The decline of Roddick's FH after 2008 Rome SF

[d-quik]

I always hear of people complaining of Andy's forehand becoming too loopy and not the flatter weapon that characterized his play during the early portion of his career. I have heard of speculation over it being a mental issue. I have also heard of people blaming Larry Stefanki changing his mechanics. Now I have finally heard it from the man's own mouth: the reason was due to a shoulder injury, which mechanically altered his forehand when attempting to crunch those incoming shoulder+ height balls.

"I dealt with it until the end of my career."

 

[d-quik]

This makes his performance in the 2009 Wimbledon final just that much more impressive!

Still was not good enough vs the maestro though!

I will say I was always more impressed with his level here, compared to his level during his dubious USO title run in the early 2000s!

 

[Galvermegs]

This makes his performance in the 2009 Wimbledon final just that much more impressive!

Still was not good enough vs the maestro though!

I will say I was always more impressed with his level here, compared to his level during his dubious USO title run in the early 2000s!

Two reasons he couldnt win that final... he couldnt win tiebreaks for whatever reason.. especially the 2nd set.
And he just didnt have a return of serve to break deadlock in the fifth set.. just that extra gear that even one timers like stich, goran and krajicek had.

Roddicks forehand still could be dangerous. I saw his run in miami 2010 and he could swat some away.. but best of 3 helped

 

[Mustard]

Roddick's forehand wasn't the same even as early as 2005. With his new coach, Dean Goldfine, Roddick was obviously taking a strategy of improving the weaker parts of his game in order to become "a more well-rounded player". It didn't really pay off.

Roddick's coach from 2003 Queen's Club to the end of 2004, i.e. Brad Gilbert, was more about accentuating Roddick's strengths (i.e. big serving, big forehand) and hiding the weaknesses as much as possible.

 

[YellowFedBetter]

This definitely sheds some light on the issue, however a lot including me will point out that his FH really seemed to go down in 2005, and just went in varying degrees after that. Maybe he had a similar issue that had a bad flare-up in 2008?

 

[bigbadboaz]

Roddick was obviously taking a strategy of improving the weaker parts of his game... Brad Gilbert, was more about accentuating Roddick's strengths (i.e. big serving, big forehand) and hiding the weaknesses

One would think at least one of these coaching geniuses would realize it isn't mutually exclusive.. i.e., work on the backhand, movement and net game while STILL swatting the hell out of some forehands. I mean, really!?

 

[Mustard]

One would think at least one of these coaching geniuses would realize it isn't mutually exclusive.. i.e., work on the backhand, movement and net game while STILL swatting the hell out of some forehands. I mean, really!?

Is that true, though? Gilbert wanted big focus on Roddick's strengths. As Roddick fell some way behind Federer in 2004 (and to all intents and purposes fell behind Hewitt as well), Roddick had a choice to make. Stick with Gilbert's approach, or make a more determined effort to become a more well-rounded player. Roddick chose the latter. It didn't work out for him, but he took a bold move at the time. But by focusing more on improving his weaknesses, Roddick's strengths weren't as good as before.

 

[BauerAlmeida]

As it has been pointed out, Roddick's FH was declining way before that. In late 2005 and early 2006 he wasn't the same player anymore and that was largely due to his forehand declining. Connors got his mojo back a little bit for a while.

 

[Robert F]

Interesting how Roddick noted the high balls were hard for him to drive after his shoulder tear.

Seems the theme for Gilbert after seeing him handle Gauff is to focus on maximizing the tools they have. Find strategies that emphasize those strenghts.
Is this because it is so hard to change pros techniques after hitting millions of balls a certain way? Or since brad wasn't the king of technique, focusing on strategy is really his strength for coaching?

Oddly, it does seem like Gauff has been able to make some subtle changes to her serve and FH without losing a step.

I wonder if Roddick stuck with Gilbert for overall coaching/strategy and then worked with a BH master and footwork guru could he have had the best of both worlds?
During Roddick's time the giant coaching hontorage hadn't fully emerged. But I could see if Roddick was on the scene today, Gilbert might be his main guy with someone to work on technique. If he could balance both of those, maybe a few more slams would have fallen his way?

 

[JasonZ]

Two reasons he couldnt win that final... he couldnt win tiebreaks for whatever reason.. especially the 2nd set.
And he just didnt have a return of serve to break deadlock in the fifth set.. just that extra gear that even one timers like stich, goran and krajicek had.

Roddicks forehand still could be dangerous. I saw his run in miami 2010 and he could swat some away.. but best of 3 helped

he couldnt win a tiebreak against federer at a slam even in 1000 attempts.

 

[HBK4life]

Did he have surgery on his shoulder? If so, did it not heal right? Or did he just play through it? I remember in the 90s John Elway had shoulder surgery and his arm was stronger. Might not be the same issue but if he tried surgery and rehab and it was still bad that sucks.

 

[nolefam_2024]

Many player go through these adjustments post injury. Doesn't mean they are lesser , they adapt their own game.

 

[MeatTornado]

Did he have surgery on his shoulder? If so, did it not heal right? Or did he just play through it? I remember in the 90s John Elway had shoulder surgery and his arm was stronger. Might not be the same issue but if he tried surgery and rehab and it was still bad that sucks.

No he never did, he just played through it. A big part of why he retired in 2012 was that after years of putting it off, he was finally going to need the surgery to continue, and he didn't feel like going through that and the rehab just to hang around the tour a little longer.

 

[HBK4life]

No he never did, he just played through it. A big part of why he retired in 2012 was that after years of putting it off, he was finally going to need the surgery to continue, and he didn't feel like going through that and the rehab just to hang around the tour a little longer.

Wow he should have had surgery. Maybe he was afraid of going under the knife. I don’t blame him but still. I’m sure he could have gotten the best.

 

[Mustard]

Goran Ivanisevic was planning to have shoulder surgery after 2001 Wimbledon, but after his amazing win at that tournament he put it off. By early 2002, he had to have the surgery.

 

[Mustard]

Wow he should have had surgery. Maybe he was afraid of going under the knife. I don’t blame him but still. I’m sure he could have gotten the best.

I've had 4 operations myself, and going through an operation is a big step for a person. You have to ask yourself if it's worth it before you do it. Roddick was obviously in that two minds situation by 2012 of either having the shoulder surgery in order to have any chance of getting back up the professional tennis rankings, or to continue playing without surgery as his ranking likely falls further, or to retire and therefore not have to have the surgery.

If you've got something bad healthwise and the doctor says an operation is needed, the only choice really is to go through the surgery and come out the other side, however inconvenient in the short term, because the problem won't go away on its own. But if it's a case of either having surgery to continue in a professional sport at the highest level or retire and don't have surgery, you might choose the latter.

 

[Robert F]

I'll also add that shoulder surgeries can be more of a gamble compared to knees.
So they dig in his shoulder, he takes 6-12 weeks off and then is playing his best or he takes 6-12 weeks off and is worse off.

 

[kevin qmto]

I remember Roddick saying at the end of his career his shoulder was “like hambergur helper.”

 

[HBK4life]

I'll also add that shoulder surgeries can be more of a gamble compared to knees.
So they dig in his shoulder, he takes 6-12 weeks off and then is playing his best or he takes 6-12 weeks off and is worse off.

Ah I didn’t know that about shoulders.