| By Chris Oddo |
Photo Credit: Al Bello/Getty Images |
(March 26, 2012)—Andy Roddick will always have Miami. And that’s good for the world No. 34, because when it comes to Roger Federer he doesn’t have much else.
Hitting ballistic forehands like he did eleven years ago, when he stunned Pete Sampras in the third round at Key Biscayne, Roddick pulled off his second win in three career matches against Federer in Miami, 7-6(4), 1-6, 6-4.
“I hope you guys give him more credit than he's getting at the moment,” said Federer, who now owns a 21-3 career record against Roddick. “I'm happy to see him play really well, you know. He's a great champion, and, yeah, enjoy him while you have him.”
Roddick, who won the first set in a tiebreaker, was steamrolled in the second set, losing three of his four service games. However, in the third set after an early scare, Roddick played some of his best tennis in a long time.
After fighting off four break points in the second game of the set, Roddick then exploded in the next game, hammering four forehand winners to secure the break, including some 90-plus MPH passing shots that sailed past Federer after he made some ill-advised forays to the net.
“That game I played the break in the third set was one of the best return games I ever played,” roddick said.
Playing with a reckless abandon that many of his critics have claimed he lacks of late, Roddick clearly surprised Federer in the third set. He turned up the volume of his shots, and even turned up the volume on his grunts, particularly in the game that he scored the decisive break. A pouty Federer reportedly spoke to the umpire about the issue, but was told that nothing could be done.
Neither player took questions on the topic in their post-match press conferences.
Roddick has played several great matches in Miami.
In 2001, he upset then world No. 4 Pete Sampras in the third round; In 2008 he beat then world No. 1 Roger Federer in the quarterfinals; In 2010, en route to his second Miami title, he upset Rafael Nadal in the semis.
“There's no script in sports, you know,” said Roddick. “I think that's what makes it the best entertainment in the world. There is no script. You don't know what's gonna happen. It's not planned.”
Roddick will try to keep the magic going when he faces Juan Monaco in the round of 16.
No matter what the result, it’s clear that Roddick has more good tennis left in him. But the 29-year-old doesn’t want to get too high off the upset.
“Nights like tonight are why you play the matches. You don't know what's gonna happen,” he said. “It would be a little presumptuous to go from people retiring me to all of a sudden talking about winning a Masters event. You know, let's take it for what it's worth. It probably wasn't as bad as it seemed two weeks ago, and it's probably not all the way turned around because of one match.”
Notable:
Roddick’s post-match celebratory gesture to the sky was in homage to his recently deceased agent and longtime friend Ken Meyerson. “My agent was from here and his wife was here,” said Roddick. “You know, I felt like I was a crazy person because I think I was having full dialogues with him the last 30 minutes of the match. So, you know, I was just letting him know that I heard him and I was equally crazy tonight.”
The upset snaps a 16-match win streak for Federer.