Andy Roddick - Is It Too Soon For A Career Post Mortem?

Interesting. Prior to the match with Mahut there was strange talk that this would be his last Roland Garros appearance. After losing in 4 to Mahut, John Inverdale felt compelled to write off Andy's career. Courier felt maybe post Grass season with Wimbledon and Olympics might refresh his form somewhat given his previous results on Grass. What is interesting was Santoro's comment about how Wimbledon 2009 changed him as a player drastically, despite that Ivanisevic called it after Roddick's loss to Federer.

I feel for Andy given that he has had hamstring problems and has been un-fit for the most part of 2012. He is currently ranked at 33 in the world and I feel that any decision he makes regarding his future in the game would be extremely drastic and premature. I agree with what Courier said that his serve is no longer the weapon that could keep him in matches if his groundstrokes were letting him down from the baseline and that the game has evolved since 2006 when he started to feature less at the back end of Slams.

Andy you feel has had a lot of pressure to deal with in his career. Post Sampras and Agassi's last Slam victories, he was carrying the hopes of the American tennis fan who were looking for a new hero to join the ranks of Connors, McEnroe, Sampras, Agassi, Courier. His victory at Flushing Meadows in 2003 was suppose to be launch pad for future successes. He made World No.1 and all looked set. Along came the Federer and Nadal years and he was to become a side act to this period of domination. His Slam record is actually impressive for such a limited player:

Australian Open - 4 Semi Finals and 2 Quarter Finals
French Open - He never made it beyond the 3rd round
Wimbledon - 3 Finals, 1 Semi-Final and 1 Quarter Final
US Open - 2 Finals, 6 Quarter Finals

Roddick has always seemed like quite the 'tough' individual and for him to retire would be a shock and not a reflection of the character. Does he have the mental fortitude to claw his way back into the top 20 of the world? He can look to players that came through in the same period - Ferrero, Nalbandian, Lujbicic who all made in-roads back into the top 20 after a period of absence through injury and poor form. I for one would be disappointed if he did retire because it would seem like he only enjoyed his time when he was amongst the best and that for scraps below he doesn't have the stomach for.

What should he do?

I think Roddick has talked about retiring this year. I think it is quite possible the USO will be his last tournament. Andy has accomplished a great deal but right now he isn't even the same player he was 2 years ago. It has gone down quite a bit very quickly. I can't see him having another rebirth. He actually played some very good tennis in 09 and 10. He has had a very good career with a slam and something like 30 tournament victories, and he was the keystone to the last US Davis Cup. And he made a ridiculous amount of money in endorsements in the US over the years so I don't think he has any financial concerns.

I agree socal he would have to work flat out to feature in the top 20 again. I would be sad to him retire because the tour lacks a brutal honest individual such as him and it would not be like him to walk away from a fight.

I won't miss Roddick at all. All he brings to tennis is a load of sarcasm passing as humour in press conferences, rude, often completely unjustified tirades at officials when things aren't going his way, and a boring, passive baseline game that is saved by a good serve.

Yes but the boring baseline passive game is mainly due to Andy being an attacking player...his Queens titles and Wimb finals show what sort of player he is really. He was simply born into the wrong era...and as this era moved forwards his lack of weapons outside serve from baseline have exposed him more and more. He did adapt well for a long time though, a solid top 10er for many years.

i know its rather inconsequential but in 09 he made it to the french open 4th round where he lost i think to sliderman.

Yep a good year that one Luvsports. Also before today he had a 4-0 record against Mahut...so the loss must be even harder to stomach. Also, the guy is 'only' 29...although it feels like he"s been on tour forever.
He always gave candid interviews and he spoke his mind, I'm sure he'll continue to be outspoken whenever his retirement comes.
You feel its more a case of the tour having overtaken him than age per se though.

RG R1 loss is not that significant for him. He knows he'll never win RG, and is probably just tuning up ahead of Wimbledon and the US Open. If he loses in R1 at Wimbledon or the US Open it might be time to assess. I could actually see him making R4 or a QF at USO, Wim, Cincinatti. He did get beat Federer, twice if you count the exho, quite recently and I think he has fitness issues.

If he can stay fit and injury free, he might do better.

There is even a tiny chance he could win Wimbledon. Only 3 years ago he was very close to doing so, and if he could recover that form it's not impossible. Probably a 100-1 shot but so was Ivanisevic when he won it as a wild card. Never say never. Only a couple of years ago that you would have had him in the top 4 favourites there ahead of Djokovic. Hard to believe, but most people did.

I love Roddick. As a big Fed fan I was obviously gunning for Fed in their last meeting at Wimbledon but looking back on it I would have rather Fed lost that and then won the US instead. Roddick really did try his best and stayed unbroken until the final set, final game. I think overall he played better than Fed in that event but it just wasn't to be, and it has knocked the stuffing out of him.

Roddick is a lovely guy and personality. It is a travesty that he is likely to end his career on a single slam. Had he been born in any other era but Fed's he would have at least 3.

Roddick is a lovely guy

I dispute this - I think we see someone's true personality come out on court, and the number of times I've seen Roddick absolutely berate umpires makes me think that deep down he isn't all that great.

lydian wrote:Yes but the boring baseline passive game is mainly due to Andy being an attacking player...his Queens titles and Wimb finals show what sort of player he is really. He was simply born into the wrong era...and as this era moved forwards his lack of weapons outside serve from baseline have exposed him more and more. He did adapt well for a long time though, a solid top 10er for many years.

Perhaps not quite born into the wrong era, but certainly every last change in the game could have been done to wear him down.

legendkillarV2 wrote:...What should he do?

He should give me the codes to his swiss bank account.

Seifer Almasy wrote:I love Roddick. As a big Fed fan I was obviously gunning for Fed in their last meeting at Wimbledon but looking back on it I would have rather Fed lost that and then won the US instead. Roddick really did try his best and stayed unbroken until the final set, final game. I think overall he played better than Fed in that event but it just wasn't to be, and it has knocked the stuffing out of him.

I've often felt that if there was one past Fed win I'd now be content to see changed its be that. He's been very unfortunate at Wimbledon.

Probably deserves 1 Wimbledon for his career, but at least he got the US Open in early.

Henman Bill wrote:Probably deserves 1 Wimbledon for his career, but at least he got the US Open in early.

He has trophies, lots of fantastic memories, and lots of money (winnings and sponsorship). And all this from playing a game of tennis rather than getting himself a proper job. I think he has got more than he deserves.

At least he's got arguably one of the best looking GF of any sportsman.

The last power server left of 2000's era, loved watching him play since he turned pro, till a couple of years ago when his form declined and he started to behave like an @ss when it got tight.

Wish him well.

lol...yep I'd go along with pretty much all that Jahu.

Chazfazzer wrote:

Roddick is a lovely guy

I dispute this - I think we see someone's true personality come out on court, and the number of times I've seen Roddick absolutely berate umpires makes me think that deep down he isn't all that great.

Berating umpires. You seem to have forgotten Connors, McEnroe and many others of the same ilk. The slowing of courts has taken it's toll on Roddicks of this world. Did he not beat Federer recently at Miami? . Many of the current Top 10 have had run-ins with umpires. You should consider the overall career rather than a few incidents. I can list quite a few incidents which may change your opinion of the current Top 10.

laverfan wrote:

Chazfazzer wrote:

Roddick is a lovely guy

I dispute this - I think we see someone's true personality come out on court, and the number of times I've seen Roddick absolutely berate umpires makes me think that deep down he isn't all that great.

Berating umpires. You seem to have forgotten Connors, McEnroe and many others of the same ilk. The slowing of courts has taken it's toll on Roddicks of this world. Did he not beat Federer recently at Miami? . Many of the current Top 10 have had run-ins with umpires. You should consider the overall career rather than a few incidents. I can list quite a few incidents which may change your opinion of the current Top 10.

I still think him berating the match referee at the US Open about the state of the court last year was classic. The fact the referee thought the court was dry and playable and Roddick was treading water and proving otherwise was hilarious because I know some players who may have been more brutal. Given that Andy was also American showed tremendous guts to speak out against the tournament and it's organisers.

Indeed some people like to beat him with a stick despite as you correctly mention that other players are not saints with on court behaviour or comments.

Talking about Andy's career, one of his peers, Nalbandian lost to Ungur today. It is tough to continue despite the love of the game to compete, and gives a very keen glimpse of why Borg left the tour.

Hopefully they will become coaches.

Aye I saw the Nalbandian result.

However in the case of Borg, I do wonder if there was a stronger field whether he would've stayed around. Also if his career started to decline would he have had the stomach for a fight from fresh blood?

Fair points, LK. Roddick and Nalbandian have had their fair share of injuries. A generation that I will miss, like the McEnroe/Borg/Connors or Lendl/Becker/Edberg or Agassi/Sampras.

Happy to see these guys leave a mark on Tennis history.

"Career post mortem" sound like harsh words for someone with around 600 wins, 30ish titles and one slam.

He is/was a fairly limited power player who is all serve and forehand and once someone like Federer could eat his serve he was never going to win multiple slams. He was mighty lucky to win the one he did as Nalbandian choked away his chance in US Open 2003 and had Roddick on the ropes. He knew how to maximise his talents though.

Aye that's 2 slams Nalby choked away...if you include he never turned up in that Wimby final vs Hewitt. I think the USO03 result was a knock-on, never quite got over that Wimby loss you feel.

Anyway, I agree Roddick has done pretty well for the game he had...he should be lauded for his achievements rather than lamented for the weaknesses in his game...after all he covered them up pretty well for a long time.