Left field
The Reuters global sports blog
Roddick leads movement for ATP change
By Martyn Herman
Andy Roddick on Friday insisted that tennis players must adopt “one voice” to push through changes to the ATP Tour but that may not be as easy as it seems despite the general feeling of solidarity.
Pity Brad Drewett, the new chief executive of the men’s Tour, who has the job of trying to keep everyone happy, grand slam champions, journeymen, tournament organisers, sponsors and TV.
The moment he took over the reins the spectre of a player boycott has returned.
A meeting involving hundreds if players took place on the eve of the Australian Open and although talk of a walkout from Melbourne was aired it did not come to fruition.
But there is clearly dissent in the ranks, and Drewett is the man tasked with damping down what could become a firestorm in the men’s game.
Where have all the American champions disappeared to?
When Jim Courier, Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi were engaged in a constant merry-go-round for the world number one spot throughout the 1990s, little did they know that a decade later American tennis players would have been left feeling dizzy with disbelief after they were completely wiped out from the Top 10.
Andy Roddick woke up on Monday to discover he had slid down two spots to number 11 and his little stumble meant that for the first time since the inception of rankings in 1973, the Stars and Stripes will not feature in the ATP’s top 10.
However, the fact that Roddick had managed to delay the U.S. from this debacle until this week is a remarkable feat in itself considering no American man has won a grand slam since the U.S. Open in 2003.
That was the year Roddick thought he had picked up the American baton from the likes of Sampras and company when he won his first major title and ended the year ranked number one. Little did he know that seven years later, he would still be searching for grand slam title number two or that American men would go through a barren spell lasting 27 majors and counting.
“What the lack of a U.S. top-10 male this week points out… is how lucky U.S. tennis fans have been over the years,” Courier told the Miami Herald. “I hope this will be a moment for American people to finally reflect on how strong and consistent Andy Roddick’s career has been so far since he has largely been the lone American man in the top 10 in recent years.
“I am sure plenty of people will get worked up about this, but not me. I can’t seem to recall an article that mentioned how remarkable the ongoing U.S. top-10 presence was in the past few years but I am also not surprised that the lack of a top-10 player will now get ink. The game is deep with global talent but the U.S. will have a top-10 presence again, probably within a few weeks.”
More from Mac on schedule and Murray
Four-times U.S. Open champion John McEnroe now works as a TV commentator for CBS network and for cable sports giant ESPN at Flushing Meadows, but the opinionated former bad boy of tennis did not hesitate airing his views to Reuters about the dubious scheduling of matches at the Open and other subjects.
McEnroe hit out particularly at the so-called Super Saturday program that calls for the men’s semi-finals and the women’s final, with the men’s championship match to follow on Sunday, providing no day of rest for the guys in between and putting the tournament’s grand finale at the whim of weather.
“I suppose it’s something CBS prefers for their schedule, maybe they get more people watching on the weekend but as far as the quality of play, it’s impossible to get that if you’re playing two best-of-five sets two days in a row.”
Asked about the chances for change in the Super Saturday schedule to provide more cushion to the players and schedule-makers, McEnroe was dubious.
“So far I’ve never seen that discussed seriously,” he said. “It’s a players’ call. They have to put their foot down, say ‘we’re not going to accept it.’
“I don’t see that changing. Maybe the players don’t care about it that much.”
- – - - Before the tournament, McEnroe predicted that an Andy would win the men’s crown — either Briton Andy Murray or American Andy Roddick.
Why is your nose so red? The wacky world of Wimbledon
With hundreds of members of the international press descending on the All England Club every year to cover Wimbledon, players inevitably face a range of questions in their post-match news conferences as reporters seek to find a new or quirky angle for a story.
Most of the more bizarre questions never make it in to their final reports, but now the dust has settled on Roger Federer’s record-breaking win, here is a collection of the strangest.
Reporter: Will (your autobiography) be about tennis? Five-time Wimbledon champion Venus Williams: I guess it will be about me, so I’m sure a huge part of it will be about tennis.
Reporter: I heard you were in the tube the other day, the underground; is that true? Men’s singles champion Roger Federer: Not true.
Reporter: I understand you’re quite friendly with Justin Timberlake and that he came to see you on Saturday. Men’s singles runner up Andy Roddick: Uhm, I’ve never met him.
Reporter: Have you got a cold? Fourth seed Novak Djokovic: No
I would become agitated as well, all those absolutely stupid questions.
What Laver thinks about record-breaking Federer
Rod Laver is one of the few players from down the years who might still be considered an equal of Roger Federer and the twice-calendar-slam winner, now 70, is in no mood to concede the title of Greatest of All Time to the Swiss.
The Australian Laver won 11 majors and that number might have been significantly higher had he not turned professional and ruled himself out of the grand slams for several years.
Click on the video to see what Laver had to say about Federer before Sunday’s final. This was my favourite quote from the presser:
“I think the public should just watch his feet, just watch Roger and not the ball, and you’d see how great a player he is to pull off some of the shots. When he’s half-volleying winners off the baseline you just marvel at his ability to do that.”
Federer settles argument about Greatest of All Time
Roger Federer’s epic five-set victory over Andy Roddick, heartbreaking for the American, has surely now settled the question of who is the Greatest of All Time.
That, at least, is the view of Pete Sampras, who was on hand to watch as Federer overtook him in the majors stakes with a 15-th grand slam title.
It was a monumental match and while the crowd revelled in Federer’s success I doubt there was anyone on Centre Court who did not feel sorry for Roddick, who played with such heart before eventually succumbing 16-14 in the fifth set.
Here’s what Sampras had to say:
“The guy’s a legend and now he’s an icon. He’s got 15 majors, that’s a lot of majors, that’s a lot of work. He’s a credit to the game. The critics say (Rod) Laver, and (Rafael) Nadal beat him a few times in majors, but he’s won all the majors, he’s going to win a few more here, so in my book he is (the greatest).”
And who could argue with that?
Federer is smug, dismissive of reality and his wearing of the 15 tracksuit so soon after the end of the match showed nothing but contempt for the far classier defeated finalist.
Roddick gatecrashes Murray’s Wimbledon party
The build-up to Friday’s second Wimbledon semi-final was all about Briton Andy Murray but the man of the hour was the fearless American Andy Roddick.
Sat on a packed and sunny Centre Court, the prospect of Murray’s party being gate-crashed did not take long to dawn on a crowd who did not seem sure who they should be cheering for.
Roddick never stopped playing like a man on a mission, contesting every point while Murray’s more subtle, patient approach was not coming to fruition as many had predicted.
Murray produced glimpses of magic and he stood up bravely to return many of Roddick’s meteoric serves, which hit a staggering speed of 143MPH, but his own first serve let him down too often and the passing shots he regularly makes went amiss.
On paper, this was a match Murray was meant to win, but in reality the world number three was outplayed by sixth seed Roddick whose recent good form has coincided with a much fitter physique.
At 22-years-old, a grand slam semi-final still represents progress for Murray and the defeat will by no means damage his confidence or reputation — British fans will just have to wait a little longer for a homegrown Wimbledon finalist. After all it has been 71 years already.
However, tennis fans will not begrudge Roddick, a former world number one and the 2003 U.S. Open champion, another chance to renew his rivalry with defending champion and overwhelming favourite Roger Federer in Sunday’s final.
