When Andy Roddick looks back at his career, he may not be able to point to many Slams. So far, his Slam resume has been stuck at one for a very long time, the 2003 US Open.
But perhaps the one thing he’ll be proud of is staying in the top 10 since then. Since November 4, 2002, Andy Roddick has been in the top 10 except a brief period from July 10, 2006 to August 28, 2006 where he flitted in and out of the top 10.
Roddick’s game has evolved from the big ace, big forehand game that used to define how he played, to the steady baseliner, who uses his big serve more judiciously. He no longer throws in a ton of aces, like he used to, but he can now hit with the best baseliners and often end up the victor. One of Roddick’s weakness was his return of serve. He often struggled to return against the best servers. He’s improved in this respect, even though he rarely rates that high in the best returners of the game.
Roddick was slated to play Fernando Gonzalez in the fourth round. Gonzalez has had his best Slam results in the Australian Open, although he did reach the semifinals of the French in 2009. He was a finalist in 2007 losing to Roger Federer in straight sets. His record against Gonzalez is 8-3.
Like his match against Lopez, the match against Gonzalez was expected to be tough. Despite the gaudy record that pointed to Roddick as favorite, Gonzalez is a player that runs on emotions and can play big.
Roddick took the first set 6-3, and then Gonzalez took the next two sets, 6-3, then 6-4. At 5-4, Roddick had several chances to break Gonzalez and take the fourth set, but he was rebuffed by Gonzalez each time. At 5-all, Roddick then held to 6-5. It looked as if Gonzalez would force a fourth set tiebreak up 40-0, but Roddick clawed back to deuce. At break point for Roddick, Roddick hit a crosscourt forehand. This shot was came close to the line and was called out. Roddick challenged the call and it was overruled as in.
Gonzalez then claimed he could have reached the ball, but the chair umpire decided he couldn’t have (since the chair umpire spoke Spanish, they had a discussion). Replays suggested Gonzalez could have reached the shot, but seemed to give up on hitting the shot prior to the out shot being called, implying that if the out ball had not been called, Gonzalez would have challenged or hit a feeble shot.
Gonzalez was unhappy at this call, and it seemed early in the fifth set that every close call that was being challenged went against him. Roddick, for his part, kept his composure and continued to play his tennis, not letting this controversy bother his play. Roddick would get two breaks and finish the match, 6-2.
This may be a tough match for Roddick. Roddick has split matches with Cilic in the two meetings they’ve had. The last meeting they had was in Toronto in 2008. 2008 wasn’t exactly a happy time for Roddick. He had hoped skipping the Olympics would rejuvenate his career. Instead he found himself despairing entering the US Open, having lost to Juan Martin del Potro in Los Angeles and losing to Victor Troicki in Washington DC. So that loss to Cilic may not reflect Roddick’s current skill.
Even so, del Potro has a 3-0 record against Roddick, so Cilic has to be a better deal for Roddick. Both have gone through 5 setters, so it’s difficult to say who is favored. Roddick has the experience, but Cilic may be that up-and-comer ready to move up. Slight edge to Roddick.
