Roddick rocks on
WIMBLEDON, England – Andy Roddick clapped like he was at a rock show Wednesday. He pumped his fist toward the stands. He whooped and hollered after winning a third-set tiebreak. At Wimbledon. In the first round. Against Janko Tipsarevic, who is from Serbia and is ranked 101st in the world.
Roddick, seeded third and a finalist here the last two years, recovered from a 3-0 deficit in that tiebreak to win his first-round match over Tipsarevic, 6-7 (5), 6-4, 7-6 (6), 6-2. It wasn’t beautiful. Roddick threw a racket and cursed at himself.
But then Roddick hit a nifty, well-placed service winner and a booming ace when he was down 5-4 in that final tiebreak. He finally overpowered Tipsarevic, who has a pierced right eyebrow and a stud in his chin, by serving 28 aces and kicking up dust with hard-struck forehands.
“You know what?” Roddick said. “My whole thing is to survive and advance. I’m glad I served myself out of some big situations because I haven’t really done that this year so far.”
Roddick’s struggle was in sharp contrast to the small effort it took three-time defending champion and top-seeded Roger Federer to advance to the third round.
In only 1 hour, 25 minutes, Federer clobbered 31-year-old Tim Henman 6-4, 6-0, 6-2.
Despite the fans doing the wave and stomping their feet to urge on Henman, the four-time Wimbledon semifinalist couldn’t muster up a challenge to Federer, who has won 43 straight grass court matches.
The most dramatic match of the day belonged to Ivan Ljubicic. The Croatian, seeded fifth, saved seven match points before surviving the baseline challenge from Feliciano Lopez of Spain and winning 6-3, 6-4, 5-7, 3-6, 11-9.
Russia’s Nikolay Davydenko became, at No. 9, the highest-seeded men’s player to lose after being eliminated 2-6, 7-6 (4), 7-6 (8), 6-3 by Colombia’s Alejandro Falla. Robby Ginepri, seeded 17th, was upset by fellow American Mardy Fish 6-3, 6-2, 6-4.
Francesca Schiavone of Italy became the top woman to fall. Seeded No. 11, she was surprised by British wild card Melanie South 3-6, 6-3, 6-4.
There were no surprises in other matches.
Defending women’s champion Venus Williams needed only 51 minutes to beat Bethanie Mattek 6-1, 6-0 in her opening match, while 2004 winner Maria Sharapova beat Anna Smashnova 6-2, 6-0, also in 51 minutes. Top-seeded Amelie Mauresmo did better, taking out Ivana Abramovic 6-0, 6-0 in 39 minutes.
As for the 23-year-old Roddick, tennis has been a struggle for him since reaching the finals here last year. He has been upset in the first round of the 2005 U.S. Open by Gilles Muller, in the fourth round of the 2006 Australian Open by Marcos Baghdatis and in the first round of 2006 French Open by Alberto Martin.
His lackluster play in the major tournaments has led to stories that Jimmy Connors is going to replace Roddick’s brother, John, as coach. The rumor started at the French Open, and Roddick, after his victory, sighed and then smiled when asked about his coaching situation.
“I’m going to say this again one time,” Roddick said. “We’ve talked on the phone a couple of times. Nothing is going to happen here. We’re both intrigued by the prospect of working together. We haven’t had a face-to-face conversation yet. Who knows if it will happen in this tournament? Obviously, I kind of have a Wimbledon to play.”