It takes a big man to admit that he is wrong – and Andy Roddick is a big bloke.
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The world No.7 had just eased himself into the third round with a 6-3 6-4 6-4 win over Thomaz Bellucci – that part of the afternoon’s work was simple – but then admitted that he might have got just a little overheated with the umpire, Fergus Murphy, after the final point had been decided.
On match point, Bellucci hit a ball that Roddick and the line judge thought was out. Game, set and match, then. Roddick headed to the net to shake hands. Bellucci challenged. The replay showed the ball to be in. Murphy called the point in Bellucci’s favour – 40-30. Roddick was unimpressed. He had, he felt, been in position to hit the ball when the call was made and had deliberately left it when the line judge called the ball out – surely the point should have been replayed.
No matter – Roddick went on to wrap up the match in a matter of moments but, after shaking Bellucci’s hand, he let Murphy know exactly what he thought of the decision. Which wasn’t much.
Later, on reflection and after having seen a video of the incident, Roddick held his hand up.
Maybe it had not been quite so cut and dried after all. Maybe he had jumped in a little too quickly.
“There was just a disagreement about a rule I guess on a continuation of a call,” Roddick explained. “To be fair, I didn't come in here till I watched the video of it. I was more wrong than I thought I was out on court.
“That being said, it was very close. To take away a match point at that juncture in a match, it's a big call.”
It may not have been an abject apology, but the 2009 Wimbledon finalist was at least willing to admit that there were two ways of looking at the situation. Compared to the hot-headed Roddick of years gone by, here was a calm, controlled and reasonable man. He is still no push-over, mind you.
“I think if I believe in something strongly enough, I'm pretty outspoken about it,” he warned.
“That probably goes back to, you know, childhood issues, which would be a longer conversation. But if the argument I'm getting back doesn't make sense or doesn't make common sense, then I will be sure to acknowledge that it didn't make a whole lot of sense.”
Roddick obviously has a sharp mind – and a ready wit when the occasion calls for it – and is not one to suffer fools gladly. He is also an extremely good tennis player, one who appears to be getting better with advancing age.
Since he teamed up with Larry Stefanki at the end of 2008, he has developed a pretty decent backhand, shown a new willingness to volley, and has learned how to change game plan in mid-match.
Such skills came within a whisker of winning him a Wimbledon title last year and here, he hopes, could give him a good run to the end of the second week.
Bellucci, the world No.35 from Brazil, is more of a clay court specialist than a hard court heavyweight, and up against Roddick’s thumping serve and crunching groundstrokes, he did not have much to offer. He could only keep the American on court for a little over two hours, but it was just the workout Roddick was looking for.
“I felt good out there today,” Roddick said. “You know, with him, it's a lot of just trying to keep the ball out of his hitting zones because he hits pretty big; keeping the ball on the backhand side, which is a little trickier, because he's a lefty. It was just a matter of kind of getting the ins and outs of the points. I thought I did a pretty good job of that.”
Roddick now has another lefty to face in Feliciano Lopez, a man he has beaten on five previous occasions and dropped only one set in the process. The big man is looking good for a place in the fourth round.
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