have never lost the first match. He completely gave it away and I think he knows that and it affected his performance later on in the next matches.
 

AhmedD

Semi-Pro
Roddick needs to improve his footwork thats what, his timing is of most of the time, amazing how someone that can generate serves 140 mph and over cant rip a huge forehand. He's just using the upper part of his body, not the lower, you will rarely see roddick wind up his body and step into a ground stroke. It's not something a professional tennis player should do, power on your shots stem from your legs, not just your arms.
 

dmt

Hall of Fame
i dont see him ever winning a slam or even reaching a slam sf again. I dont like to say this because i want him to win a major more then i want any other player to win a major but its looking virtually impossible right now

Is Stefanki still going to be his coach next year?
 

Wilander Fan

Hall of Fame
Roddick needs to improve his footwork thats what, his timing is of most of the time, amazing how someone that can generate serves 140 mph and over cant rip a huge forehand. He's just using the upper part of his body, not the lower, you will rarely see roddick wind up his body and step into a ground stroke. It's not something a professional tennis player should do, power on your shots stem from your legs, not just your arms.

You know, he used to have a big forehand but he spins things in now. His backhand is very old school looking in that its really a 1HB with the left arm for support rather than a left handed forehand that most 2HBers use today. I wonder if he would think about trying to hit a 1hb exclusively since it would increase his range and he doesnt go for winners off his backhand anyway.

Hes had a good career so why not try and change things up next year?
 

jaggy

Talk Tennis Guru
I commend his consistency but then he starts the brat thing and I end up remembering how I cant stand him, its like I want to like him but he never fails to let me down.
 

cucio

Legend
Well, he had a great start of the season. His win over Nadal in Miami was probably the most tactically sound tennis performance of the year. But after that he faded out (as usual during the clay season) and didn't pick it up anymore.

He has probably come to the WTF without any rhythm, sort of like Nadal and Verdasco last year, and he is playing all the top dogs, there's no easy first round to warm up a bit and get into the tournament.
 

A-Rod6600

Rookie
After Wimbledon 2009 Roddick should have quit, the fall from stars to me was the uso match against tipsarevic, i was there to see him and the only good thing he did was arguing for the foot fault.
 

tacou

G.O.A.T.
Roddick is a hard worker and even though he has shown that he is willing to make adjustments like firing coaches, changing up his style....when he is on court he looks like doesn't want to be there. And well, his serve really isn't a weapon anymore considering everyone above also have good servers and a good returners of his. He needs to diversify his game a bit more, and I honestly think he should indeed retire. As McEnroe once said, Roddick arrived at the wrong time in tennis...If there was no Nadal or Federer......maybe, just maybe....

#8 in the world does not need to retire.

Roddick had a bad tourney. he wasn't in great form coming in and after blowing the match against Nadal I think he called it quits. Roddick always does a lot of work over the off season but one of these years he'snot going to feel like doing that work. I don't think this is the offseason.

He will make quarters at the AO, have a good US hardcourt season (though maybe not as good as last year) and do better at the US and Wimbledon, maybe even have a better clay season.

definitely at least one more top 10 season for Andy, but I hope, like he does Im sure, he beats some top players and makes some big finals again
 

pennc94

Professional
First and/or last appearance at the WTF for Berdych, Ferrer, Roddick.imo

Correct. They were lucky that Del Potro was out all year and Davydenko was out for a very large portion. This kept them both out of the WTF weakening this year's field.
 
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nikdom

Guest
I'm tired of Andy's game. I think it belongs in 2001. His serve and professionalism are keeping him in the top 10, otherwise his game belongs somewhere in the top 100.
 

Agassi-Fan

Rookie
I dont understand how his game hasn't evolved to keep up with the big hitters of the game??? He has an anwesome coach and I am sure it is quiet apparent to him that Roddick doesn't have an offensive baseline game.....at all.

Roddick must be just too stuborn to change his style of play...
 

b.termite

Rookie
Consider the fact that Roddick had mono for a significant part of the year. I got over mono last year, and I was out for about 3 months, pretty much bed ridden. For Roddick to still be able to compete at that high of a level after suffering from that kind of illness is amazing to me. He was still competing in the top 10 players in the world, while 99% of the people around would be bed in bed. You gotta give him credit for that.
 
He's been extremely inconsistent ever since his impressive spring hardcourt session, which is all the more impressive considering he's still #8 in the world and was just one match away from taking the #6 spot going into the WTF.

Look at his GSs this year: Quarterfinal, 3rd Round, 4th Round, 2nd. One of Roddick's worst years, yet he's still in the top 8. That should actually make him encouraged, not discouraged.
 
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