Andy Roddick ” World Tour Finals contenders
Originally published on: 19/11/10 23:47
Age: 28 (August 8 1982)
Birthplace: Nebraska, USA
ATP ranking: 8th
Qualified: 8th
Season best: Winner – Brisbane, Masters 1000 Miami Runner-up – Indian Wells, San Jose
Season win-loss record: 48-15
Prize money (2010): $1,797,612
Record vs. top eight: Rafael Nadal 3-5; Roger Federer 2-20; Novak Djokovic 5-2; Robin Soderling 2-3; Andy Murray 3-6; Tomas Berdych 6-2; David Ferrer 3-4
2010 Grand Slam record: Australian Open QF; Roland Garros R32; Wimbledon R16; US Open R64
Barclays ATP World Tour Finals best: Making sixth appearance; semi-finalist in 2003, 2004 and 2007
Season review: As the years tick by, so do the opportunities for that elusive second Slam for Roddick. But the American remains inside the top 10 and qualifies for the year-end championships for the eighth successive year.
After pulling out of the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals last year with a knee injury, Roddick came out refreshed and eager to impress in his 10th year on the Tour.
And it all began with a bang in Brisbane as he blitzed his way to the title to give himself excellent preparation going into the Australian Open. The American looked in good shape to reach his second successive semi-final at the Australian Open but at two sets up against Marin Cilic the Croat fought back to snatch victory.
Despite the hiccup, Roddick carried on his form on the hard in San Jose, defeating Tomas Berdych, Sam Querrey before losing to Fernando Verdasco in the final. Querrey then hit back by knocking him out in the quarters in Memphis.
Everything seemed to be clicking when the two Masters Series in the US came around. Firstly, Roddick strung a number of impressive results together until coming up against an inspired Ivan Ljubicic in the final. The American continued this in Miami, this time going one step further, notably defeating Rafael Nadal in the semis before seeing off Berdych to secure his 29th career title.
After such a fantastic run on the hard courts, the American decided to opt out of his least favoured clay court events, to prepare himself for another crack at the Wimbledon title. With no competitive clay court action, unsurprisingly Roddick lost in the third round of Roland Garros to then world No.114 Teymuraz Gabashvili.
The time out seemed to do more harm than good as the slump continued at Queen’s Club where he lost to Dudi Sela, while last season’s Wimbledon finalist did not get on any better at the All England Club, tumbling out to Yen-Hsun Lu in an epic 4hr36 battle in the last 16.
Back on the hard stuff, Roddick got straight back to winning ways, reaching the semi-finals in Atlanta, losing to Mardy Fish, and then his countryman stopped him in his tracks again in the last four in the Masters 1000 event in Cincinnati.
The defeat also saw the American fall outside the top 10 for the first time since 2006, which also dropping his seeding for his home slam. With this, his draw at the US Open was made difficult but even so Roddick failed to make it past the second round, losing to Janko Tipsarevic.
The poor results also saw his chances of a place at the season-ending championships in jeopardy so Roddick knew that he would need to be on top form in the final stretch to qualify, but Roddick managed to put together an assured performance in Basel to reach the semis, which put him back into the top eight in the race.
On to the penultimate tournament of the year in Paris, Roddick was under huge amounts of pressure with three players hunting him down for that final coveted spot for London but the 28-year-old used all of his experience to hold himself together to make the quarters thus securing his place.
Last year’s Barclays ATP World Tour Finals: DNP
Roddick on London: “It’s certainly an accomplishment every year. It’s an honour to qualify once, and then each time you kind of realise how tough it actually is. You can’t just play well for one week. It’s the culmination of doing it week after week on tour.”
Chances: In a group with Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Berdych qualification to his fourth semi final will be extremely tough but his experience in the competition can only help his cause.
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