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Roddick's boorish rant fails to pay off
Source: Agencies |
September 3, 2010, Friday
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ANDY Roddick said his petulant rant over a foot fault in his second round loss to Serb Janko Tipsarevic at the US Open on Wednesday was a desperate stab at gamesmanship that failed to pay off.
Roddick kicked up a fuss when foot-faulted at 2-5 down in the third set, and berated the lineswoman for telling him his right foot was at fault, when it was his left that had touched the line.
"Not once in my entire career has my right foot gone ahead of my left foot," the 28-year-old American shouted at her.
"Why don't you get some umpires that know what they're doing?" he directed at the chair.
"What is this, call 1-800-RENT-A-REF?"
Roddick continued to ridicule the official even as he walked off at the end of the set to change his tennis shorts.
The 2003 US Open champion later said that he was just trying to shift the tide.
"I was down 2-5 in the third (set) already," Roddick told reporters after his 6-3, 5-7, 3-6, 6-7 defeat. "If anything, it kind of shifted the energy a little bit."
Roddick saved three set points from 0-40, but the effect was short-lived. Tipsarevic closed out the set in his next service game then completed victory by winning a fourth-set tiebreaker 7-4.
"At that point any change in energy was a good change in energy for me," said Roddick. "He was in a groove. He was seeing the ball big and he was taking risky cuts at the ball. They seemed to be dropping, the majority of them.
"In hindsight, did I let it go too far? Yeah, probably," he said, adding that he felt it had 'zero impact' on the match.
Tipsarevic said he did not blame Roddick for being upset.
"He was pissed off. I would be if a referee told me I made a foot-fault with my right leg. I mean, he never moves his right leg, so it was just a stupid call," the Serb said.
"But I feel he was trying to do something to change the match, to get the crowd involved or whatever."
If that was Roddick's motivation, it also backfired, the Arthur Ashe Stadium crowd boo-ing their native son.
Roddick was more gracious when the players met at the net to shake hands at the end, Tipsarevic said, and the American had urged him to go deep in the tournament.
"He said, 'well done, man, you played great' ... He said, 'if you lose early, I'm going to freakin' kill you.'"
Tipsarevic's third-round opponent will be France's Gael Monfils, who had a 6-3, 6-4, 6-3 win over Russia's Igor Andreev.
Andy Murray meanwhile cruised through his first match. The fourth-seeded Murray had a 6-3, 6-2, 6-2 win over Slovakia's Lukas Lacko.
Wimbledon finalist Tomas Berdych didn't make it past the first round, beaten 6-7(3), 4-6, 4-6 by France's Michael Llodra.
Former US Open champions Kim Clijsters and Venus Williams and French Open finalists Francesca Schiavone and Sam Stosur all progressed, but the main talking point in the women's draw was the dramatic collapse of 10th seeded Victoria Azarenka.
Trailing Gisela Dulko 1-5 in the first set in stifling conditions, Azarenka stopped suddenly while chasing a ball on the baseline, and crumpled to the ground.
Azarenka was treated like a victim of heat exhaustion - covered by a towel, sheltered by an umbrella, rolled off in a wheelchair, ice pack on her neck and a doctor checking her pulse. Several hours later, she revealed that she had fallen and hit her head during pre-match warmups. She was taken to the hospital and diagnosed with a mild concussion.
"I was checked by the medical team before I went on court and they were courtside for monitoring," Azarenka said in a statement. "I felt worse as the match went on, having a headache and feeling dizzy. I also started having trouble seeing and felt weak before I fell."
Though she said her injury wasn't heat related, this was another day when the weather was the hottest topic of conversation. Temperatures on the courts touched 40 Celsius, and for the second straight day, tournament officials invoked their extreme-weather policy, giving women the option of taking a 10-minute break if they split sets.
Ivan Ljubicic, seeded 15th, was another notable loser, beaten 3-6, 7-6(4), 3-6, 4-6 by American Ryan Harrison. All the other seeded players made it out of the first round, including Mikhail Youzhny, Nicolas Almagro, and John Isner, who had a straight sets win unlike his three-day epic in the first round at Wimbledon.
Reigning champion Clijsters steamrolled 19-year-old Australian qualifier Sally Peers, 6-2, 6-1, though Peers was just thrilled to take on the woman whose autographed photo hangs in her Melbourne home.
Venus Williams beat Canada's Rebecca Marino 7-6, (3), 6-3; Stosur beat Australian compatriot Anastasia Rodionova 6-1, 6-4 and Schiavone thrashed fellow Italian Maria Elena Camerin 6-2, 6-1.
Elena Dementieva, seeded an unusually low No. 12, beat Austria's Sybille Bammer 6-3, 6-4. Former world No.1 Ana Ivanovic found some of her lost form by cruising past China's Zheng Jie 6-3, 6-0, while No.13 Marion Bartoli was the highest-ranked loser, beaten 7-5, 6-4 by French compatriot Virginie Razzano.
Roddick kicked up a fuss when foot-faulted at 2-5 down in the third set, and berated the lineswoman for telling him his right foot was at fault, when it was his left that had touched the line.
"Not once in my entire career has my right foot gone ahead of my left foot," the 28-year-old American shouted at her.
"Why don't you get some umpires that know what they're doing?" he directed at the chair.
"What is this, call 1-800-RENT-A-REF?"
Roddick continued to ridicule the official even as he walked off at the end of the set to change his tennis shorts.
The 2003 US Open champion later said that he was just trying to shift the tide.
"I was down 2-5 in the third (set) already," Roddick told reporters after his 6-3, 5-7, 3-6, 6-7 defeat. "If anything, it kind of shifted the energy a little bit."
Roddick saved three set points from 0-40, but the effect was short-lived. Tipsarevic closed out the set in his next service game then completed victory by winning a fourth-set tiebreaker 7-4.
"At that point any change in energy was a good change in energy for me," said Roddick. "He was in a groove. He was seeing the ball big and he was taking risky cuts at the ball. They seemed to be dropping, the majority of them.
"In hindsight, did I let it go too far? Yeah, probably," he said, adding that he felt it had 'zero impact' on the match.
Tipsarevic said he did not blame Roddick for being upset.
"He was pissed off. I would be if a referee told me I made a foot-fault with my right leg. I mean, he never moves his right leg, so it was just a stupid call," the Serb said.
"But I feel he was trying to do something to change the match, to get the crowd involved or whatever."
If that was Roddick's motivation, it also backfired, the Arthur Ashe Stadium crowd boo-ing their native son.
Roddick was more gracious when the players met at the net to shake hands at the end, Tipsarevic said, and the American had urged him to go deep in the tournament.
"He said, 'well done, man, you played great' ... He said, 'if you lose early, I'm going to freakin' kill you.'"
Tipsarevic's third-round opponent will be France's Gael Monfils, who had a 6-3, 6-4, 6-3 win over Russia's Igor Andreev.
Andy Murray meanwhile cruised through his first match. The fourth-seeded Murray had a 6-3, 6-2, 6-2 win over Slovakia's Lukas Lacko.
Wimbledon finalist Tomas Berdych didn't make it past the first round, beaten 6-7(3), 4-6, 4-6 by France's Michael Llodra.
Former US Open champions Kim Clijsters and Venus Williams and French Open finalists Francesca Schiavone and Sam Stosur all progressed, but the main talking point in the women's draw was the dramatic collapse of 10th seeded Victoria Azarenka.
Trailing Gisela Dulko 1-5 in the first set in stifling conditions, Azarenka stopped suddenly while chasing a ball on the baseline, and crumpled to the ground.
Azarenka was treated like a victim of heat exhaustion - covered by a towel, sheltered by an umbrella, rolled off in a wheelchair, ice pack on her neck and a doctor checking her pulse. Several hours later, she revealed that she had fallen and hit her head during pre-match warmups. She was taken to the hospital and diagnosed with a mild concussion.
"I was checked by the medical team before I went on court and they were courtside for monitoring," Azarenka said in a statement. "I felt worse as the match went on, having a headache and feeling dizzy. I also started having trouble seeing and felt weak before I fell."
Though she said her injury wasn't heat related, this was another day when the weather was the hottest topic of conversation. Temperatures on the courts touched 40 Celsius, and for the second straight day, tournament officials invoked their extreme-weather policy, giving women the option of taking a 10-minute break if they split sets.
Ivan Ljubicic, seeded 15th, was another notable loser, beaten 3-6, 7-6(4), 3-6, 4-6 by American Ryan Harrison. All the other seeded players made it out of the first round, including Mikhail Youzhny, Nicolas Almagro, and John Isner, who had a straight sets win unlike his three-day epic in the first round at Wimbledon.
Reigning champion Clijsters steamrolled 19-year-old Australian qualifier Sally Peers, 6-2, 6-1, though Peers was just thrilled to take on the woman whose autographed photo hangs in her Melbourne home.
Venus Williams beat Canada's Rebecca Marino 7-6, (3), 6-3; Stosur beat Australian compatriot Anastasia Rodionova 6-1, 6-4 and Schiavone thrashed fellow Italian Maria Elena Camerin 6-2, 6-1.
Elena Dementieva, seeded an unusually low No. 12, beat Austria's Sybille Bammer 6-3, 6-4. Former world No.1 Ana Ivanovic found some of her lost form by cruising past China's Zheng Jie 6-3, 6-0, while No.13 Marion Bartoli was the highest-ranked loser, beaten 7-5, 6-4 by French compatriot Virginie Razzano.
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