1:37PM
Roddick May Never Realize His Dream
By Art Spander
WIMBLEDON, England – Another Wimbledon has ended for Andy Roddick, much too early, and he concedes that the dream never may be realized.
That his career, arbitrarily in decline, unquestionably nearing an end, will finish without the championship to which he came so close.
Three finals for Roddick, over the decade the best of America’s men, three defeats, all to Roger Federer, the last as recently as two years ago when Andy brought it to a dramatic fifth set, only to lose 16-14.
Time is the enemy in sports. Time and timing.
It wasn’t so much Roddick was in the wrong place, Centre Court at the All England Club, competing for the world’s oldest tennis crown. He was up against the wrong person.
What might have been the Andy Roddick Era, after his 2003 U.S. Open victory, instead was transformed into the Roger Federer Era.
Andy kept trying. But in the rear-view mirror it appears that his ’09 run, when he didn’t lose a set at Wimbledon until the final, may have been his last hurrah.
Friday, Roddick was beaten in third round by a player to whom he never had lost in seven previous matches, the lefthander Feliciano Lopez of Spain.
Roddick’s greatest asset has been his serving, but it was Lopez who had more aces, 28 to 23, in winning, 7-6 (2), 7-6 (2), 6-4, and unlike Roddick advancing to the second week of this 125th Wimbledon.
“I got beat,’’ Roddick said candidly and unemotionally. “He came out. He served about as well as someone has.’’
And so Roddick, who will be 29 on August, went out. Goodbye. The thought he never will be a Wimbledon champion is unavoidable.
“Well, sure,’’ conceded Roddick. “You’re human. I mean, of course it does.’’
He has made millions. He is married to a beautiful woman, the model Brooklyn Decker, who wistfully watched from courtside as the 3-hour, 30-minute match lurched to an unhappy conclusion. But without a Wimbledon, it’s fair to say Roddick never will have it all, at least from a career standpoint.
The only satisfaction for Roddick, 10th in the ATP rankings, 8th in the seeding, was he didn’t give away the match. Feliciano took it, although in a matter of speaking Roddick also took it, on the chin.
“He beat me,’’ said Roddick. “It’s easier to take that way. What do you do? You keep moving forward until you decide to stop. At this point, I’ve not decided to stop, so I’ll keep moving forward.’’
The tiebreakers did him in. They weren’t even close. Lopez took chances, and they worked.
“A couple of times I got to his backhand,’’ Roddick explained, “which is where you want to be in a rally against him. He hit some good shots.’’
It’s like a basketball coach saying, "let them shoot from the outside," and then the shots start falling. Good idea. Bad idea.
“He went big on second serves in those tiebreakers and didn’t double (fault) once,’’ said Roddick, almost fatalistic in his acceptance. “I mean, he played pretty high-risk. Normally you get a look at love-15. Today he didn’t dig himself any holes. He was able to cover up some things that are normally his weaknesses.
“I feel like he played as complete a match as he’s played against me.’’
For the first time he played a successful match. They had met across the years, starting in 2003, and across the globe, from Indian Wells to Dubai to Paris and, only two weeks ago at Queens here in London, the Wimbledon warmup. Roddick had lost a few sets but never a match.
“I beat a couple of great players in Wimbledon the last 10 years,” said Lopez, who will be 30 in a month, “but to beat Andy in this court is very special. I would say maybe the best.
“When you play Andy Roddick here, you never expect to win two straight sets against him. So it’s definitely a great win.’’
And for Roddick a difficult defeat.
“I felt good coming in,’’ he said. “Normally, when you don’t play well at a (Grand) Slam, you don’t feel on top of things. I felt on top of things since I got here. I’ve played worse and gotten further. So, it’s disappointing in that sense.’’
Roddick became a favorite of Wimbledon fans after one of those finals losses to Federer, 2004 or 2005, when in a post-match interview on court he told the crowd, “I threw the kitchen sink at him, but he went to the bathroom and got the tub.’’
When he walked off Centre Court on Friday, he left another reminder, one of the tools of his trade.
“I had a racquet in my hand,’’ Roddick mused, “I figured it was just going to waste like a doorstop or something under the bottom of my foot. I figured a 7-year-old boy would probably get more use out of it than my grass court bottoms.’’
WIMBLEDON, England – Another Wimbledon has ended for Andy Roddick, much too early, and he concedes that the dream never may be realized.
That his career, arbitrarily in decline, unquestionably nearing an end, will finish without the championship to which he came so close.
Three finals for Roddick, over the decade the best of America’s men, three defeats, all to Roger Federer, the last as recently as two years ago when Andy brought it to a dramatic fifth set, only to lose 16-14.
Time is the enemy in sports. Time and timing.
It wasn’t so much Roddick was in the wrong place, Centre Court at the All England Club, competing for the world’s oldest tennis crown. He was up against the wrong person.
What might have been the Andy Roddick Era, after his 2003 U.S. Open victory, instead was transformed into the Roger Federer Era.
Andy kept trying. But in the rear-view mirror it appears that his ’09 run, when he didn’t lose a set at Wimbledon until the final, may have been his last hurrah.
Friday, Roddick was beaten in third round by a player to whom he never had lost in seven previous matches, the lefthander Feliciano Lopez of Spain.
Roddick’s greatest asset has been his serving, but it was Lopez who had more aces, 28 to 23, in winning, 7-6 (2), 7-6 (2), 6-4, and unlike Roddick advancing to the second week of this 125th Wimbledon.
“I got beat,’’ Roddick said candidly and unemotionally. “He came out. He served about as well as someone has.’’
And so Roddick, who will be 29 on August, went out. Goodbye. The thought he never will be a Wimbledon champion is unavoidable.
“Well, sure,’’ conceded Roddick. “You’re human. I mean, of course it does.’’
He has made millions. He is married to a beautiful woman, the model Brooklyn Decker, who wistfully watched from courtside as the 3-hour, 30-minute match lurched to an unhappy conclusion. But without a Wimbledon, it’s fair to say Roddick never will have it all, at least from a career standpoint.
The only satisfaction for Roddick, 10th in the ATP rankings, 8th in the seeding, was he didn’t give away the match. Feliciano took it, although in a matter of speaking Roddick also took it, on the chin.
“He beat me,’’ said Roddick. “It’s easier to take that way. What do you do? You keep moving forward until you decide to stop. At this point, I’ve not decided to stop, so I’ll keep moving forward.’’
The tiebreakers did him in. They weren’t even close. Lopez took chances, and they worked.
“A couple of times I got to his backhand,’’ Roddick explained, “which is where you want to be in a rally against him. He hit some good shots.’’
It’s like a basketball coach saying, "let them shoot from the outside," and then the shots start falling. Good idea. Bad idea.
“He went big on second serves in those tiebreakers and didn’t double (fault) once,’’ said Roddick, almost fatalistic in his acceptance. “I mean, he played pretty high-risk. Normally you get a look at love-15. Today he didn’t dig himself any holes. He was able to cover up some things that are normally his weaknesses.
“I feel like he played as complete a match as he’s played against me.’’
For the first time he played a successful match. They had met across the years, starting in 2003, and across the globe, from Indian Wells to Dubai to Paris and, only two weeks ago at Queens here in London, the Wimbledon warmup. Roddick had lost a few sets but never a match.
“I beat a couple of great players in Wimbledon the last 10 years,” said Lopez, who will be 30 in a month, “but to beat Andy in this court is very special. I would say maybe the best.
“When you play Andy Roddick here, you never expect to win two straight sets against him. So it’s definitely a great win.’’
And for Roddick a difficult defeat.
“I felt good coming in,’’ he said. “Normally, when you don’t play well at a (Grand) Slam, you don’t feel on top of things. I felt on top of things since I got here. I’ve played worse and gotten further. So, it’s disappointing in that sense.’’
Roddick became a favorite of Wimbledon fans after one of those finals losses to Federer, 2004 or 2005, when in a post-match interview on court he told the crowd, “I threw the kitchen sink at him, but he went to the bathroom and got the tub.’’
When he walked off Centre Court on Friday, he left another reminder, one of the tools of his trade.
“I had a racquet in my hand,’’ Roddick mused, “I figured it was just going to waste like a doorstop or something under the bottom of my foot. I figured a 7-year-old boy would probably get more use out of it than my grass court bottoms.’’
Tags: 
Andy Roddick, Feliciano Lopez, Wimbledon
Andy Roddick, Feliciano Lopez, Wimbledon 