The Hindu : Sport : I'm no one-Slam wonder, says Roddick

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Jun 08, 2005

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I'm no one-Slam wonder, says Roddick

Paul Weaver

LONDON: With an expression of wistful patience Andy Roddick gazed up from the dining area of Queen's Club towards an elongated TV monitor where Rafael Nadal and Mariano Puerta were knocking up for the French Open final at Roland Garros.

Roddick had come to England for the start of the grass-court season a little early after his second-round defeat by the Argentinean Jose Acasuso in Paris where, with four wins in five visits since 2001, he truly has feet of clay. "It's not my best surface, for sure, and I don't know whether I'll ever win there, though I enjoy the challenge."

At Wimbledon, which starts on June 20, it is a little different. He remains one of the favourites. Roddick was runner-up last year and his record serve has been timed at 155mph — the cut-off speed for a number of performance cars. His serve, measured at a record 153 at Queen's a year ago and extended a few months later, is brutal, a real monster — perhaps it should be roaming Grimpen Mire along with the Hound of the Baskervilles instead of creating havoc on these manicured lawns. He is also the owner of a devastating forehand. But is it enough?

A has been?

No one would want his race to be run when he is only 22 but there are some who feel that Roddick might struggle to win another slam after his US title two years ago. Where will the next one come from? He will never be Nadal's equal on clay and on grass Roger Federer appears to enjoy a nonchalant superiority. Then there is Lleyton Hewitt, and Marat Safin, the winner of the Australian Open at the start of the year, is another huge if inconsistent talent.

Federer, though, remains the main man. When Bettina Bunge was asked what she had learned from a number of quick defeats by Martina Navratilova she replied "How to shake hands" and most of Federer's opponents, Roddick included, have felt the same way in the past year or two.

"There are no second acts in American lives," F. Scott Fitzgerald once observed, and there are some who think Roddick might already have had his strut on centre stage. The sense that he might already be glancing in life's rear-view mirror must have entered his intelligent mind but he is not letting on. "I find that talk humorous," he said, almost convincingly.

"People can't call me a one-slam wonder because I've been pretty consistent and finished No. 2 last year. It's not as if I've tumbled to 20. I can't remember a time when you've had four young guys who have all been No. 1 and all won slams. Then you throw in Nadal and Guillermo Coria and, wow, the top 10 is looking really deep right now.

Federer the favourite

"Roger has to be a clear-cut favourite for Wimbledon because he hasn't lost on grass for two years. He's the best player I've ever seen, though I didn't play Pete [Sampras] when he was at his peak. What Roger has done in tennis is very similar to what Tiger Woods has done in golf. Tiger was dominant but Vijay Singh, Ernie Els and Phil Mickelson all became better players. There's a direct correlation. We're all pushing each other to get better." He revealed something of his concerns when he added: "My goal is to win at least another slam." Only one? The Fed could well win three or four more titles at Wimbledon alone.

It is the thought of winning at the All England Club that consumes Roddick these days. "I'm hitting the ball better than I did last year. And I'm more professional with my fitness and preparation these days. But I have to do better on the return to put pressure on the server.

"I badly wanted to win the US because I had been going there since I was a kid and it was my home Grand Slam. But if I had to choose one tournament to win now it would be Wimbledon.

"It can be won from the back of the court and Lleyton and Andre have given us two recent examples. And the courts are slower than they were. Apart from the top seeds I think that Tim Henman and Sébastien Grosjean could be dangerous. But this is the one I really want. I love the tradition of the place, the way it's been around forever. And the coverage it gets in England is great. In the States it comes in sixth or seventh as far as sport goes."

Being obsessive about winning Wimbledon, however, is not enough. It was not enough for the stylish and dapper Ken Rosewall, the ironically nicknamed `Muscles', whose four final defeats here were spread over 20 years.

Lendl's Waterloo

Nor did it bring triumph for the robotic Ivan Lendl, a man who so craved a more human persona that it was once alleged he underwent surgery to remove the bolts from his neck; Lendl was beaten five times in the semifinals and twice in the final.

Roddick has no special plans for Federer, who also beat him in the 2003 semifinals. "Last year I won the first set and was a break up in the third. It will be more of the same if we meet again. He's not going to go away. I will have to take the game to him."

The pressure on Roddick has been immense. As Sampras and Andre Agassi faded from the scene he emerged as the new champion of American tennis and there has been little in the way of support.

In Paris the United States did not have a single male player in the last 32 for the second successive year, equalling their worst showing in a Grand Slam in the Open era.

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