Oh, the Williams sisters are facing off against each other in another Wimbledon women’s singles final. Ho-hum, here we go again.
Now here’s something to really cheer about for American tennis fans.
Andy Roddick advanced to the third Wimbledon final of his career and his first Grand Slam final since the 2006 U.S. Open with a thrilling 6-4, 4-6, 7-6 (9-7), 7-6 (7-5) victory over crowd favorite Andy Murray, and now it‘s time to play spoiler to Roger Federer‘s quest to win a record 15th Grand Slam singles title.
When #1 Rafael Nadal withdrew from the tournament, I felt that Roddick had a great chance to make a run at Wimbledon, but it was cautious optimism.
At 27, there aren’t going to be a lot more great chances to win Grand Slams, and if ever there was an opportunity for him to make a real run at his first Wimbledon title and get that elusive second Grand Slam title, this was it.
Roddick’s flown the flag as the top male American tennis player for a while now, but that’s a title that means a lot less now than it used to, and he hasn’t done enough to this point in his career to be mentioned in the same vein as the stars of past generations.
What’s held Roddick back from being heralded as anything more than a ‘very good’ tennis player and not a ‘great’ is his lack of big-time success. After winning the U.S. Open in 2003, but he’s gone empty-handed in Grand Slams since then, and before making the semifinals at the Australian Open this year, he hadn’t made it that far in a Grand Slam since the 2007 Australian Open.
But Roddick’s been playing very well all season long, and whether it’s being married to a SI swimsuit model or the fact that he knows time is running out for him, he’s stepping it up at the right time.
Fending off a rejuvenated Lleyton Hewitt in five sets was a big step for Roddick. Sure, it wasn’t the same Hewitt that was a force on the court earlier in this decade, but it showed that Roddick could hold his nerve when it counted, and it no doubt gave him all the confidence that he could do the same against Murray.
Murray is Britian’s great tennis hope, representing the opportunity for a Briton male to win Wimbledon for the first time since 1936, and even before Nadal withdrew, there were a lot of expectations for Murray to make a deep run at Wimbledon. But with Nadal being out of the running, the pressure and expectation level rose sky high, and the weight of trying to fulfill the people‘s expectations could have very well taken its toll in the end.
On the other hand, Roddick was playing with no pressure. Maybe a few people besides me saw him making it this far, but there aren’t many who expected him to be able to outclass Murray.
Today, he played unbelievably well, taking Murray’s best and giving back his own, and his best was better than Murray’s, at least on this day. This was supposed to be Murray’s crowning before the crowning, and though British tennis fans are going to get to see an Andy in the final, it’s not going to be the one they or anyone else expected to see.
Now the question is: Can he beat Federer? Roddick has lost 18 of 20 career meetings against Federer, and he’s 0-for-his-career in finals against Federer, which includes back-to-back losses to Federer at Wimbledon in 2004 and 2005 and then in the U.S. Open in 2006, which, until now, was Roddick’s last appearance in a Grand Slam final.
Roddick is 0 for 3 against Federer this season, and he fell to Federer in straight sets in the semifinals of the Australian Open.
While it’s safe to say that Federer has dominated Roddick, it’s not been by as wide of a margin as the numbers would seem to indicate, because more often than not, their meetings have been close. And to finally score a huge win over Federer, Roddick’s going to have to avoid giving Federer those small openings that have allowed him to gain the upper hand in close matches time and again.
But after today’s victory over Murray, Roddick’s confidence has to be as high as it’s been in a long time, and he appears to be where he needs to be both with his game and mentally. On Sunday, he’ll in much the same position as he was today - no one will expect him to win, but in the end, he could spoil yet another expected crowning.
