It was said that President Richard Nixon was talking to an Olympian who had won a silver medal and consoling him on not winning the gold.  The Olympian didn’t bother to tell the President that he was very happy with the silver medal.  Nixon embodied the win at all cost mentality that sometimes pervades sports.

That’s the same kind of mentality that tells Buffalo Bills fans that four consecutive appearances in the Super Bowl is not a worthy accomplishment, that it’s better to win once than lose 4 times at the last step.  It’s the mentality that says you should be distraught when you lose a big match, moping about why you couldn’t have played that extra bit better.

Some wonder if Andy Roddick shouldn’t just lament.  With Roger Federer taking the lion’s shares of Slams and Rafael Nadal taking most of the rest, there hasn’t been much left over for anyone else.  In the last 5 years, the only other players besides Federer and Nadal to win a Slam are Juan Martin del Potro in 2009 US Open, Novak Djokovic in the 2008 Australian Open, and Marat Safin in the 2005 Australian Open.

But with age, Andy Roddick realizes that he’s not Roger Federer, he’s not Rafael Nadal, and rather look at the world through a glass half-empty view, and wallow in negativism, he would rather take the glass half-full view, and savor the positives.  So while many feel Roddick should have been devasted by his loss to Roger Federer at last year’s Wimbledon, Roddick saw it differently.  Up until then, Roddick hadn’t been in a Slam final since the 2006 US Open.  He wondered if he’d ever reach a Slam final again, let alone win it.

Andy Roddick often looks at the number of consecutive years that he’s stayed in the top 10.  He’s basically been there since he got there in 2002 when he ended the year at 10, and has stayed there ever since.  During this time, a number of players have moved up the ranks including Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic, Andy Murray, Juan Martin del Potro, Robin Soderling as well as players that were more his contemporaries like Lleyton Hewitt, Marat Safin, Juan Carlos Ferrero, and Nikolay Davydenko.

In a way, Roddick may have more in common with Lleyton Hewitt, a fellow player that found success early, but then entered a drought during the golden Federer years.  Hewitt has also suffered injuries that have kept him from playing year-round, and yet, he continues to work hard despite not having been in the top 10 in some time.  Roddick sees himself as a player that’s still learning how to play better.

Roddick can look at his Wimbledon loss in positive ways too.  He beat Lleyton Hewitt in five sets.  He beat Andy Murray in four sets.  He finally pushed Roger Federer to five sets and never lost serve until the last game he played.  He was part of history when Roger broke Pete Sampras’s record of 14 Slams by winning his 15th.

Roddick will often seem irritable, especially in interviews, or use his dry wit.  Much of what seems to irritate Roddick are questions that don’t make sense.  A reporter noted how many fathers there were playing in the draw and asked Roddick what he thought of playing as a father.  Rather than make something up, Roddick said that he had no idea since he was not a father.  This happens frequently, as Roddick sometimes wonders if the reporters pay attention to Roddick’s interviews and what he’s said before.  Admittedly, a post-match sports reporter has a thankless job.  The questions tend to be the same over and over.  It’s not exactly a one-on-one hour-long interview.

Andy Roddick used to be seen as an intense big server, but beneath the toothy grin is someone far more thoughtful.