Andy Roddick-Lone American fom the Lone Star State

His full name is Andrew Stephen Roddick.

He did a television commercial where he served the ball into the ground on a clay court. Some people were actually wondering if it was a real match but it was done with special effects.

His first two ATP titles came on clay, his least favorite surface.

To be honest with you I've never been Roddick's greatest fan, it just seemed to me that he was a bit cocky and he always seemed to get on chair umpire's cases for no reason. But through the years as Roddick suffered pusishment form the likes of Roger Federer in particular I gained respect for him. If it wasn't for Federer Roddick might have won several more grand slam titles. It's hard to say exactly how many.

He has lost twice to Federer in the final of Wimbledon and once in the US Open. He also lost to Federer in two Australian Open semi-finals and a US Open quarter final. So in any of these six cases he would either have won the tournament or could potentially have gone on to win the tournament. That is a possibility of six more grand slam titles for Roddick right there was Federer no around.

But in the end that is all irrelevant. Federer has hinderd many players form winning a grand slam and he is after all an unstoppable force. His head-to-head record against Roddick is a staggering 16-2, so he is clearly the better player and in most of those matches Roddick lost he didn't even come close to winning. The flaws in Roddick's game stands out like a sore thumb when he plays against Federer.



Roddick lacks the variety, talent and fanesse of a Federer. He has the biggest serve in the history of the game which has been clocked at 155 mph (249.4 km/h), the fastest in the history of tennis. And although the game is ruled by power these days it is not all that is needed. A player must have a variety of shots and skills to be able to get the better of all opponents.

Roddick has a lot of power but little finesse, he doesn't have the soft hands of a Federer. Soft hands is needed to play well at the net and break up the pace of a rally. Roddick has a decent forehand but his backhand is a liability. He relies heavily on his power game and when it doesn't work he doesn't have many other options to fall back on. This happens against the very top guys like Federer, Murray, Nadal and Djokovic.

So it can't be fun for Roddick to keep losing to the top guys but i admire his persistence and it seems in 2009 he has reinvented himself. He has lost 15 pounds in the off season in order to move better. Already he has been having good results and he beat defending champ Djokovic at the Australian Open due to superior fitness. This is the kind of guy Roddick is, he doesn't give up and leave's it all out on the court.

In 2009 Andy Roddick lost for the third time against Roger Federer in the WIbledon final. But what an epic match it was, the score 5-7, 7-6(6), 7-6(5), 3-6, 16-14. It was the longest fifth set in Wimbledon final history and Roddick was very unfortunate not to win his first Wimbledon title. He has now lost four times to Federer in grand slam finals, the three Wimbledon finals, and a US Open final. Was it not for the Federer era, Roddick would almost certainly have won several more slams.

And the Wimbledon final of 2009 was his best chance to finally break through against Federer at a grand slam, but it wasn't to be and he now slips to 2-19 in career meetings against Federer. Nonetheless Roddick must take heart from this loss. It was against the greatest player of all time and he came extremely close to winning. That makes it harder to accept of course, but at least Roddick knows now he can compete with the very best. On his way to the final he beat several good players, including Lleyton Hewitt in another epic five set match and Andy Murray, which was another great win.



Most people thought Murray would best Roddick, but Roddick has raised his game to another level in 2009, and it shows in his results. He made the semi-final of the Australain Open where he lost to Federer as well, and at the French Open he achieved his best result yet by making the fourth round. The loss at Wimbledon would have hurt, but it should give Roddick a lot of confidence going into the American hard court season. Roddick's only grand slam win came at the US Open and he will certainly be one of the favorites for the title this year.

I hope Roddick gets the chance to win Wimbledon some day because that is the one he really wants and deserves. It has been a great story and it is inspiring to see a player come of age at age 26. There is no doubt that Roddick has lifted his game a new level and it will be interesting to see how he bounces back from the Wimbledon loss now. It was probably the toughest loss of his career, but Roddick is not exactly the kind of guy that will lay down...