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HENMAN TAKES DOWN AMERICAN IN THIRD-SET TIEBREAK
Toppled Roddick faces stern test in Washington
By Alix Ramsay
Special to tennisreporters.net
Susan Mullane/Camerawork USA, Inc. |
FROM THE LEGG MASON CLASSIC IN WASHINGTON – It had all been going so well for Andy Roddick. Since he first signed up with Brad Gilbert after Roland Garros, he's had been on the roll of his life. In a matter of days, Gilbert had turned the talented but flawed young hope into a winner. A consistent winner.
Had it not been for the small matter of Roger Federer's moment of magic at Wimbledon, Roddick's record this summer would have been perfect. Serving like a cannon and still belting his forehand as if his life depended upon it, he was also the model of consistency. The wild and impetuous attempts at winners had been replaced by measured power and thoughtful control. Sure, he could still pummel the ball, but now he was doing it for a reason. And then he ran into Tim Henman in the semifinals here.
When it comes to consistency Henman is not your man. Those who have watched him over the years have become immune to the white knuckle rides as
Britain's finest takes the Brits to the brink of victory, drags them, kicking and screaming, back again and puts them through another set or two before winning or not, as the case may be. But the new calm, relaxed, cheerful and confident Henman (he is taking a more laid back approach to his tennis these days) was more than a match for the man on the winning streak and won
1-6, 6-3, 7-6 (1).
What will alarm Gilbert more than the loss is the manner of the defeat. Henman played better and better as the match wore on but Roddick allowed himself to be rattled by both his opponent and the line calls. That gave
Henman the opening he had been waiting for. As Roddick unraveled, Henman took the second set. Now confident going into the decider, Henman was only troubled once – a fluffed volley conceded a match point – but once he had snatched that chance back from Roddick, America's young hope threw in the towel.
As Roddick slapped and flapped at his shots, so Henman took charge and rounded off the match with an impressive tiebreak. This was not what we had come to expect of Roddick in recent weeks not, for that matter, of Henman either.
Afterwards Roddick was resigned to his fate. Henman, he thought, had played well and with courage and as for his own game, he was trying to be positive. "I'm not too discouraged," he said. "I still know I'm playing great tennis and going in the right direction."
RUSEDSKI SEES A NEW, IMPROVED ANDY
Fred Mullane/Camerawork USA, Inc. |
If anyone has had a chance to analyse Roddick's new strategies and tactics, it is Greg Rusedski. He has lost to Roddick three times in the last couple of months and, having taken him to pieces at Wimbledon last year, is best placed to chart the development of the world No. 6. He has seen a huge improvement but he is still waiting for the honeymoon period to end.
"I think he's improved, obviously, and he's got better on the returns, he's got a little bit more consistent," Rusedski said having been beaten – again – by Roddick in the third round. "I think that Brad is probably just getting him to get a little more air on the ball, not to go for as much, to play with a little bit more with depth, more percentage. And he's just changed up his serving patterns up slightly. I think those are the two or three areas where he's changed it up. But he's on a roll right now, everything is going well. It's always interesting when you have a tough period. Every time you start a new partnership things go really well, things start flowing. As long as he keeps winning it feels easy. But the real test for a relationship is in a year or two from now when things don't always go as well as you like."
When Roddick reached the semi finals at the '03 Australian Open he was pleased but when he reached the semifinals at Wimbledon he felt as if he belonged there. Now, with an awful lot of tennis already under his belt this summer,
he heads for the heart of the hard court season. This is where the pressure mounts as the Masters Series events in Montreal and Cincinnati provide a guide for the US Open.
Roddick is now a marked man. The center of attention – but please don't ask him about being the future of American tennis … he has fielded the question more times than he cares to remember. He is the man to beat. It was fun
for the first few weeks with Gilbert but the honeymoon is over and real life starts here. The test will come soon enough and should show the lads in the locker room just how well Roddick can cope with the tension and just how much he has listened to the advice of his new mentor.
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