Mutis stuns Roddick: Last US man falls
Mutis stuns Roddick: Last US man falls
By Matt Cronin
Wednesday, May 26, 2004
Frenchman Olivier Mutis took down the last American man standing in Paris,
when he stunned second seed Andy Roddick 3-6 6-3 6-7(5) 6-3 6-2 on Wednesday.
"It’s the best moment of my career so far," Mutis said. “That’s clear. I
was even tempted to lift my arms and I don’t do that very often. But I felt
that was the moment to do it."
In a brilliant and courageous performance from a man who has consistently
underachieved as a pro, Mutis employed quick all-court attack to blunt
Roddick’s massive power. In the last two sets, it was the Frenchman who
was largely dictating play, mixing in a variety of blows deep to the corners
and negating Roddick’s huge serves with his quick hands.
After routinely winning the first set and jumping out to a 2-0 lead in the
second behind his pumped-up serve and forehand, Roddick appeared to be
cruising for his first appearance in the third round at Roland Garros.
But Mutis grew much more consistent with his own serves, keeping Roddick
guessing by varying his forays down the tee, into the body and out wide.
The 125-ranked Mutis also charged the net whenever he had an opportunity
and was nearly errorless with his backhand volley. He mixed in soft drop
shots with blazing backhands down the lines and in the end, was the superior
player.
"My balls weren’t penetrating the court today," said Roddick. "He hit
some great shots and was retrieving very well. That made it even tougher."
For the first time in the Open era, no American man has made it to the
fourth round. A French player took out the US other great hope on Monday,
when Jerome Haehnel took down 1999 champ Andre Agassi. American Vince Spadea
fell to France’s Julien Jeanpierre on Wednesday.
"There’s no doubt we have issues with the clay,” Roddick said. "Our issues
have issues that have issues right now. That’s something we are going to
have to fix. That’s not a secret. If anybody's going to deny that, you might
want to ask them again."
Roddick was so frustrated with his play at times that he loudly complained
to the umpire about minor crowd disturbance issues. After contending a bout
of the stomach flu on Monday, he was irritable and unsure of his strategy.
"I wasn’t quick enough to go to Plan B or to stick to my guns," Roddick
said. "I waffled in between. He grew in confidence. He played some great
shots and used his momentum well."
Even after the 26-year-old Mutis had dug himself into the match by winning
the second set, it appeared that Roddick’s experience on the bigger stage
would pull him through. In a see-saw third set tiebreaker, Mutis missed a
sitter forehand to give Roddick a 6-5 lead and then the American grabbed
the set with a booming ace.
But the Frenchman knew he was matching Roddick blow for blow and out-ran and
out-thought the 21-year-old in the last two sets. He broke Roddick to 5-3 by
whipping a forehand down the line and then won the fourth set when Roddick
missed an approach shot.
The fifth set was an afterthought for Roddick and a long celebration for
the crowd on Suzanne Lenglen Court, when Roddick rarely ran hard to balls
and Mutis danced out to a 5-0 lead. Roddick managed to scrape out two games,
but Mutis ended the American’s hopes when he served the match out at love
and ended it with an ace out wide.
It was a remarkable win for Mutis, an extremely talented player who had
nearly given up on his tennis career and come into the tournament with a
1-5 record.
"For once I got the stress off my shoulders and started really enjoying
my tennis," said Mutis, who will play countryman and marathon man Fabrice
Santoro in the third round. "I know I had the potential to do great things.
But when you keep missing your goal, you start questioning yourself. You
wonder whether you’ve missed the train. So I’m very happy. But this is
not the end."
Roddick said he tried his best, but it was nowhere good enough. He countered
those who contend that American men don’t take Roland Garros seriously
enough.
"If I ever thought like that, I’d want to you to kick me in the butt," he
said to a reporter. "That was not the case. It’s not me. I came in here
with the intention of making the second week, then reevaluate. But it
didn’t happen and it’s disappointing."
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