AS JOHN McEnroe lamented this week, when you are taking on one of the best, the last thing you want is to see circumstance add the advantage of a lengthier rest period to their burgeoning arsenal.
And he knows what he’s talking about. Reliving his mammoth battle with Bjorn Borg in the 1980 final and that seemingly-endless tie-break, Mac said the fact that his opponent had been able to grab more rest between semi-final and that memorable Champi
onship finale definitely contributed to the Swede’s eventual victory.
It may be a thought that played on the mind of Andy Roddick as he prepared for today’s showdown with the imperial Roger Federer. While the defending champion was done and dusted by 12.30 yesterday, taking less than 30 minutes to complete his semi-final triumph over Sebastian Grosjean, the American didn’t escape No.1 Court until 2.45pm, delayed by more rain showers and pushed to the limit by an opponent who refused to give in.
"It certainly won’t have been to my advantage," conceded Roddick afterwards. "But I’ll wake up tomorrow and I’ll be in a Wimbledon final, so I don’t think I’ll have too much trouble getting up for it mentally."
If he is to win it, though, it’s his game rather than his spirits, he’ll have to raise. Looking as though he was in control as the match was temporarily halted overnight, with him leading 6-4 4-3, yesterday he took to the court and was immediately floored by a quick counter-punch, losing 16 of the first 19 points as he saw his serve broken twice to give Mario Ancic the second set 6-4 to level the match.
He scowled like a petulant teenager who was being dragged along to his auntie’s house for tea when he would rather be out with his mates and even complained about music being played outside the ground, asking for it to be silenced.
In fact, it must have been a blessed relief when a slight spitting of rain allowed him to appeal for the covers to come out again and the umpire allowed him to scuttle back to the locker room for some mind magic from coach Brad Gilbert. Ancic, aware that he was in the ascendancy at that stage, wanted to stay on but even as he argued with the officials, Roddick was back indoors. It was a shrewd and timely move by the American who re-emerged the better player, winning the third set 7-5. But still Ancic refused to quit and an increasingly-pumped up Roddick had to wait until the 11th game of the fourth to break the Croatian. It took four attempts at match point before he sealed it, 6-4 4-6 7-5 7-5, but he was just relived to get the job done.
"I’m excited to be in a Wimbledon final," he said afterwards. "It was tough for me in that last game but I knew I just had to get through that one. He had come out fighting and I thought he was serving well but I was then able to make some adjustments."
One necessary change was to the normally-reliable and deadly Roddick serve. In the early stages of yesterday’s play, his percentage of first serves in amounted to a paltry 46%, meaning he was having to fight and scrap for every point, even on his own serve. It all added up to a lot of expended energy which could cost him dear today.
The last time Federer and Roddick squared up at SW19 was 12 months ago when the Swiss genius rolled him over in straight sets in a semi-final display which earned him a standing ovation from the Centre Court and set him up for his maiden major victory. But a year on, with his own first Grand Slam title under his belt, the man who ended last year as World No.1 is far from fearful of a repeat mauling at the hands of the current incumbent of that ranking.
"You know, I wasn’t playing bad tennis last year, but he played great on the day. I think he’s a great champion and a great player but I think we’ve both become better players [since last year’s Wimbledon meeting]. We’ve both been through a lot more and we’ve both played a lot of big matches. Whatever I’ve been through, he’s been through as well. We’ve kind of shadowed each other, so we’ll see what happens. The whole thing about pro sports is that you want to measure yourself up against the best, so there’s not much of a better opportunity than a match like this.
"We do play different types of games. I mean, he’s more flash, feel, artistry. The one advantage I have over him is just being able to hit the crap out of the ball and that’s pretty much what I’m going to have to do. I’m going to have to play to my strengths."
If he does, the match may be more balanced than last year, but this tournament has done it’s damndest to sap Roddick, who has enjoyed only one day off due to rain delays and scheduling. The question is how much more he has in reserve and whether it will be enough against such mercurial genius.
The full article contains 950 words and appears in Scotland On Sunday newspaper.
