The only male American player of any import (unless you count James Blake) is Andy Roddick, and he was hoping to win the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells.
He had a heck of a gantlet to run, however: World No. 3 Novak Djokovic, world No. 1 Rafael Nadal, then world Nos. 2 or 4 Roger Federer or Andy Murray, in the final.
Well, he got only to Step 2, losing to Nadal, 6-4, 7-6 (4).
Roddick, currently ranked No. 7, was bummed. But it turned out not to be such a bad day.
For starters, Roddick gets $148,100 for reaching the semifinals. Not bad for playing four matches.
And then, after losing in the singles semis, he came out with Mardy Fish and played on the winning doubles team, beating Andy Ram and Max Mirnyi in a tiebreaker.
For that, Roddick gets half of the doubles winner’s purse of $225,000.
So, Andy banks more than $260,000 for his efforts on Saturday. That isn’t A-Rod kind of money, but it should get him through this month’s bills.
Plus, he seemed genuinely excited to win the doubles match, the last match of the day, and one that kept 5,000-plus people in the arena, root-root-rooting for the American duo.
So, yeah, Andy would have liked to reach the final here for the first time … but he’s had worse days, for sure.
1 response so far ↓
1 Damian // Mar 23, 2009 at 12:11 PM
Hey Paul, who were you covering the tennis for last week? I went to Sunday’s finals and wish Andy Murray had been somewhat competitive. Of course, nothing frustrates a player more than wind, and I’m sure it was a little warm for his liking, being from a place where the sun shines as much as it is dry in Seattle.
Both of yesterday’s finals also reinforced the notion that today’s pro has so much early training to become ball machines placed at the baseline that almost no one can hit a competent volley with such consistency that fairly represents a professional tennis standard. Windy conditions make for a great time to serve and volley, or return and volley when you are in the half of the court when the wind is with you. Players can’t consistently hit hard and accurate passing shots from the baseline into the wind, yet the volley tactic isn’t even given a second thought by today’s top tennis pros.
As for Andy Roddick, I view him as one of the great underachievers in American tennis history, considering his talent-to-significant titles ratio. Regardless of the fact that his time coincides with Federer and Nadal, Roddick still has the same game he entered the pro circuit with — big serve and big forehand, and he still can’t place his forehand well around the court; he just hits the forehand to hit the ball hard — and hasn’t much improved those and other aspects of his game. Though, I’ll admit it can be a lot of work trying to chase Sharapova and other skirts around while globetrotting on tour. A real talent who won big tournaments, and even a U.S. Open very early in his career, who had all the motivation to be very good but does not have the commitment and dedication to follow through on his potential.
He had what it took to be a succesful flagbearer for American men’s tennis, which has had nothing else the past few years and has nothing else in the present. James Blake has never won any significant tournaments or made any significant runs in the Slams, Donald Young is proving to be all past hype and Sam Querry seems to have ‘marginal player’ written all over his pending career.
The second-best American men’s player in today’s game has to be Serena Williams.
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