Australian Open: 14 years after Andy Roddick - the big US break is coming to an end
Is the US men's great drought for Grand Slam titles coming to an end on Sunday? Probably not. At least there is a semi-finalist from the USA for the first time since Andy Roddick in 2009.
by Jens Huiber
last edit: Jan 25, 2023, 08:49 am
Andy Roddick, we don't want to forget that, was born in 1982. And that's a little over a year younger than Roger Federer. However, Roddick has not touched his tennis racquet professionally in singles since 2012, which is a shame for a number of reasons. From the point of view of the Americans, it hurt primarily in terms of sport, but for the world public a man who was always good for a golden quote was also lost. And still is an expert on the Tennis Channel.
With Tommy Paul reaching the semi-finals, a dry spell that lasted 14 years is now coming to an end. Because in 2009, Andy Roddick was the last American in the semi-finals of the Australian Open. Roddick then started against the Swedish qualifier Björn Rehnquist, then won against Xavier Malisse, Fabrice Santoro and Tommy Robredo. The quarter-final opponent back then was today's favorite: Novak Djokovic . The Serb went into the first major of the year in third place in 2009, with Roddick seeded seventh. However, the slight outsider had a better day, in several respects: after losing the first set in the tie-break, Roddick won the following two with 6: 4 and 6.2, with the score of 1: 2 in the fourth round Djokovic had to give up.
Roddick fails twice at Federer
In the semifinals, however, Andy Roddick was the end of the line - again against Roger Federer . The Maestro won 6-2, 7-5 and 7-5 only to suffer one of his most bitter defeats in the final against Rafael Nadal.
Roddick, who had also reached the semi-finals at the Australian Open in 2003, 2005 and 2007, was to experience his own personal low blow a few months later: in the Wimbledon final he again had a 2-0 set lead against Federer. But then had to admit defeat in the extension of the fifth set with 14:16. Andy Roddick should never come closer to a Grand Slam victory.
What remains, however, is the outstanding one of the 32 individual titles on the ATP tour: that at the US Open 2003, which of course was the last one by a US player to date. Will that change next Sunday? There are doubts. Because the quarter-final opponent Roddicks from 2009 is clearly on a mission ...
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