Blood, sweat, no tears: Roddick advances
Literally leaving blood on the court, Andy Roddick trooped past midnight to a first-round victory over Germany's Bjorn Phau to resume his pursuit of an elusive second career major tournament title.
Six years past his championship victory at Flushing Meadows, and not until 11:10 p.m., Roddick immediately began to take apart Phau at Arthur Ashe Stadium, 6-1, 6-4, 6-2.
Fit and eager, 15 pounds lighter than he was six months ago, Roddick battered the 84th-ranked Phau, and even appeared a bit dangerous to himself. A Roddick follow-through caused a cut on his right ear in the second set, and the bleeding - though hardly profuse - forced ballpersons to bring out extra towels as a hygienic precaution.
Roddick delivered repeated painful cuts with his biggest weapon - 13 aces, 81 percent first-serve success - and finished off Phau with a sharp overall performance that ended at 12:46 a.m. Tuesday on a breezy, chilly night.
That meant added momentum for the No. 5 seed, who arrived at this year's U.S. Open a more sympathetic, more beloved figure than he has been in his nine years as a tennis professional. And all because of that exhausting, high-profile game of dodgeball with Roger Federer in this summer's Wimbledon championship final.
It took the eminent Federer 30 games to at last win the final set (Wimbledon does not use a tiebreak in the fifth set), which not only brought Federer a record 15th major-tournament title but also fetched for Roddick the kind of public embrace not even felt when he won the Open in 2003.
And, certainly, not in the subsequent years, when there was a sense that Roddick had been a false prophet for American tennis, a fine player but hardly the next Pete Sampras or Andre Agassi.
After Wimbledon, though, strangers offered condolences; even his mailman lent advice. "People on the street,'' he said, "were like, 'We're so sorry, we're so sorry.' I was, 'It's OoooooK.' ''
The reaction to him was "different,'' he said. "I've played the Wimbledon final before . But I don't think I realized the magnitude of interest in it back here [in the States]. I don't think I really understood.
"Obviously, in England, Wimbledon is a big deal. That match with [Andy] Murray was a big deal.''
Roddick, in the semifinal that set up his Federer duel, had upset the great British hope to extend the home nation's title drought for male players to a 33rd year. "And, to be honest, I wasn't playing amazing tennis at Wimbledon until I played really well in the semifinals and finals,'' Roddick said. "But to beat a guy like Murray in that situation and come up short against the best who's ever played the game, that does help.''
With the Grand Slam tour now on Roddick's turf, and with the Wimbledon glow following him, he could get a taste of the Murray-at-Wimbledon experience, especially with ongoing hand-wringing over when an American male will again win a major. But, Roddick insisted, only a taste.
"I don't think I've had to deal with anything close to what Murray deals with at Wimbledon,'' he said. "It's down to, 'Andy had a power bar at 3:30 before he went out to play - and was that a good thing?' He's on the front page of sports sections for 45 days. I could relate to certain aspects, but it's not the same at all.''
The revival of fan backing, Roddick said, "is nice and certainly enjoyable, too.'' Also, a bit surprising. But the crowd will "help me through'' big moments only as long as he doesn't "choke like I did in the first round [of the Open] in '05. You have to be playing well for that to work for you.
"I think about a lot, but I don't look ahead too much and I didn't sit and cry in my Cheerios three days later. Normally, you don't get hurt by tennis losses. You're mad, you're angry, you're this, you're that. Yeah, that hurt. But at the same time, it's still a pretty good existence to be able to play matches like that.''
As for last night, Roddick said, "It feels great. The later, the better; these are hard-core fans. I'm just enjoying playing so much right now, I'm going to stick around for a while. I feel good so far.''
