WARMING UP FOR WIMBLEDON

Roddick and Roger revive with wins on grass
Kids' play: Sharapova vs. Golovin

By Matthew Cronin
tennisreporters.net

Fred Mullane/Camerawork USA

Roddick and Federer win in Britain and head to Wimbledon with confidence.

It didn't take Roger Federer and Andy Roddick much time to recover from their Roland Garros meltdowns as both won grass court titles on Sunday: Federer with a gaffe-like hooking of Mardy Fish in the Halle final and Roddick with a straight-set thumping of Seb Grosjean at Queens.

And let's not forget Maria Sharapova, who after being schooled at RG by Paola Suarez in the quarters, marched to head of the class by trumping Tatiana Golovin 4-6, 6-2, 6-1 in Birmingham.

Roddick successful title defense with his
7-6(4), 6-4 win over Grosjean must have made his coach, Brad Gilbert, very happy. Just before Roddick left Roland Garros, an angry Gilbert said, "The key thing is to worry about Andy and not about anyone else." he said. "He's going through a bit of a bad patch right now and needs to focus on himself. This match isn't coming back. As bad as today was, we have to think about tomorrow."

Here's a toast to thinking ahead. Recall that before Queens, Roddick hadn't won a tournament since the NASDAQ in March. But in England, he was able to re-install his version of Powerball 2004, twice producing world record serves of 153 mph – first against Paradorn Srichaphan in the quarters and again against three-time winner Lleyton Hewitt in the semis.

The win over Hewitt was gigantic, as it was the first time he had ever beaten the hard-nosed Aussie in four meetings.

"My big concern coming into the tournament was getting some matches on grass," Roddick said. "But with getting some wins over some Top-10 players in the process, I couldn't ask for any more. I'm feeling good right now. I'm hitting my second serve really big. I'm not sure I've ever served this well before and I've got a lot of confidence with it. I'm not second guessing on it."

Of course, Roddick still has to convince himself that he can beat Federer at the AELTC. Roddick ended last year as No. 1, but in some people's eyes, was a paper tiger. Even though he reached the Aussie Open and Wimbledon semis and won the Open, he only nabbed titles on grass (Queens) and hardcourts while second-ranked Federer won titles on all surfaces.

ROGER IS 6-1 OVER ANDY
Wimbledon champ Federer also beat him handily him at the All England Club and at the Tennis Masters Cup in Houston en route to the title. As a result, at year-end, the International Tennis Writers Association voted Federer as its player of the year over him. Much of that had to do with Federer's 6-1 record against the American. Federer's heavenly run to the '04 Australian Open title hasn't helped Roddick cause much either.

"Obviously, he's gotten the better of me so far," Roddick said in the spring. "I feel like the first three times we played it was earlier on in both of our careers and he was just much better at that point, plain and simple. I didn't have nearly the amount of polish on my game that he had, but the last two times I have lost to him have been first set tiebreakers and that's crucial. Whereas normally I can find a way to win those, he's gotten the better of me in those. He's a great frontrunner. Once you get down to him you don't see him all of a sudden take his foot off the gas. He's definitely established himself as the best player in the world. There's not a whole lot of doubt about that. He's just lifted his game to another level. He's playing great ball."

If Roddick is to pull to win Wimbledon, he might have to go through Federer in the final. The Swiss is a brilliant all-courter who has been able to transition into a serve-and-volleyer on grass. As the world saw in their Wimbledon semifinal last year, Federer is much more comfortable coming up to the cords than Roddick is.

The Floridian says that the inventive Federer "inspires" him to take his game to new heights. Roddick's success is based on three primary elements: His gigantic first and second serves, his blowtorch forehand and his fiery competitiveness. The rest of his game is still a work in progress. However, there's no question that under coach Gilbert (who has now been with him for a year), he's improved in other areas. He's taking bigger risks off his foe's second serves, has further confidence in his backhand down the line, and a willingness to go to net. He is by no means a great volleyer, but is an efficient one. Nor is he the fastest man out there, but he moves well for his size. Roddick knows that if he is to win Wimbledon, his transition game needs to run as efficiently as the high-speed Paris to London Eurostar train.

"We've been trying to work on the transition game a little more, maybe give people a different look than maybe what they would normally see," Roddick said. "It's continuing the process of trying to improve. The more you do something, the more natural it feels. I know I can volley a little. I'm not a good volleyer by any means, but I can do it. Especially after a big serve, I should be able to have that option."

Fred Mullane/Camerawork USA

Fish was pleased with finals appearance in Halle.

Grosjean has noticed Andy's improvement, saying, "Roddick's the best server on the tour. He also goes to the net more than he used to, and he's a little more aggressive on his second serve. He can go flat, he can go wide. But he doesn't only count on his serve."

"I'm a bit disappointed about today's result," he said."Losing 6-0 in the first set is not what you want in a final. I don't want to say I was nervous and I couldn't play. Nervousness wasn't the reason, I'd rather say that it was a combination of Roger's plays, especially returning my serves, and me maybe not playing so well. … [But] I have to say it was definitely a fine week for me. I love playing on grass, it is definitely my favorite surface." Fish will play Nottingham this week.

Since his win at Roland Garros, Gaston Gaudio has been busy in Buenos Aires, where put in some 40 media appearances and is scheduled to meet Argentine president D. Nestor Carlos Kirchner. During whirlwind schedule, he found time to pull put of Wimbledon with a minor injury. Inexcusable.

If I was a member of the Wimbledon seeding committee, here's my top five guys:
1. Federer
2. Roddick
3. Tim Henman
4. David Nalbandian
5. Guillermo Coria

WTA Tour

Tatiana Golovin

"This is the best possible preparation for Wimbledon, the best you can get," said Sharapova, who also won the dubs with Maria Kirilenko. "I've had some tough wins here and winning a title always gives you the confidence to think that you can win more. I always believe I can win the title when I enter an event."

France's Golovin cracked the Top 50 for the first time and will be heard from for a long time to come. She's still too erratic to make major waves at a major in singles – she did win the Roland Garros mixed with Richard Gasquet – but a second week appearance at Wimbledon can't be dismissed. She has a class "A" backhand and a whole lot of attitude.

"Maria was just too good today, but I'm sure I'll get revenge next time," she said.

If I was a member of the Wimbledon seeding committee, here's my top five gals:
1. Serena
2. Venus
3. Mauresmo
4. Anastasia Myskina
5. Lindsay Davenport