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Snakes n’ Ladders: Roddick plummets


 

Originally published on: 20/02/12 11:43

Andy Roddick has slipped to his lowest ranking since August 2001 after dropping 10 places in the ladder to No.27 this week.

The American fell to Denis Istomin in the quarter-finals at the ATP 250 event in San Jose, held in the same week as his title-winning run at Memphis last year, when Roddick had edged past Milos Raonic in a three-set thriller.

Where the former world No.1 has since plummeted, Raonic has continued his rise towards the top 10. The Canadian sent down 61 aces in San Jose en route to his third career title, beating Roddick’s conqueror 7-6(3) 6-2 in the final. 

“I think I served pretty flawlessly throughout the week,” said Raonic, now occupying 35th spot in the ladder.

“I feel like I’m a much better tennis player than I was last year. I feel last year I was sort of playing probably higher than my potential. This year, I felt like I came in a much better player and I played well.”

Raonic had negotiated fellow bright spark Ryan Harrison in the semi-finals, with the American leaping 21 places to No.73 to make the biggest jump in the top 100.

Meanwhile, Robin Soderling, like Roddick, is experiencing something of a fall from grace after dropping three places to No.24 as a result of his continued absence from the tour. The 27-year-old Swede hasn’t played a competitive match since winning the Bastad title last July because of his ongoing battle with mononucleosis.

The two-time French Open finalist revealed in a facebook post last week that the illness is still making him “very tired”.

“I was hoping to be ready for tournaments in February but unfortunately I am not there yet,” said the Tibro native. “The good news is that the symptoms of the mono like sore throat and fever are gone, but for some reason my body still cannot handle intense training, I get very tired when I do something physical. I am working with my medical team to understand why and what the next step is. My full focus of each day is to get healthy and strong. Hopefully it won’t be much longer but I cannot compete until I am 100% fit.”

In the absence of the defending champion at the ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament in Rotterdam, Roger Federer thumped Juan Martin del Potro 6-1 6-4 to secure his 71st career title.

The Swiss, who only recently stated his desire to reclaim the No.1 spot, cut the gap on second-placed Rafael Nadal to 1,105 points after beating the Argentine.

“In the first set, I was rock solid. I played great from start to finish,” said Federer. “In the second set, it got tighter. I’m happy I was able to sneak it out.”

The 16-time Grand Slam champ had to dig deep to reach the final after being tested by Nikolay Davydenko in three sets in the semi-finals. The Russian climbs nine places to 40 by virtue of his run to the last four.

In Sao Paulo, Nicolas Almagro regained his Brasil Open crown after beating Fillippo Volandri in straight sets.

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Tim Farthing, Tennishead Editorial Director & Owner, has been a huge tennis fan his whole life. He's a tennis journalist and entrepreneur as well as playing tennis to a national standard. He also helps manage his local club and volunteers for his local tennis organisation. He's a specialist in content about the administration of professional tennis and tennis coaching for all levels.