Tennis: Andy Roddick

Will Andy Roddick finally show that he is a dominate player on the feild this year and win a major?
During the first few tournaments of the season he has showed great improvement in his game, espically in the Austrilian open, the only reason why he didnt go to the finals was because of fatigue. He has alawys done well at the U.S. Open will this be his breakout year?

Roddick is definately an up and comer, and could be a great one. I think he mentally psychs himself out sometime. His serve is killer. The serve from the powerade commercial where it stuck in the clay was true right? I heard it was but people dont believe me

Yeah the commerical is true, i saw it on TV one day, and i thought that it was the best commerical ever. It makes me wonder sometimes if that can acutally happen during a match?

Roodick does psych himself out sometimes, but he does pump himself up when he hits a huge shot. Does any remember the point at the US Open?

Andy Roddick got off to a poor start in his spring claycourt campaign, suffering a first-round defeat to Spain's Albert Portas Today in the Monte Carlo Masters.He said he felt good in practice but didn't produce it on the day.
Early day's yet clay is not always the best surface to play on.

Andy is not really a clay courter. Other players on the tour are able to get to his serve more because the clay slows it down, same with his forehand. His best surface would have to be the Hard courts.
Andy though has had some sucess on clay courts, but not a lot.

Albert Portas is a strong player, especially on clay. He is one of those pure-clay-courters along with, Albert Costa, Juan Carlos. If you notice though the clay-courters other than Juan Carlos, dont have much luck on the other surfaces.

Defending champion Andy Roddick marched through his first-round match at the US Men's Clay Court Championships in a straight sets victory!

Roddick, who defeated Pete Sampras in last year's final, did not waste much time rolling past fellow American Jeff Morrison 6-3 6-1.

Roddick never faced break point in the 51-minute match and he lost only nine points on his serve in eight games.

Seems he has got it back after his disappointment in his last tournament.
Let's see how far he can get this time around..

It was nice to see Andy roll finally in a match. Good Job Andy. I always like watching this kid play he is very entertaining.

Is Guga finally back from his injury

Guga has been playing well lately and its prompt me to ask is he finally back to his old self?

Ben i assume you are talking about Gustavo Kuerton,I havn't heard Guga for ages...Sadly i havn't been watching out for him so don't know what he's been doing lately....On he's day he was a quality player.. Didn't Hewitt knock him off the number 1 spot when hewitt was 20yrs old the youngest to get to no1 i think..

yeah Hewitt did knock him off from being number 1, next to Andy Roddick, Guga, Hewitt, and Agassi are my favorite players. Well last year or so Guga had to get hip surgrey and he hasnt been the same lately, so now he looks like he is returning to his old self. I would look for him to make an impact at Roland Garros. Last year he just came back from the injury and enter at the French Open and made it to the round of 16 or so. He is capable of winning this thing this year cause now he is heathly. Andy isnt a good clay courter so i dont really know how well he will play. The clay really take the speed off of his serve and forehand.

We have to see when Gustavo get's back in the swing to see if he get's back to his best...

Meanwhile Roddick progresses.....

Andy Roddick battled through a pair of tough sets against qualifier Paul Goldstein on Wednesday to reach the quarter-finals at the US Men's Clay Court Championships.

The second-seeded Roddick was down a service break in both sets before overcoming his fellow American, 7-5 6-4, in a second-round match at the Westside Tennis Club.

Champion here for the past two years and seeking a hat-trick, Roddick will play Fernando Meligeni in the quarter-finals on Friday.


Also Costa not doing too good!!

French Open champion Albert Costa suffered his second setback in the early stages of the clay-court season on Thursday when Argentinian Agustin Calleri eased past the Spaniard in straight sets at the Open Seat Godo in Barcelona.

Calleri recorded a highly impressive 6-4 6-2 victory in the third round to continue his good run of results.

Costa reached the semi-final of the hard-court Miami Masters Series event last month, but will see this defeat in his home town as poor preparation for Roland Garros.

Andy seems to be playing very well he seems to always play well at those courts. I would expect andy to win another title their easily. But with Albert it seems like ever since he won the French open that he hasnt been playing well. With the French open right around the corner who might win that? Andy has only made it a couple of rounds their.

April 24 - ATP US Claycourt Champs
Third Round:

(1) Andre Agassi (USA) bt Irakli Labadze (Geo) 6-0 6-2

Agassi is going great gun's as well......
The way Roddick struggled a bit in the last round he has to improve a bit more to go on and win it.....

This is interesting Agassi,Graf teaming up if she keeps her word!!!!

Paddy Power still go 4/1 about Andre Agassi and wife Steffi Graf winning the French Open mixed doubles - despite Graf looking unlikely to play.
Agassi had a bet with Graf, now retired, and she agreed to play with him in Paris if he won the Australian Open final against Rainer Schuettler.
The 32-year-old duly obliged.
But Agassi said this week that a Graf comeback, even for one tournament, was unlikely.
He said: "It's hard to convince someone who has (won) five times as many tournaments as I have."
Agassi and Graf, who have never played together before, would be virtually guaranteed a wild card for the event should they decide to enter.
The Irish layers also offer 33/1 that Agassi and Graf are beaten by current world number one Lleyton Hewitt and his girlfirend Kim Clijsters - who have teamed up in the past - in the event.

good stuff TRD. Iam really hopping that Stefi comes back and plays with Andre i would love to see them paired together i think that would be the best. It would be a very fun match-up to see Andre and Stefi vs. Hewitt and Kim, i would pay big bucks to see that one.

Andre has been playing very well so far this season and it wouldn't surpise me if he won the French Open, he is playing that well, The A-train is running on all cylinders.

Yeah them two playing together would be a must for every fan to see,as i don't think it would happen again...

Agassi seems to be having one last push this season,i think he is going to have a stormer and win quite a lot.I wouldn't be surprised if he ended up no1 this year...

April 25 - ATP US Claycourt Champs
Quarter-finals:

Olivier Mutis (Fra) bt (3) James Blake (USA) 6-4 6-7 (3-7) 6-1

(2) Andy Roddick (USA) bt Fernando Meligeni (Bra) 6-3 4-6 6-4

Jurgen Melzer (Aut) bt Mardy Fish (USA) 7-5 2-6 7-5

Roddick made it threw to Semi's struggled a little bit but he is still their!!!
Roddick continued his quest for a third straight Houston title Friday night with a 6-3 4-6 6-4 victory over Brazil's Fernando Meligeni.
Meligeni broke Roddick twice to force a decisive set, but the second-seeded American capitalized on his eighth break point chance in the third to take a 5-4 lead.
"It was a tough match," Roddick said.
"I don't think that I played particularly well at the end of the second set, but I wasn't (ticked) off or throwing my toys around."

More interesting is....

Andre Agassi continued to roll towards the top of the ATP rankings, but fellow American James Blake wasted an early advantage on Friday in the quarter-finals of US Men's Clay Court Championships.

The top-seeded Agassi crushed Brazilian qualifier Ricardo Mello, 6-0 6-1 in just 43 minutes and advanced to his second straight semi-final at the Westside Tennis Club.


Blake, the third seed, stumbled in the quarter-finals here for the second straight year, falling to French qualifier Olivier Mutis, 6-4 6-7 (3-7) 6-1.


Agassi turns 33 on Tuesday but remains in sensational form. The Australian Open champion raised his 2003 match record to 21-1.
If he reaches the final, he will become the oldest player to become number one in the 30-year history of the ATP rankings.
"I feel like I am committed to always getting stronger and always getting better," Agassi said.
"In that process, you give yourself the advantage of being determined and being focused and being strong mentally. As a result, I have gotten better, which is always my goal."


The winner of 60 ATP titles, Agassi has *yet to have his serve broken* and has *dropped just five games* in his first three matches this week.
The Las Vegas native hopes to improve upon last year's semi-final performance here, where he lost in straight sets to long-time rival Pete Sampras.
Agassi will face Austrian Jurgen Melzer, who outlasted American Mardy Fish, 7-5 2-6 7-5, to reach his second semi-final of the season.

Thing's are hotting up it could be Agassi v Roddick Final

Hmmmm I was right Roddick v Agassi in the Final...!!

Second seed Andy Roddick of the United States on Saturday moved within a win of "threepeating" at the US Men's Clay Court Championship.
But to achieve the feat, he will have to knock off the new world number one.
Roddick defeated unseeded Olivier Mutis of France 4-6 6-1 6-2 to set up an all-American final with top-seeded Andre Agassi, who trounced Jurgen Melzer of Austria 6-4 6-1 on Saturday night.

*Only two other men in the history of the tournament have claimed the title three or more times in a row. The last to do it was Bobby Riggs from 1936-38. Bill Tilden accomplished the feat from 1922-27.*

Mutis had the only service break in first set, which occurred in the ninth game, but the unheralded Austrian was unable to build off it.
Roddick regrouped after the first set and won the next two without losing his serve.

"A lot of it had to do with fitness," he said. "I heard that he was tired after his match yesterday, so I did not get discouraged after losing the first set. I wanted to let him know that it would be a dog fight early on."

******************************
Agassi's victory will see him take over top spot in the world rankings when the new list comes out on Monday. He will replace Lleyton Hewitt of Australia, who held the honour for 75 weeks.

Agassi, who will turn 33 on Tuesday, last occupied the top spot from September 1999 to September 2000.

He is the oldest man to achieve the feat since the ATP went to computer rankings in 1973.

"I don't think that I can quite find the words. It's an amazing feeling because it's sort of the result of a lot of hard work, and a lot of determination, and a lot of decision making, a lot of success in many different arenas against many different opponents, so it's a bit overwhelming to have it all come together at one moment," Agassi said.

"It starts to sink in earlier and earlier the older you get, you are sort of more aware of the fewer opportunities, you're surely more appreciative of the accomplishments."

Agassi is 3-0 lifetime against Roddick.

"Andy certainly has a lot of fire power and is one of the best competitors and he obviously likes playing here.

"It's going to be the toughest time I've had playing him," said Agassi, who is 22-1 this year.


Should be a cracking match up what with Roddick going for the 3 timer and Agassi in tip top form and heading the charts for the no 1 spot now..!

Agassi is playing better than ever right now and he deserves to be number 1 more than anybody else on the tour. Andy was close to winning this thing but Agassi just had more experience and knew what to do at certain situations. If Andy played a little smarter tennis he might have come away with a victory. A lot of the times on his serve you would see agassi standing 10 feet behind the baseline, and Andy still blast his serve. When Agassi stands that far back he gets more time to perpare for the serve. If Andy kicked it in the corner out wide and served and volleyed he would have kept agassi guessing. He is stil young and in time he will figure it out. Good match though, maybe this win will make steffi play at the French Open?

Yes it was a good result for Agassi shame about Roddick but he still has time on his side.....

As for Agassi and Steffi i havn't heard any more about it but it would be great..!

Andre Agassi celebrated his first day as the oldest men's player to be ranked No. 1 in the world. He got this ranking by defeating Andy Roddick to win the U.S. Men's Clay Court Championships on Sunday.

Agassi said "I'm still numb, to be honest, Andy kept me from getting comfortable for most of the match. Early in the second set, I made some big points and closed out the match. Sometimes it's better to be lucky. I felt pretty deperate the whole time, I can understand why it's so hard to beat him here the way he serves, and his second serve is such a big weapon."

Roddick was trying to become the first Clay Court three-peat winner since Bobby Riggs in 1936-1938.

Agassi took voer the NO. 1 world ranking by defeating Austria's Jurgen Melzer in the semifinals.

Hewitt had spent 75 consecutive weeks at NO.1 Agassi has spent 87 weeks as the top-ranked player. Good Job for Agassi keep it up.

Yes Agassi is having a great season so far..He and Roddick have got to fancy their chances at the Stella Artois and then Wimbledon in the next few weeks...