Roddick’s Last Open Continues Into 4th Round

By Joe McDonald

Andy Roddick plays against Bernard Tomic in the 2nd round of the 2012 US Open

(September 2, 2012) -- If Andy Roddick knew retirement was this much fun, he would have announced it years ago.

But for the last three days, he has been sitting on the proverbial Cloud Nine.

“You know, I've been walking around with a smile on my face for three days,” Roddick said. “All of a sudden you're kind of smiling, humming, whistling, walking around, and you feel pretty good about it.

“All of a sudden you have to say good bye to something. It's like this gut check moment. It's these extreme emotions from five minutes to the next five minutes.

“You think you know what's going on, but I don't think there's any way to prepare yourself for it.” Well he sill at least have another couple of days to continue his victory tour after he blasted his way into the Round of 16, beating the pesky Fabio Fognini, 7-5, 7-6, 4-6, 6-4.

“Yeah, it was loud out there, about as loud as I remember,” Roddick said of the crowd. “You know, they definitely established themselves out there. It was a lot of fun.” It’s that type of fun that’s making Roddick the sentimental favorite at this Open. With at least one and at most four more matches of Andy, the New York Crowd is drinking it in, much like the way they adored Jimmy Connors valedictory back in 1991, when the Tennis Hall of Famer made the semifinals with some epic matches.

Roddick, who was nine years-old at the time, was there for that and even snuck into the old players lounge in Flushing Meadows. “I didn't quite make it to the locker room,” Roddick said. “I didn't want to press my luck. They had free stuff in the lounge, so I was fine with that.”

He contintinued: “I actually had to leave before, so I watched his semi with Courier. So I'm responsible for him leaving the match.

“I remember we flew in and we flew over the stadium, and that was the night he was playing Patrick. I saw a bunch of the other ones. Obviously the Krickstein match.

“Yeah, that was my first taste of live tennis and it was that run, so that's as good as it gets.” Well this week won’t be his last taste of live tennis, Roddick will still be around the game in one form or another. And he still has some really high level tennis to play.

Next comes Juan Martin Del Potro, who holds a 3-1 edge in matches over the retiring American. The 2009 US Open Champ will be his biggest competition this tournament.

“We've had really close matches,” Roddick said. “I was 0-3 against him. I beat him the last time we played. I think of the 0-3, two of them I had match points in. We played a bunch in 2009, in that summer. I think we played back to back weeks.

“You know, he's a tough matchup for anybody because he hits such a big ball. I'm going to have to serve well, kind of try to rush him a little bit. When he gets into a groove and has time, he'll put a hurt on the ball.”

So Roddick has his work cut out for him. Expect that match to be the feature on Tuesday night, so Mr. Retirement will have a few more days to smile and hum in the hallways.

(Photo Credit: Andy Kentla)