Wimbledon - Roddick: Regime helped me to win

Eurosport - Fri, 03 Jul 21:16:00 2009

Andy Roddick earned another chance to cast off the 'one-Slam wonder' tag he feared would live with him forever when steely nerve and a golden serve gave him a Wimbledon semi-final win over Andy Murray.

TENNIS 2009 Wimbledon Roddick - 0

It was as if the Roddick of old was back on Centre Court as the American sixth seed played with the fearless swagger that took him to the US Open title as a 21-year-old in 2003.

His reward for a 6-4 4-6 7-6 7-6 victory over the home favourite and third seed is a third appearance in the final at Wimbledon and once again it will be against Roger Federer, the man who denied him in 2004 and 2005.

Few had expected him to survive against Murray, four years his junior at 22, but the extra hours of fitness work Roddick has put in under new coach Larry Stefanki paid off.

Roddick hired Stefanki, who took Chile's Fernando Gonzalez to the 2007 Australian Open final, after failing to go beyond the quarter-finals of a Grand Slam last season.

At the time he wondered if he had a future at the top end of the game but under Stefanki's guidance he lost around six kilos, to noticeable effect in the way he moves around court.

"This off-season, we said, 'You know what, if you're not gonna be up there, let's at least not wonder. Let's prepare yourself and give yourself every opportunity'," said Roddick.

"I did work real hard and was committed, and have been committed from everything to diet to sleep to everything.

"So I certainly gave myself every opportunity to succeed."

He used his most potent weapon to good effect on Friday, serving a 225kph ace in the first game to draw gasps from the crowd and finishing with a first serve percentage of 75.

At the match's conclusion Roddick sank down, scarcely able to believe he had won, before standing to applaud the crowd and celebrate with a discreet pump of his first.

The performance was all the more remarkable given that he had come through a draining five-setter against Lleyton Hewitt in the quarter-finals and came into the tournament still feeling the effects of an ankle sprain suffered at Queen's.

If he is to become the first American man to win at Wimbledon since Pete Sampras in 2000 he will have to play the match of his life against Federer, the five-times champion who is aiming for a record 15th Grand Slam title.

"I'd love to delay it (Federer's record) for another grand Slam," Roddick said.

Reuters

Comment 12 - 31 of 51

Sort comments by: Most recent

  1. No.25 Regime: A regulated system, as of diet and­ exercise; a regimen. What's your problem?
    And I­ truly hope Roddick can make it this time. Good luck to­ him.

    From Jimmy, on Sat 4 Jul 9:57AM

  2. Go Roddy Go!

    From CARLA, on Sat 4 Jul 9:55AM

  3. yeah, I thought I was only one too who had noticed­ Murray's 1st serve wasnt effective - or even going­ in for that matter! compared to his previous games when­ it was fab and high % and a huge factor in his­ confidence and dominance in those games. Does anyone­ know what his 1st serve % was for the game??

    From wendy, on Sat 4 Jul 8:48AM

  4. and as hatsuking pointed out on another blog roddick­ has that great throw everything in, including the­ kitchen sink, american do or die attitude which can­ account for a big upset, hope arod can summon up all­ his texan powers and make a good fight of it in the­ final, third time lucky ? maybe...

    From ralph, on Sat 4 Jul 8:30AM
  5. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

    constant cap twitching shirt pulling Roddick ­
    hope the spectators love that Sunday display

    From pitcrew66, on Sat 4 Jul 8:18AM

  6. regime is french u ignaramous and stands for program.

    From ralph, on Sat 4 Jul 7:35AM

  7. the greatest improvement in the roddick game is his­ backhand, he didnt used to have one really and now he­ has a real weapon in the slice and the cleanly hit­ cross court b.hand, that coupled with his serve working­ and general improved fitness (he has lost weight) are­ the keys to his getting to another final. now can he­ beat fed on paper definitely not, fed loves playing­ roddick he returns roddick with interest and has a far­ superior all round game which explains the crushing­ defeats andy has experienced at the hands of fed. the­ only thing in his favour is that fed might be a bit­ nervous(personally dont believe it) and that arod­ having lost twice at wimbledon against fed has nothing­ to lose. in the first final they disputed the rain­ upset roddicks rythm and he lost the mental game not­ playing his best tennis, in the 2nd fed just whipped­ him this time he should go out free of demons and give­ it his best shot as he did against murray. its all in­ the head if he gets into the zone u never know anything­ is possible but a betting man would have to go for fed.­ lets just hope he doesnt get hammered because it would­ be great to see a good final and not a 1 man show.

    From ralph, on Sat 4 Jul 7:34AM

  8. RODDICK,PLEASE TELL ME,WHICH "REGIME"­ HELPEDYOU-CLINTON REGIME,BUSH REGIME OR OBAMA REGIME!

    From dorin c, on Sat 4 Jul 5:39AM

  9. RODDICK,PLEASE TELL ME,WHICH "REGIME"­ HELPEDYOU-CLINTON REGIME,BUSH REGIME OR OBAMA REGIME!

    From dorin c, on Sat 4 Jul 5:35AM

  10. how in anyone minds can murray be over hyped grand slam­ final semi final quarter final and only 22 i think­ henamn won 11 titles in his whole career one masters­ murray has 12 and 2 masters only matter of time for­ grand slam cant wait to shut u al up

    From john, on Sat 4 Jul 5:24AM

  11. although i wish him the best of luck against Federer, i­ think the Fed Express will take it in 3 sets.

    From aleksicn93, on Sat 4 Jul 5:07AM

  12. Roddick has made it easy for Federer to make history

    From Saurabh Datta, on Sat 4 Jul 4:44AM
  13. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

    who paid £2000 for MURRAY final tickets ??
    we hope­ they enjoy thee Roddick tweek Cap ,,,pull­ shirt,,,fumble outfit twisted lip mentality

    From sunita139, on Sat 4 Jul 3:55AM

  14. Fairplay to Roddick! I'm a Federer fan but I was­ shouting for Roddick all the way today! His celebration­ was just so humble too! He truly deserves his place in­ the final. But I'm afraid that's as far as my­ support for him goes. Go on Roger!!

    From Stephen M, on Sat 4 Jul 1:33AM

  15. i watched the whole game. i never wanted murray to win,­ that's the way it was. maybe because he's­ overhyped, maybe i didn't like his style, maybe i­ hated that from the first ball @#$% on monday 2 weeks­ ago the crowd went nuts on every single lousy point­ murray played. all of a sudden watching a tennis game­ was like watching any other sport, loud chanting, the­ works. but, after todays matches, i noticed a few­ things. first, federer plays with such talent that it­ really doesn't matter who he plays with. he's­ just majestic. class, mentality, game, pose... he's­ the classic wimbledon champion. second, roddick­ apologized to murray when they ended the game. he felt­ sorry he was the party pooper, he never showed the­ "in your face" attitude djockovic is famous­ for. and lastly, murray was so crushed he walked off­ the court alone, like a man with no hopes, no dreams...­ he has lost everything yet again. i really felt sorry­ in the end. lessons need to be learned if he is ever to­ win wimbledon and his play is not the major issue here.­ yes, he needs to be more aggressive, needs to step it­ up a bit when it matters, needs to spend his energy on­ tennis rather than yelling after every single point.­ frankly, he needs to watch federer play, it's as­ simple as that.

    From il l, on Sat 4 Jul 1:23AM

  16. Even I could have attacked Murray's second­ serves!
    Well, maybe not, I'm pretty useless:) But­ Roger would have eaten him alive...

    From YiannisP, on Sat 4 Jul 1:12AM

  17. Also, Murray lost because of the english media, whether­ he admits it or not. When they briefly interviewed him­ before the match, he seemed stressed and he lied when­ he said he has no such problem. On the contrary,­ Roddick seemed super determined and eager to go for it.­ Me and a friend said exactly he same thing when we saw­ that, we said, that doesn't look like it's­ going to be easy for Murray at all­ actually.

    Bottomline is that Murray was heavy from the­ expectation of him to win the "home"­ tournament. Or the expectation of being the­ favorite...Time and time again players find that this­ is so difficult.

    From YiannisP, on Sat 4 Jul 1:11AM

  18. Andy has no chance against Federer...Murray played­ wimpy, passive tennis and when he did return the serve­ it was a weak return that allowed Roddick to finish the­ point easily. Federer doesn't return or play like­ that...

    From YiannisP, on Sat 4 Jul 1:04AM

  19. I was beginning to think I was the only person who­ noticed that the outcome of the match was greatly­ influenced by Murray's inability to get his first­ serve in (bear in mind Roddick's service return­ isn't one of the better aspects of his game - a­ fact he admits to himself) . Also, Murray overplayed­ the crosscourt pass, Roddick was just picking those­ efforts off time and time again. Nevertheless, credit­ to Roddick for his performance on the day.

    Despite all­ the thumb downs for onelazybum's comment, I have to­ agree that Federer's dominance is due, at least in­ part, to the lack of 'champion mentality' in­ this current crop of players. Only the top 4 display­ this mentality with any consistency.

    From Pele, on Sat 4 Jul 12:41AM

  20. Roddick am happy for you but I hope you and your regime­ headed by Stefanki will go to the drawing board and­ watch how you lost your service at 0-40 in so many­ occasions, I have been reading all articles that you­ served well, if I may ask did you really serve well?­ Murray was returning almost all your service, if anyone­ tells you that you don't need to work on your­ service against Federer then that person is not­ interested on you winning this title. To beat Federer­ on Sunday you have to do better than Ivo when it comes­ to service, am happy that you have really improved on­ your rally’s I think that was what you used to win the­ match not your service, Murray would have broken you in­ so many other occasions when you had to come back from­ 0-40, you are not expecting Federer to allow you come­ back at 0-40 and win are you? AUTOBOTS THE GENIUS IS­ HEADING TO THE COURT FOR HIS 15TH GRAND SLAM, OPTIMUS­ PRIME BE ON GUIDE, HATERS ARE AROUND THE CORNER.

    From stine147, on Sat 4 Jul 12:27AM
Sort comments by: Most recent

Not already a Yahoo! user ? to get a free Yahoo! Account