Andy Roddick: The Prince In Waiting
來自RCA官網
Andy Roddick: The Prince In Waiting
By Sandra Harwitt
Just two years ago, Andy Roddick was the flamboyant new kid on the block,
joining the pro tour after securing the weighty distinction of being the
No. 1 junior in the world in 2000. Now, at only 20 years old, Roddick is
maturing into his role as heir apparent of American men's tennis and making
great strides towards becoming a future grand slam champion.
At this exciting juncture in his career, Roddick's been only two steps away
from being a grand slam champion on two occasions. He makes his first career
journey to the RCA Championships this week having just reached the Wimbledon
semifinal where he fell to eventual champion Roger Federer. And in January
of this year, he reached the first of his two career grand slam semifinals
at the Australian Open by winning a dramatic five-set quarterfinal thriller
over Younes El Aynaoui, a match that was so sensational it's apt to be spoken
about as one of the all-time great encounters for years to come.
Despite the impressive resume, however, the road to the top of the charts
– Roddick is comfortably nestled in the middle of the pack of the Top 10
players in the world – has seen the young Boca Raton resident on a bit of
a roller-coaster ride. Since his arrival, Roddick has been receiving mixed
messages, in one breath being heralded as the torchbearer of American tennis,
in the next breath being faulted for not advancing fast enough to satisfy.
For Roddick's part, he's smartly developed a thick skin and now possesses
the good sense to ignore any of the dispersions that have been cast.
"You can't really please everybody so I'm just trying to do what I think is
right and just kind of go for it," he says. "If everything was roses all the
time people would get bored. I believe it will happen and I'm not going to
say it will happen this year or the next, but I believe I'll win a grand slam
[title] before I am done."
The truth is that accomplishments are what a player should be judged by and
Roddick's first two years on tour would put a smile on any player's face.
He's won seven titles thus far, including on clay at St. Poelten and grass
at Queen's Club this season.
And in a recent development, after bungling out of the French Open in the
first round, Roddick has aligned himself with coaching guru Brad Gilbert,
who certainly earned a sterling reputation from his long stint with Andre
Agassi. In just a few weeks under Gilbert's tutelage, Roddick has found a
steadiness to his flashy and powerful game, not to mention the title at
Queen's Club and the semifinal showing at the big daddy of them all –
Wimbledon.
Of Gilbert, Roddick says, "He definitely has a big part in it [my recent
success] you know. I didn't do too well in my last grand slam, then he comes
along and we click. It's definitely a team effort.
"We have a lot of common things that we're interested in, he knows all the
sports scores first thing in the morning, we can talk about baseball and all
that stuff. There's never a shortage of conversation."
So now all the pairing needs to proceed with is taking Roddick, the youthful
prince in waiting, to his final destination as king of American men's tennis.
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