[the cat]

I don't get it. Andy Roddick is injury prone to begin with and hard courts are brutal on the body! Andy had a good grass court season. But then after Wimbledon, instead of taking 2 weeks off to rest up for the gruelling hard court season, he immediately started playing World Team Tennis for a couple of weeks. Now he is playing his third straight tournament this week in Montreal. But I don't get it. He will probably have played too much tennis before the U.S. Open begins in late August. And that will hurt his chances to win the Open where is should go in as 1 of the favorites. I thought Brad Gilbert was going to help Andy Roddick win that elusive first grand slam singles title. But playing so much tennis right after Wimbledon and up to the U.S. Open is not the way to do it, in my opinion.

 

[d_b_prince]

Roddick always plays alot of tournaments. He doesn't seem to want to change his schedule. Although you may be right, cat, and by the time the US Open rolls around Andy may not be in great shape physically. Time will tell if all this match play will help him or hurt his chances in New York.

 

[Lee]

Re: Re: Why is Roddick playing so much and risk peaking before before the U.S. Open?

Roddick is still young and he may be able to last past USO (remember the year 2000 for Safin?) But, with Brad Gilbert, I believe he will probably take a month off after USO.

 

[jmp]

This is just a guess...Andy is the U.S.'s heir apparent. So, he gets a lot of pressure to show his face as much as possible. It helps tournaments sell tickets and I'm sure he gets some pretty nice financial bonuses and other perks for his efforts. The people who are looking to make money off of his fame don't necessarily care about increasing his chances of being in the best physical and mental shape to win a major. It's all a part of him coming into his own and making it clear to everyone that his career comes before other interests' agendas. From a business aspect, he'll become more saavy about picking and choosing the best way to manage his exposure, too.

I have noticed that he seems to have less injuries than he had in the past. I think that may have something to do with his off court training. He specifically talked about changing his diet which may reduce the cramping he used to exhibit. He also seems to play smarter on the court which reduces his chances of pulling and straining his body during matches.

 

[the cat]

You guys make some fine points about Roddick's schedule, youth and pressure to play alot of tournaments. My main concern is that Andy plays a very physical and draining style of tennis that is hard on the body. Thus it will be hard for him to be 100% healthy by time the U.S. Open starts.

 

[Havok]

ok the world team tennis shouldn't be brought up because its just a thing for fun and not a whole entire match. im sure all his matches lasted between 15-20 minutes. second of all yes Andy's injury prone, but not as much since he's become much more fitter than previous years. and also Andy thrives on hardcourts, so playing 4 straight weeks isn't much for him, he's kind of used to it. and plus when you're winning ur matches in about an hour every sinlge time, why worry about playing too much???? it's not like he's playing doubles at the same time and going far

 

[Chrisie]

Well, there are two TMS, and he has to defend his points. Blame the long season and the system. I think he has improved physically, and learned to protect himself from injury. Yes I agree he may take some time off after USO, since he doesn't have to play the Davis Cup.

 

[the cat]

Hi Naldo and Chrisie with 1 s! :wavey:

Naldo, I agree with you that his WTT matches aren't that strenuous. But those matches still take something out of him. As does the travel. And I think he should have been resting after Wimbledon and not playing WTT. He doesn't need WTT at this point in his career.

Chrisie, you make a good point about Roddick wanting to defend his points in the TMS tournaments. But in my opinion, defending those points should not be put before his being healthy, fit and rested for the 2003 U.S. Open. I just think he's going to have too much tennis in him this summer by the time the second week of the U.S. Open comes around. And for Andy Roddick to be able to win a grand slam singles title, I think he's going to be fully fit and not exhausted. And those were his 2 problems iat this years Australian Open. He had a wrist injury and he was too tired to play anywhere close to his best tennis in the semifinal against Rainer Schuttler.

And TMS tournaments are very draining on the players. In a way they are tougher than the grand slams because you don't get any easy early round matches in the TMS tournaments like you sometimes get in the grand slams.

 

[the cat]

I've seen a good part of Roddick's first 2 matches in Montreal. And he's had to work hard to win those matches. I hope he takes some time off soon to rest up for the U.S. Open because these tough matches in TMS tournaments take alot out of the players.

 

[Havok]

once again the cat, i've seen all 3 of Andy's matches and he doesn't waste a lot of energy. just look at the amount of time it takes him to win his matches, always around the one hour mark, and almost never over the 1 1/2 hour mark. he isn't wasting a lot of energy, and his matches are usually always at least 24 hours in separation, and might i add he's only 20 years old, he's not brittle and will crack under all the tennis he's gonna be playing. hasn't Andy always did this before the US Open???? play like 3/4 tournaments, and then play the Open, doesn't seem like it hurt him. and he is taking a break, he has one week off before the Open, maybe even longer, all depending on his progress in the last TMS tournament next week.

 

[andylover_16]

cmon....the matches arent that stranuous!

 

[heya]

1 of the reasons he was exhausted at AusOpen was when he got bad
line calls which made him lose a set and some important points. That stretched the match to
almost 5 hours. It's already unfair with Grand
Slams and other events with the no-5th set tie break rule.
I agree - he shouldn't play an exhibition...but
winning 3 events wasn't enough to keep up
the ranking because Federer, Coria, Schuttler and others are playing more than him. Andy didn't play enough earlier in the year. Coria and Ferrero lost early in Canada but made tons of
clay court points. There're too many events for
other people to go up the ranks even though
they don't win that much.

 

[Chrisie]

the cat, I agree he probably should concentrate on GS, after all. Points and ranking do not mean much for him at this stage, and he has a big chance to get into the Masters Cup. He needs GS champions to prove himself, like Ferrero and Federer did this year. But to withdraw from TMS you need a very good excuse, injury, disease, or whatever bad things (war?). Remember last year when he withdrew from Indianwells he had to fly to California to be examined by the tourment doctor, otherwise he would be fined $20,000.

Let's just wait and see. Today the Australian paper defend Hewitt's loss by saying he didn't have a perfect result coming to USO but did well anyway in the past three years. If they are right, then maybe we should worry a bit about playing too much before USO.

 

[the cat]

You all make fair and credible points about Andy Roddick and his playing schedule. I just hope he can stay healthy and have a great 2003 U.S. Open!

 

[SanTaureau Fan]

I started a thread on wtaworld about it, I'm wondering if there has ever been a player who played 4 tournements on hard court and then was able to win the US Open. Playing 3 tournements in a row on hard court should be the maximum for a top player like him.

 

[star]

Bump

 

[Deboogle!.]

ahhhhhhhhhhhh hindsight is 20/20