Roddick withdraws from Mercedes Benz Cup

[Rodzilla]

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2005/tennis/07/23/bc.ten.losangeles.roddi.ap/index.html

Roddick pulls out of L.A. tourney
Posted: Saturday July 23, 2005 12:33AM; Updated: Saturday July 23, 2005 12:33AM

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Andy Roddick pulled out of next week's U.S. Open tuneup at Los Angeles because of soreness in his right knee.

The hard-court tournament announced the withdrawal Friday, a few hours after the 2003 U.S. Open champion lost in three sets to Robby Ginepri in the quarterfinals at Indianapolis.

Roddick didn't mention the injury in his postmatch news conference. He did, however, complain about the demands of the ATP Tour's crowded calendar.

"This is ridiculous, the schedule we're expected to play, year in and year out," he said. "The last two years, I overcame it; this year, I didn't."

After reaching the July 3 Wimbledon final, Roddick had two weeks away from tournament competition before starting the summer hard-court circuit in Indianapolis.

"After consulting with my coach and trainer, we feel that it is critical that I have some recovery time," Roddick said in a statement released by organizers of the Mercedes-Benz Cup, which starts Monday.

Roddick is ranked No. 3, and he would have been seeded No. 1 at Los Angeles. His best showing there was reaching the semifinals in 2002.

He'll be replaced atop the seedings by three-time tournament champion Andre Agassi.

Copyright 2005 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

 

[pound cat]

He sounds like Safin...sore knee, too heavy a schedule...they're all falling by the wayside, Federer too.

 

[obackvalobasha]

ITs not easy and you are not in his sheos to judge him like that. Its easier to sit next to your computer and complain.

 

[akj27]

it is, which is exactly why were doing it

 

[obackvalobasha]

Pound cat, sounds like these tennis players are your slaves and they are being lazy sobs to complain about their over loaded schedules. I think we should wipe rodick and safin for not playing tennis 24/7 for your pleasure. don't you agree?

 

[friedalo1]

FED, Roddick, and Safin are always injured. The grinding of a year round tennis well shorten there career. These three players well end up playing only the majors titles.

 

[rhubarb]

Don't forget Hewitt - he's played the least of the top 5 this year - only six tournaments and DC, I think.

 

[rhubarb]

He sounds like Safin...sore knee, too heavy a schedule...they're all falling by the wayside, Federer too.

I don't know why Roddick didn't take some time off after Wimbledon - wasn't he playing WTT (or whatever it is) recently? He was planning to play 5 weeks straight on hardcourt as well. At least Safin, Federer and Hewitt were all taking a decent break at this point.

 

[The tennis guy]

I don't know why Roddick didn't take some time off after Wimbledon - wasn't he playing WTT (or whatever it is) recently? He was planning to play 5 weeks straight on hardcourt as well. At least Safin, Federer and Hewitt were all taking a decent break at this point.

I agree. You make your own schedule. You don't have to play those smaller tournaments as Roddick does if you don't want to. Federer and Hewitt don't play as much as Roddick and Safin.

Look at Federer's schedule, he didn't rush to clay after spring hardcourt season - withdrew from Monte Carlo, and he is not rushing back to hardcourt season after Wimbledon either - withdrew from Montreal.

You make your own schedule. No one forces you to play. Quit whining Roddick and Safin. Don't chase the dollars too much by playing almost everything in sight.

 

[pound cat]

obackvalobasha , I was making a comment about the fact that as of right now 3 of the top 5 players are dealing with an injury, and all 3 missed tournaments (Mercedes, DC, & Montreal) because of it. I did not intimate that any of them is a lazy sob (sic), not do I expect any of them to play 24/7 for my pleasure, or even for 1 second for the pleasure of any poster on this board.

 

[Fedubai]

Does Roddick have any obligations, other than money, to play these tournaments? If he has to play them (I don't why he would have to, just leaving that option open if someone has more info on how it all works) fine, but if he doesn't...I don't know what he's talking about. He can pick his own schedule.

My major beef is the scheduling of the Masters Series events. The Grand Slams are good I think, and the rest is pretty much up to the players, isn't it? I can understand talk about the Masters Series events, I think they could be scheduled a lot better than they are, but the rest....seems to me that you decide your schedule after mandatory tournaments are counted.

 

[nViATi]

i watched the match between him and ginepri. he got ripped off. if the chair umpire had called ginepri's second serve on matchpoint out(and it was out) then roddick would have won. after that he was too angry to play well.

 

[fishuuuuu]

He needs the time off, obviously.

And as far as who's fault his loss belongs to. It is ultimately in the end Roddick's fault. I am a huge supporter of him, and even though I hated that 80 mph call that was most obviously out . . . Roddick should've been able to recoup mentally and play back the set.

Hope to see him back in playing shape, physically and mentally, by USO!

 

[A-rodd]

Tennis is tough game, and really hard on the knees. I don't blame Roddick for pulling out of LA it seems like to much to soon. As far as his last match- he really did mentaly break down, and it was one of the worst break downs I've seen in a long time. I'm a huge Roddick fan and I really hope he can learn from his last match. He got so frustrated he just kept pounding his serve into the net and you could tell he didn't care any more if he won or lost the match after the bad call. I think that's his youth showing through and I think he'll become a better player because of mistakes like these. He must learn to controle these types of break downs, can you imagine how bad this would have been had it been the USO final?!

 

[Yours!05]

I agree. You make your own schedule. You don't have to play those smaller tournaments as Roddick does if you don't want to. Federer and Hewitt don't play as much as Roddick and Safin.
Look at Federer's schedule, he didn't rush to clay after spring hardcourt season - withdrew from Monte Carlo, and he is not rushing back to hardcourt season after Wimbledon either - withdrew from Montreal.
You make your own schedule. No one forces you to play. Quit whining Roddick and Safin. Don't chase the dollars too much by playing almost everything in sight.

Kafelnikov would've played 24/7 for $5. One year at the AO he kicked up a big stink about prizemoney in relation to other Pro sports too.
Obviously he saved a few more $$ by cutting his own hair as well.

 

[Deuce]

Fedubai wrote:
"Does Roddick have any obligations, other than money, to play these tournaments?"

When explored in depth, that's a tough question. Theoretically, the top 50 players are 'required' by the ATP to play the Masters tournaments. It's a nice idea... but the problem with it is that A) The players might want/need time off during periods where Masters events are scheduled - not necessarily due to injury. B) It puts players in a difficult position: their name is on the list of players due to participate. This, of course, helps to sell tickets. By pulling out at the last minute, they are not fulfilling their obligation to the fans, some of whom may have purchased tickets only because that player was scheduled to play the tournament. But what choice do they really have? The 'mandatory' nature of these tournaments makes it all but impossible to withdraw weeks or months before the tournament begins, or to not enter the tournament - unless one suffers a long-term injury of some sort.

If the ATP did not make a certain number of tournaments 'mandatory' - such as the Masters -, there might be fewer last minute withdrawals - which would mean fewer fans get 'screwed'.

Of course, the implications are more profound than this - this is but a brief overview of part of the problem.

 

[pound cat]

Obviously he (Kafelnikov) saved a few more $$ by cutting his own hair as well.[/QUOTE]

He's saving even more money now. He's stopped bleaching his hair and is his natural colour...dark brown.

 

[larrhall]

In a sense they do play for the posters here, in the sense that many are representative of the hard-core fan base. That is who - along with the corporations - pays the salaries of tourney and tour officials, 'pays for' the player endorsement deals, and so on. The fans buy gear associated with their heroes partly out of admiration for the work ethic, talent, etc. Andy can set his own schedule but it's not clear why he plays WTT if he wants time to prepare for the big tournaments. The game is definitely murder on the knees, but these guys are young. Each has an end point at around age 30 when they can play golf or poker or eat every night at fancy restaurants and sit on a beach at Maui.

I agree with the poster who said this is about more than scheduling. It's about Federer's dominance, it's about the guy called Nadal - who may be able to beat Roddick on hard courts now - it's about Hewitt and....Ginepri? Taylor Dent? Maybe not those two in particular, but if you're Andy and a year ago you were planning to be Federer's main rival and now you have to worry about every Berdych and Gasquet and Minar and Andrew Murray - that's the real deal. Does he hang out with Sharapova, etc., and settle for 6 or 7 or 9 in the world, or does he go the Lendl, Sampras, Agassi route. It's his choice, of course. Choice 1 is what most people would make.

 

[tennissavy]

Roddick withdrew because he is licking his wounded ego (loss to Ginepri). It was a pleasure to see Ginepri display some of the skill that he showed early in his atp debut. I hope he wins today. It is hard for me to like Roddick. He displayed a lot of arrogance, and nasty sarcasm toward the chair umpire and linesman. It was an even greater pleasure to see Roddick lose the match and know that he will lose a lot of ranking points as defending champion and lose to a much lower ranked player.