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Ankle Sprain Newest Injury to Befall Roddick
Andy down for the count
By Sandra Harwitt
tennisreporters.net
FROM THE INTERNATIONAL TENNIS CHAMPIONSHIPS IN DELRAY BEACH, FLA. – Andy Roddick can't seem to cut a break these days.
Ever since his historic five-set masterpiece over Yuones El Aynaoui in the Australian Open quarterfinals – Roddick won the final set of that match 21-19 – luck has not been in Andy's corner.
He was quickly bounced out of the his first career Grand Slam semifinal at the Australian by Rainer Schuettler, unable to play his big brand of tennis from lack of energy and wrist tendinitis. He spent three weeks healing his wrist and returned to action at Memphis the week of Feb. 17 when he went all the way to the final just to get trounced by fellow American Taylor Dent.
Now, he showed up as the top seed at the International Tennis Championships in Delray Beach and didn't even make it through his first round match. The fact that he was looking more and more destined to lose the match didn't matter since he crumbled to the floor with a left ankle sprain at 7-6 (7-4), 4-3, 0-15, an injury he sustained by going out wide to retrieve a backhand crosscourt shot of opponent and good friend Mardy Fish.
Thump – down on the ground.
Good news – back on his feet. Bad news – down for the count!
Stabbing pain in the ankle and advice from ATP Trainer Bill Norris resulted in Roddick shaking Fish's hand and heading to the locker-room. Talking to the media immediately after the incident, Roddick was unsure of when he would be able to play again or whether he would need to have further medical assistance with the injury.
"It's not good but I've done it before," said Roddick, who has a tendency to be injury prone. "I'm just disappointed right now. It's tough because I was just getting my momentum going. One thing that's good is I know how to come back."
That said, the No. 6 ranked Roddick was quick to admit that the outcome of the match was bound to be the same if he hadn't been injured and finished the first-round proceedings. Roddick played well to 5-2 in the first set, but then his game took a dive and Fish's went into high gear.
There were five set point opportunities for Roddick in the first set – three on Mardy's serve in the eighth game and two on his own serve in the ninth game. Once Fish evened the first set and won the tiebreaker, he clearly had the edge.
"Mardy played much better than me – all credit to him," Roddick said. "I probably would have lost anyway."
BUDDIES
These two guys are close friends from the junior days to the point that Fish, who lived in Vero Beach, Fla., moved in with the Roddick family for a year to attend Boca Prep high school. Fish joked that while there was never any fist fights that broke out on the Roddick backyard court, there occasional attempts to aim their shots at each other, did lead to a bit of blood being shed.
Taking into account how close they are, it was no wonder that Fish was uncomfortable about the way he won their first encounter in the professional game: They played once in the juniors with Roddick winning in two tiebreak sets. It was a definite family fest in the stadium with Fish friends and relatives, including his grandparents, and Roddick friends and family, including mom, Blanche, all cheering on their favorite son.
"I can't really think of a worse way to win, especially when playing one of your good friends, seeing him go down and retire," Fish said. "I wish it hadn't happened but I was pretty happy with the way I played, that I could hang in there with someone in the Top 5 like that."
Roddick might have been the first one to break out of his age group, but Fish seems to be tightening up his game and getting in the groove in an attempt to catch up to his old pal. This factor does not bother Roddick, who said he's been "waiting for Mardy and Taylor" to catch up and that "it's nice to have the company."
Interestingly, Roddick considers the ITC tournament his hometown event since he grew up only 20-minutes south of Delray Beach in the upscale enclave of Boca Raton, but he's not had great success on these courts. In three of his four appearances here, he's been a first-round loser. Last year, he managed to battle his way to the final despite suffering from an upper-respiratory infection that drained him of energy by the time he faced Davide Sanguinetti of Italy in the final.
Despite Roddick's inability to create a success story at Delray Beach, he won't admit that the tournament is bad karma for him, instead dismissing his bad luck to "coincidence." As he limped away there was no doubt that Roddick would be game to try his hand at the ITC tournament in 2004 – after all, it is an opportunity to sleep in your own bed that comes to infrequently for a player.
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