Roddick: Remember These Times

By Sean Rudolph

(November 20, 2010) Andy Roddick says these are the good old days. In his return to the season-ending ATP World Tour Finals, Roddick says tennis fans should relish the Roger-Rafa rivalry and the historic heights Federer and Nadal have taken the sport.

"Rafa has had an unbelievable year," Roddick said of World No. 1 Nadal, who is aiming for a fourth consecutive major crown at the Australian Open in January. "What he has done is unreal. To put it into context what Roger and Rafa have achieved for the past five years I would hope that people appreciate it because I guarantee people will be writing in 15 years time that these were the good old days."

Roddick played bold tennis in defeating Nadal 4-6, 6-3, 6-3 in the Miami semifinals before sweeping Tomas Berdych in straight sets to capture the Sony Ericsson Open crown. Roddick resides in the same round-robin group as Nadal, Berdych and US Open runner-up Novak Djokovic. He will face Nadal in his opening round-robin match between the Wimbledon winner and a popular Wimbledon runner-up.

"It's strange because it's a polarizing event for the crowd here, I normally get a really good reception but then a tournament like this comes along and I've got Rafa in the first round so I can't take that for granted," Roddick said.