Andy Takes Aim at Toronto

Roddick 1-0 in attempt to match ’03 summer magic
On coach Brad Gilbert: ‘We're both strong personalities and we argue like anybody but we get along great

By Sandra Harwitt
Special to tennisreporters.net

Susan Mullane/Camerawork USA

One down, four more to go.

Andy Roddick is off and running in his quest to put together a summer season to rival his 2003 summer tour. It was last year where Roddick finally rocked the tour, winning almost everything in his path.

Following his title run at Indianapolis, Roddick is 1-0 on following his trail, a path that will take a slightly different and definitely more arduous journey this year, adding a visit to Athens for the Olympics between Cincinnati and the US Open. Roddick is scheduled to play Frenchman Julien Benneteau at TMS Toronto on Wednesday.

But while all the pundits on the sidelines are sitting anxiously to see if Roddick can duplicate his ‘03 success –not to mention, defend all those many points to keep his ranking up – Roddick said he isn't approaching this summer with last summer in mind. "I'm not thinking about it like that," Roddick said. "Last year is last year. If I felt I had to defend every title I'm likely to be disappointed. But I am glad I started off well this summer circuit."

Roddick’s ’03 run began at the Queen's Club tournament, whuch he won. He moves on to his only loss of the summer at Wimbledon, where he fell to Roger Federer in the semifinals. After that, he could do no wrong, winning the RCA Championships in Indianapolis, the TMS-Montreal and TMS-Cincinnati, all on the road to his first Grand Slam trophy at the US Open. It wasn't until later in September that Roddick had his 19-match winning streak snapped by Dominik Hrbaty in the Davis Cup semifinals.

Not surprisingly, with the road ahead being so cluttered with events, Roddick was asked why he set up such a tough schedule - Indy, Toronto, Cincinnati, Athens, Flushing Meadows and a trip to the Davis Cup semifinal to cap things off in late September. "It was tough to try and pick one week to take off. They're all important for me. This week was vital because it's where it all started off for me last year."

That's a nice and responsible attitude for a player - one that many don't seem to take. However, it's hard to forget that Roddick is capable of getting weary from too much play. He showed that problem off at the year-end Tennis Master's Cup in Houston last December. He managed to reach the semifinals there, snatching the world No. 1 ranking for the first time, but was flat and exhausted by playing too much tennis throughout the fall by the time he faced Federer on the Saturday.

It must be noted that Roddick did not have smooth sailing on his first stop of the summer at the RCA Championships, struggling through to the final, where he came into his own by battering Nicolas Kiefer 6-2, 6-2 in under an hour.

But in his first tournament back since losing the Wimbledon final to Federer, he had to grapple with a bloody blister on his right-hand and a tenacious Michel Kratochvil, who led 6-4, 2-5 when their match was suspended by rain on Wednesday night. He then had to finish off Kratochvil in three sets during the day in Thursday and then was tested by Robby Ginepri in a 7-6 (7-5), 6-4 third round win, in what was definitely one of the most competitive matches Ginepri has played in his career.

And then there was the semifinal battle royal with Ivan Ljubicic, where Roddick somehow managed to save three match points in the second set tiebreaker to eke out a 1-6, 7-6 (12-10), 7-6 (7-3). It wasn't surprising that Ljubicic was baffled as to how he lost the match - he never lost his serve and he trounced Roddick in the opening set. And it also wasn't surprising that Roddick admitted that Ljubicic had outplayed him throughout the match.

The question now becomes if putting in such a pricey effort to repeat at the RCA Championships will become a costly decision as the tournaments get larger with more impressive fields as his continues along.

Art Seitz

Gilbert, with wife Kim, has married Andy's career.

A Year With Gilbert
The Queen's Club tournament last month was the first year anniversary of the alliance between Roddick and Brad Gilbert as his coach. According to Roddick, the interest in the relationship has quieted down: "Last year when I hooked up with Brad, everyone was intrigued by it. Now it's just everyday life for us."

Roddick finds it a bit humorous that people seem to think that Gilbert comes to a player with some kind of stardust that makes his charges champions. The truth is that he's a topnotch coach, who is smart enough to work with quality players. What he brings to the deal is a positive outlook, an uncanny ability to size up any opponent ahead, and the ability and desire to analyze the game to death.

"There is no secret potion, that's what everybody seems to think Brad has," Roddick said. "Brad didn't come to me with any secret wand."

When pointed out that after spending a lot of "quality" time with someone there usually surfaces some traits that drive you crazy about said person, Roddick laughingly agreed.

"Yeah, we're like an old married couple now," said Roddick, who spent the time before the Indy final playing ping pong in the player's lounge with Gilbert's teenaged son, Zack. "We're both strong personalities and we argue like anybody who would be in such close proximity, but we get along great."