The Roddick Lowdown.... DEPTH!!!

[jtreed2000]

I'm beginning to wonder what kind of brains it takes to get to the top spots in the world. It was obvious the first 2 games what Andy was doing wrong. Not only that, HE KEPT DOING IT!! He did the same thing at the open last fall. Maybe it's easy to see b/c I've had the same problem, giving the opponent the short ball. Go watch the replay right now on ESPN 2. 99% of Roddick's FH's/BH's land within a few feet of the service line. When that happens, it's like giving the other guy a short ball on every point. If they have good timing, like Bagdhadtis(sp?), they will eat you up, and gain confidence over the match. That's why he lost. It puts ZERO pressure on the other guy.

Why was this not obvious to him or why hasn't it been obvious to Goldfine? That's what allowed Bagdhadtis to stand on the service line. When you can do that (a la Agassi) you take so much time away from the other guy it's impossible to react to balls down the line or any kind of angle. I've only played two years and I can see this. What's the deal?

 

[LN_Dad]

You only played 2 years and you know everything already, eh? Do you think it's easy to hit hard deep balls all the time? Some days you're on and other days you're not.

 

[jtreed2000]

99% though? I mean watch it. I'm not a know-it-all by any means, but I do know depth is very important, even at a 3.5 level. These are professionals. You'd think he would try to change something unless he didn't realize it himself.

 

[ACE of Hearts]

Baghdatis won it because he fought hard, simple as that!He was able to break Roddick's serve.He might have not played the perfect match but he did enough.Lets not forget that these 2 have never met before.This was their first meeting.

 

[ATXtennisaddict]

i am watching the match now, roddick doesn't look bad at all!! He looks like he's hitting nice, just that MB was playing awesome.

 

[jtreed2000]

Because a guy fought hard doesn't mean anything. Andy gave the guy control of the points so it was more like a batting practice.

 

[Grimjack]

Roddick looked like he was hitting the ball fine. He just didn't look like he was moving very effectively. His cement-footedness artificially infladed MB's winner numbers, the way I saw it. Strange, because Andy usually seems to try to run those down. I think he was off his mental game a bit.

 

[jtreed2000]

I have a lot of respect for the Roddick camp btw. I also respect Bag's game. Listen to McEnroe..." Those are easy winners". No kidding!! Roddick's putting everything on the service line!!

This is not "being aggressive". I know that. Hitting hard and creating opportunities are two diffirent things...

 

[ACE of Hearts]

Again, like i said, this was their first meeting.Baghdatis just hit more winners then Roddick, it was 63 to 39, Roddick just couldnt dictate points on his return game.I think Roddick's return game is very weak, his footwork is a problem.

 

[jtreed2000]

63 winners. Nobody does that regularly and not without good reason. I watched 80% of this match. Roddick's groundstrokes just lacked too much depth. About footwork... you don't have time to react when your opponent can take the ball 3 feet inside the baseline.

Andy's return game is weak for the same reason. The best returners take the ball early and put it deep or create an angle. Andy does neither.

I just think know one knew how to react to his serve a few years ago. He was beaming with confidence from Brad, and why shouldn't he? Brad is an awesome coach who seems to have the right answers. He took Andy to #1 and what has Goldfine done since then? Was dumping Brad a fatal mistake?

 

[shawn1122]

I think i agree with jtreed2000. Especially in the fourth set, it seemed like roddick only wanted to hit loopy shots with lots of topspin, which only landed halfway between the service line and baseline. Since Baghdatis was taking the ball of the rise very well, he was able to hit many winners as well as destroy roddick's confidence. If you watch it again, you can see shots that pass by right in front of andy without andy even moving for the ball (especially in the final game of the fourth set). The only explanation for this is that he didnt have enough time to react. And to top things off, when andy did hit the ball hard, it seemed like Baghdatis was returning his hard shots with ease (he seemed quick enough to get to anything yesterday.)

 

[johnmcc516]

I think it has to do with playing on and in front of the baseline. Roddick has poor court positioning imho.

 

[jtreed2000]

Yeah, baseline position is key. How much depth the shots are getting will dictate this however. Agassi is one of the few who can take nearly EVERYTHING on the rise. It's obviously very hard to do (and get depth on all your shots like LN_Dad mentioned), but Bag didn't have to take many balls on the rise. P Mac talked about baseline position and short balls. It's Advanced Tennis 101. The few shots Andy hit deep, it pushed Bag back. Bag was also tentative on most of Andy's slices. It was the topspin FH or BH that sat up for him and ultimately helped him the match.

 

[tennis-n-sc]

In my unlearned opinion, Andy, whom I like emensely, is short on fire in the belly and lack of a flat shot on a slow court. Andy hasn't shown much emotion since Goldfine came aboard. I think this hurts him during a match. He is trying to be something he isn't. In the match last night, he hit with so much topspin, the ball was slowed tremendously on impact. The angles he created were used against him by a young turk with a flat shot. More and more, Andy is becoming a player suited only to grass and fast hard courts.

 

[jtreed2000]

Bingo. Too much spin and way too short. I think Brad knew how to execute Andy's game much better than Goldfine. Who knows what he was paying Gilbert, but if I wanted to stay in the top 5 I'd suck it up and hire him back.

You know Andy is a guy who works hard, but it seems he's working on the wrong things. He's added the slice to mix it up and a S&V here and there, but that won't be enough to make a difference.

 

[thatonedue]

Bahgdatis did 2 things consistently well throughout the match. He outserved Andy (unheard of, but delitefully true in this case) and he took control of the baseline (Andy had no answer for the down-the-line BH). Andy doesn't have the ability to change his game style to find a way to win at this point. He simply pursues the big serve, big forehand combo every time he plays. This works in only a few cases where his opponent doesn't hold serve. I think Andy needs to re-evaluate his game and make it more flexible to these type of situations. Players like Bahgdatis don't have anything to lose and if Andy isn't able to figure out ways to win apart from the serve, FH combo; he's doomed to a life of upsets.