The Trifecta

Please tell me someone else watched the Roddick/Federer match last night. I would argue that the first two sets were some of the best tennis I have ever had the privilege of watching. Roger Federer, arguably the most dominate player in the history of sports, didn’t even have a break chance against Roddick until the sixth game of the third set. No, I am not talking about winning a break, just a break point! I have never thought so highly of a tennis player after watching him lose in straight sets. Roddick was on his game last night, and although Federer clearly showed he is by far the best player in the world, I made several other observations last night that I found to be interesting. Perhaps you will too.

Observation number 1: ATP, you need to figure out this whole coaching on the court thing. USA network, stop showing Jimmy Connors!!! He isn’t particularly attractive, and as Erica pointed out last night while watching the match; he looked like he was going to have a stroke at any moment. I firmly believe that tennis should be played by tennis players and that one of the things that differentiates it from almost every other sport is that 100% of the responsibility is placed on their shoulders. If they win, they win… If they lose, well then they lose. At the very least stop showing the coaches on T.V.! We have all heard about Butch Harmon, the famed swing coach formally in Tiger Woods’ camp and currently supplying Phil Mickelson with the tricks of the trade. How often have you seen him on T.V? Once? Twice? Certainly less than five times in all his years of coaching. Jimmy Connors must have gotten 10% of the total camera time last night… does anyone have a more accurate guess? It was out of control.

Observation number 2: Jimmy Connors… if you’re going to coach, tell your boy to stay the hell away from the net. Roddick was a dismal 18/36 (50%) when he approached the net last night. That is disgraceful. If you watched the match it looked like Federer was closing his eyes and simply placing his passing shots on the lines. I was actually shocked when I saw that he had even won 50% of his net points. He seemed much better off banging away from the baseline as he usually does.

Observation number 3: How many times is Roddick going to try to guess a direction incorrectly and then yell at himself for doing so? Guessing on a second serve? Yes, I understand wanting to run around your backhand, so you can hit your forehand, in an attempt to control the point but you don’t need to guess on Federer’s second serve. Roddick is the one serving 145 MPG, how can he let Federer have more aces than him?

Observation number 4: This is a stretch here so stay with me. Right now Roddick is 25. I don’t think that he has yet peaked as a tennis player. Did you see the match last night? Did anyone see that pathetic attempt at a drop shot that landed about 3 feet in front of the net? No other professional player ranked in the top ten in the world would even consider that as a legitimate option for that shot. Put the damn ball away! Let’s say for a second that in the next two years Roddick settles down, has a family, and actually makes tennis a priority in his life. Those stupid mistakes go away. That is the main difference between Roddick and Federer right now. Roddick CAN play with him. We saw that last night when he lost the two opening sets in close tiebreaks. If he actually spends a year or two getting into shape (seriously though does Federer even have sweat glands?), and maybe learning how to approach the net he could actually beat Federer. Maybe I am way off but my prediction is that Roddick will be playing much better tennis in 2009.

I never have and still don’t claim to be any sort of authority on sports. That being said…. Leave comments. It will only help make my future posts better.

- Dan