WireImage When will Roddick emotionally recover?

TUESDAY, JULY 7- Cleaning out the Wimbledon house of unpublished thoughts could take until next July 4, but here’s some not so random thoughts on various players:

Roger Federer: I’ve actually stopped caring to large degree as to whether Federer is the best ever, because the conversation has been beaten down to the pulp. There are at least a few different ways to argue the point, but at least for the moment, can we all just concede that no Open Era player has had anywhere close to a six year stretch that Fed has had and in almost every circumstance, when called upon, he shoved him right to the top of the heap.

When Rafael Nadal returns in August, we can begin having the discussion again, because in my mind, Federer has to take control of that rivalry again for me to start singing Hallelujah at the Swiss’ feet. But even without having to face Nadal in Paris and London, Federer had to smooth his way through well-stocked fields. Let’s not forget that Andy Murray, Novak Djokovic, Andy Roddick, Jo Tsonga, Robin Soderling, Ivo Karlovic, Fernando Verdasco, Tommy Haas, Lleyton Hewitt, Fernando Gonzalez and Stan Wawrinka were all around and at times, played brilliantly. But Federer took the crowns because he has more options in his game, often plays smarter and has nerves of A-grade steel.

Andy Roddick: The American is a macho guy who isn’t that sentimental, but I still felt a little bad for him after the final. He surprised us all in his upset of Murray and his near upset of Federer, not because of his improved shotmaking off the ground and at the net, but because his entire game came together for about seven hours. Anyone can play great for a set, but Roddick displayed a much-improved repertoire for the entire tournament.
Credit goes to a slew of coaches for helping him develop a net game, but no one but Larry Stefanki was able to figure out how to allow the big guy to rip his two-handed backhand and now that Roddick isn’t leaning forward as much on his front foot and cramping his follow-through, he has a much needed new weapon. But…how long will it take him to recover from what was the most emotionally draining defeat of his career? It may take a month, or the rest of the season. One thing that I’m convinced of now, which I wouldn’t have said prior to Wimbledon: he’s a legitimate Grand Slam title contender again.

Andy Murray: I’m of two minds about his loss to Roddick: one, that the American served so well that Murray had nothing to be ashamed about, and two, that the Scot once again played too passively, a theme that I stuck to again and again during the Championships. Yes, his game is better suited to US Open hard courts, but if he had made a few small adjustments to his approach during Wimbledon, he might have been able to lift his first crown.

Novak Djokovic: The Serbian has been very disappointing at the Slams this year and at this point, at least at the majors, Roddick is the guy who deserves a Big 4 accolade. What happened to the clutch Novak? Is he hiding out in the dried-up Belgrade swimming pool with AI and JJ?
Tommy Haas: My has he done his fiancée, actress Sarah Foster, a world of good with his fine play, as she has gotten more air time sitting in the Friends Box than she has her regular acting gigs. Now, who isn’t going to go out and buy an opening night ticket for her new film, “Psych 9.”

Davis Cup: Roddick’s pullout from the US’s tie against Croatia, which begins on Friday, decreases his teams chances of winning by at least 50%. Mardy Fish has been playing reasonably well, but not on clay, and he and James Blake will be sizeable underdogs against Marin Cilic and slight underdogs against Ivo Karlovic. It’s too bad for coach Pat McEnroe, whose team had a 50-50 chance before Roddick went back to New York.

Doubles: Daniel Nestor and Nenad Zimonjic defended the doubles specialists; pride by taking down singles players Blake and Fish in the semis (as well as Bob and Mike Bryan in the final), but top ranked Liezel Huber and Cara Black must be totally embarrassed after being wiped out by the Williams sisters, who went on to win the title.


Mal Tamm Safina has become a pundit punching bag. Safina Takes Aim at Venus

Serena Williams: Of course she’s the best all around player in the game and has been mostly brilliant competitor during the last four majors, but can the tennis press stop printing contentions tossed out by the non-tennis press, like that the WTA ranking system is an embarrassment because Dinara Safina remains No. 1? Do you know how many tournaments Serena has won outside of the Slams this year? Zero. Should every other tournament outside of the Slam be declared irrelevant? Of course not. It’s up to Serena to perform marginally better in between the majors and if and when she does, No. 1 will be her’s once again.

Venus Williams: Now that she lost the Wimbledon final, is it possible that she can actually survive early round bumps and bruises at the US Open, reach the final, and win it for the first time since 2001? Only if she attacks the net with sheer abandon.
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Elena Dementieva: If Roddick’s loss to Federer was tough, how about the Russian’s heart-wrenching defeat to Serena where she held a match point and went the wrong way with a passing shot? By the look of it, Dementieva does have a Slam in her, but the clock is ticking faster and faster on her chances.

AI and JJ: Which Serbian is in worse shape, Ana Ivanovic or Jelena Jankovic? Ivanovic appears more determined to start putting up huge results again, while Jankovic is just tossing out excuses as to why she underachieving. Watch them closely during the US Open Series. Whoever puts up better results will be a factor at the Open and whichever woman continues to fade will likely be headed to a first round exit. By tthe way, for those of you who don't know, Jankovic's mom calls her daughter "JJ." Weird.

Azarenka and Wozniacki: Neither teenager can be please about how they went out of Wimbledon, with Vika unable to really threaten Serena and Caro being thumped by the chest-bumping Sabine Lisicki. It might be the German Lisicki who ends up having a better hard court stretch, but if Azarenka can begin to discover the value of having a Plan B, she’s could become an outside Us Open contender. Wozniacki simply needs to get tougher.

The Name Game, Junior edition: It’s official: barring injury, Thai Noppawan Lertcheewakarn should be around the pro game for at least the next decade, as she won the singles and doubles girls trophies. So get used to pronouncing her name. Andrey Kuznetsov of Russia won the boy’s over American Jordan Cox.

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