With the coming Grand Slam at the U.S Open, it comes to our mind their native court heroes; Serena and Venus Williams, John Isner, Mardy Fish and Andy Roddick. In the male league, Fish and Roddick are the two U.S.A players that linger on the first ten positions, being Roddick at the edge of this prestigious list.
But Roddick has almost 10 years in the first positions, his perseverance and skills has endured all this time to keep him there; playing at the same time were tough opponents dominate in the courts they step in, like Rafa Nadal, Roger Federer, and Novak Djokovic.
For Roddick this has been a hard era, but his game and determination hasn't declined yet. His fearsome serve and his fiercely competitive nature are his most important features and the key of his success.
These are Roddick weapons, and they have contributed to maintain Roddick in the grass-court frontline for so much time. He is considered one of the top-four grass-court players in the planet according to his trainer Larry Stefanki. However, his great performance on this past Wimbledon suffered an unexpected upset against Spaniard Feliciano López on the third round. But this was not the end for the North American player. Roddick is courageous competitor in game, and he will be back with renewed energy.
At the end of 2008, Roddick made a choice to keep the rhythm of his rivals; dropping 15lbs in weight and hiring Larry Stefanki as trainer, a coach known for training former number 1 players like Marcelo Ríos and Yevgeny Kafelnikov and other former top 5 players. The changes were for good, and were noticed at the moment. Roddick reached the semi-finals at the Australian Open 2009 and contested the finals at Wimbledon.
The opportunity didn't presented this time at Wimbledon, playing at the level of those great players is a difficult task, and maybe is even more difficult to try to win against them, but the fact is that Andy Roddick can handle the game, and has been proved that he could get the gentlemen trophy some day not so far in the future, now he can aim for the U.S. Open Title. Goran Ivanisevic turns the tide to his favor after three runner-up finishes and claimed Wimbledon singles title in 2001; for Roddick this feat it's like a reminder that "there's no script in sports" %u2013 Roddick said "You get a rush of blood, you get a little luck, and play some good tennis and anything happens"
The lost at Wimbledon wasn't the end of Roddick, U.S. Open is ahead and if he can't win this one, he still has battery for more slams, the setbacks are just like challenges to find motivations to keep working hard and reach a new level of play. His competitive spirit won't be appeased so easily.