Andy is back

Andy Roddick slipped out of the top 10 after Wimbledon, when he lost to the new hype in tennis Andy Murray. The 2003 year-end world number 1 had lost all of his confidence and wasn’t able to bring anything to the court other than defensive, no-risk tennis. Not playing his own game meant the once so dominant Roddick was nothing more than your average top 50 player. Of course, the American still fired the biggest serves on the planet to his opponents, but players knew that once they’d get into a rally, Roddick was vulnerable and definitely not impressive. Andy himself knew all too well that he wasn’t playing up to par and it was aching inside that he dropped on the leaderboards and had to see James Blake become the new American # 1.

Media were speculating that the slump could well be the end of Roddick as a top player but one man never stopped believing in his abilities. Jimmy Connors reported for the BBC at Wimbledon and said that if Roddick could regain his self-belief and start playing aggressively again, there would be no reason why the former No.1 couldn’t be a force in the rankings like he used to be. Now this remark wasn’t really an eye-opener for the average tennis fan, but Connors and Roddick teamed up and clicked from the get-go.

Roddick kicked off his US summer hard court campaign in Indianapolis, and immediately showed signs of improvement. A-Rod resorted back to his old ways and felt his confidence level rising. Making a run to his first final since Lyon in October last year, skies were looking a little less grey for the Roddick camp.

Aching to follow up on the good result in Indianapolis, a rib injury which kept Andy sidelined for a couple of weeks was a real downer as he had to forfeit his match against Dimitry Tursunov in the quarters of Los Angeles. Making his comeback last week in Cincinnati, the injury seemed to have killed all of the Indianapolis momentum as Andy’s first round match against Daniele Bracciali was way below fans’ expectations. Roddick was irritated on court by his level of play, but after a win in three tiebreak sets, no other player got close for the rest of the week. Roddick straight-setted Vliegen, Chela, Murray, Gonzalez and Ferrero en route to his first Masters Series crown since winning in Miami in 2004.

Roddick won’t win the Open starting next week, but don’t be surprised to see the 2003 champion making a run deep into the second week. As he said so himself on being questioned if he’s back to the level he once displayed, “I’m getting there. Getting real close.” Nice impact you have there Jimmy.