Favorite Roddick Memories

Sad but not totally surprised to read this morning about Roddicks retirement. For a slam to lose one ex title holder is a misfortune but to lose two is just carelessness... These are a few of my favorite Roddick matches.

Wimbledon 2009 final. So close and yet so far. The score tells the story of the match and I was lucky enough to be present. Remember at the end Roddick sitting waiting for trophy ceremony when the crowd started chanting Roddick. Later he said at first he thought they were chanting "Roger" and was quite emotional when he realized his mistake.

Miami 2012. Roddicks second round win over Federer. At the time It was not the result I wanted as I was hoping Federer would go far but in hindsight what a great result. His last match with Federer was a win.

Dubai 2008. Quarter final win over Nadal. Roddick played so well he looked like he could be a threat to anyone. Nadal said afterwards he couldn't cope with the pressure of having to hold serve himself as Roddick was serving so well he was unbreakable.

Spain v USA Davis Cup 2008. On clay in a bull ring in Madrid. Of course Roddick was stuggling but he still put everything into it. At one point he was reduced to asking the crowd for help. And they responded... the whole Spanish partisan crowd started chanting Roddick...

Favorite future matches. Roddick defeats Djokovic in the 2012 US Open semi's and then goes on to defeat Federer in the final to end his career and this US Open on an incredible high...






Ha ha! If only. I shall be watching tonight and expect a very emotional match.

hawkeye wrote:... For a slam to lose one ex title holder is a misfortune but to lose two is just carelessness...

Isn't the end of year slam the most likely slam to retire on?

Roddick had a great and successful professional tennis career, but was ultimately limited by the skill sets he brought to the game. As others have mentioned if the courts had remained "fast" he would have likely won more slam titles. He was also generally outplayed by his "nemesis" Federer. His Wimbledon final (and tournament) performance of 2009 was probably his finest moment, along with the slam he won.

Andy R had taken a couple of titles recently so it was something of a surprise - and a sadness - to hear he was calling it a day.
He always gave 100%, was a witty press conference performer and, lest we forget, was one of the most consistent of all the top players in the last couple of decades.
If you look at his total years in the top 10, it stacks up pretty well against all but the total greats.
I felt he became a better player as time went on and he was certainly, IMHO, a better player later in his career than when he was number one in 2003.
His movement, although never great, was much better, his ground strokes and backhand were better and he came in more.
Doubt if many have played as well in a GS final and lost, as he did at Wimbledon in 09. He also had his moments in other Slam finals against Rog without ever being able to add to his 03 USO triumph.
Would love to see him go deep in his last tournament.

"Limited skill sets"? I presume by this you mean his game was based on a strong serve rather than strong ground strokes.

Roddick won one slam and got to four slam finals. In each he was beaten by Federer but he always put up a fight. Yes Federer was his "nemesis" (join the queue!) but it was only Federer that stopped him from being a multi slam winning all time great. He is still a slam winning great and one that will be greatly missed as he also has a big enough personality to fill a huge stadium court. This ability is rarer than the ability to win a slam.

Was hoping for a few positive memories of Roddick...

HE - possibly you were posting at the same time as me, but I think you will find that, like me, there will be others coming on to praise A-Rod.
One other stat that can be chucked in. Roddick won 32 titles. That's impressive.

2003, when he won Queens, then Indy, Montreal, Cinci & US Open. He looked unstoppable and surely would be a multi-slam winner. Obviously it didn't turn out that way, but at that point in time he was top of the world.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WML0Yp61n2g

Don't they both look very young?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=30lVS47LopU

Here's what Federer and Serena have to say. The article also has quotes by Blake and Querrey

Federer.

"He was happy to go into retirement. He wants to finish this one strong. There's no rules on how you announce it, how you do it. We've seen so many champions go out in different ways. He chose to do it this way. I'm so happy for him really. He's had an amazing career. Some expected better; some expected worse. But I'm sure he's happy with what he achieved because he almost achieved everything he ever wanted -- maybe to lose the Wimbledon title potentially, but let's forget about that. He was in those Wimbledon finals. He could have gotten that title. That's what I said when I beat him in '09. He deserves this title, as well. In my mind, he is a Wimbledon champion as well, a wonderful ambassador for the game. I'm thankful for everything he's done for the game, especially here for tennis in America. It's not been easy after Agassi and Sampras, Courier, Chang, Connors, McEnroe, you name it. I probably forget a bunch of them because you had so many good players in the past. It's been hard for him as well at times. I thought he always did the best he could. That's all you can ask from a guy like Andy."

Serena

"He told me a while ago, last year, that this would be it. He told me again. I was at his house in Austin at the end of the year. You know, we were talking about it. You know, I was just thinking, Change your mind, Andy, change your mind. But I guess he didn't, so... Ever since I've been on tour, it feels like Andy has been there, at least for the most part of it. So many people retiring so far this year. He's been great for American men's tennis, great for the U.S. Open, doing so much, playing so well so often, just being such a great player. A great attitude, incredibly fun to watch. You know, I know a lot of people look up to Andy Roddick, That's who I want to be like. It's very incredibly, incredibly, incredibly sad for me to lose a friend on tour that I look forward to seeing every Grand Slam and every shared tournament. It's going to be hard.

"I think Andy has accomplished a lot. He's been to the Wimbledon final I think it was three years in a row. Almost won one. Was so close. Literally a point away. But he's done so much for American tennis, getting so many viewers. I see players that play on the men's tour, serve just like him. Starting the whole trend of big serve, big serve, you think of Andy Roddick.”

http://www.tennis.com/news/2012/08/player-reactions-roddicks-retirement/39159/#.UEDjOiJket8

Nice words from Federer. "He could have gotten that title. That's what I said when I beat him in '09. He deserves this title, as well. In my mind, he is a Wimbledon champion as well, a wonderful ambassador for the game."

There always appears to be a great sense of camaraderie between the American players but I was unaware that he was such good friends with Serena.

When he beat Murray in Wimbledon 2009, massive outsider too.

The shanked backhand volley against Fed late in the fifth set when he had break point I believe, which was a virtual match point the way he was serving and Roddick just flubbed it so badly. Even he addressed it how it would have been so different for him if he had won 1 or 2 more matches, and everyone in the room knew which match Roddick was talking about. To me that is one of the most famous horror blunders in the history of tennis. I don't take any joy in it, I was for the first time rooting for Roddick to win that match, and was sad when it happened. But it doesn't change the fact that this particular moment will go down as maybe, maybe the most monumental single bad shot loss that I have ever seen or remember. The best thing you could say is that it would have mentally crushed a weaker competitor.

On a positive note his hot streak at the end 03 culminating in the USO title and year end #1 has to top it for Roddick. And of course the davis cup win which was all Roddick for the most part.

My memories.

I'll remember him for the Wimbledon matches in 2009 against Murray and Federer which was his peak career performance. But...the volley at 1-0 6-6 6-5 which he fluffed. That was the match deciding point. He lost the 2nd set TB from 6-2 up, losing it 8-6. But recovering incredibly to win the 5th set. Ultimately, after effectively six or seven sets of regulation tennis, Roger hadn't broken his serve, and he had broken Roger's twice, before he finally cracked. He didn't deserve to lose that. And the crowd chanting his name. Roddick's career merited 1 Wimbledon title.

And the championship point against Raonic won with a dive shot.

And the "you should retire" interview, and the famous AO 2007 interview.

And saying in response to an interview question about his favourite shot that it was the through the legs topspinn dropshot.

No nonsense stance on Odesnik.

I do also think though, although he was a gent at Wimbledon, he was too agressive and intimidating to me with umpires and so on, and could be a bit of a t1t, so I'd remember that as well.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JTEu3n-XznQ for good 2009 highlights

3:10 for the one critical moment.

there was also 2 BPs for Roddick at 8-8.

Henman Bill

Don't forget the US Open that Roddick won! Also he was part of the USA's Davis Cup winning team in 2007. As a big team player I'm sure that will have meant a lot to him. Think the final was in the States too making it extra special. Just remembered too in the Murray Wimbledon semi him mouthing "sorry" to the crowd when he won.

He could also be amusing. Remember him saying after he lost the 2009 final his postman knocked at the door because he wanted to tell him where he had gone wrong. Also a young boy asked for his autograph and he was pleased with the attention until the boy pointed out that it was for his mum... and that he was her third favorite player. He said something like "Why couldn't he just lie?".

Didn't forget the US Open, I was giving my personal memories rather than his career highlights and I have no memory of that. Don't think I watched any of it.

I remember his really funny press conferences, in particular when he gives a reporter asking a stupid question a big put own.

He was also really funny on the Jonathan Ross radio show on the Saturday before Wimbledon 2009. At th time Jonathan gave him some tips and he promised to credit him in his post match speech if he on Wimbledon.... Two weeks later I was wondering if he'd have delivered.

There could be another good memory this week, as he retires having just beaten the leading young player in the game.

Not bad for a clapped out weak era relic!

Nah come on, Raonic is the leading young player at the moment.