Glimmers

It is the first round of the 2011 US Open. Andy Roddick, who has had a dismal season to date and fallen to his lowest ranking in nine years, looks to have drawn a "safe" opponent in the tenacious-but-limited Michael Russell. Roddick fairly routinely coasts through the first two sets on the back of his serve and consistent baseline play, but Russell will not go away quietly, stepping up his aggression and beginning to bully his far bigger and more powerful opponent in the rallies.

Before long, it is apparent that Russell has gotten on a roll, and the woefully-defensive Roddick does not appear ready to rise to the challenge. Russell wins the third set, and carries his momentum into the fourth, going up a break within the first five games. For a few moments, it appears to me a very real possibility that the 33-year-old Russell, who has never won a match at the US Open, will rally from two sets down to eliminate this former champion in the opening round- and, indeed, should this happen, I fear that the specter of a Roddick retirement from the ATP tour begins to look very real. Common as it may for many to rashly proclaim a top player's demise every time he suffers an upset or has a slump, this truly feels as though it would constitute the point at which one might reasonably conclude, "He's done."

The moment passes, however; Roddick manages to step up his level of play just enough to break back, and, after a laborious struggle, ekes out the fourth set 7-5 to progress to the second round. I breathe a sigh of relief. The former world-number-one goes on to deliver routine victories over young compatriot Jack Sock and an in-form Julien Benneteau in the second and third rounds respectively, assuring me, regardless of what happens next, that I may shrug and tell myself, "Well, at least he's not done." He goes a step further, however, in the Round of 16, by upsetting the in-form world's number 5 David Ferrer in impressive fashion. Having seen him escape the jaws of ruin and prove once more that he can still compete at a world-class level, I am relatively unperturbed by the trouncing a flat-and-injured Roddick takes at the hands of Nadal in the quarterfinals.

However, I must admit, if Roddick is to go further than merely competing- being "in the mix," so to speak- he must demonstrate that he is still, at this stage, capable of beating the very best. So it is, then, that we arrive at the impetus for today's post.

It was at the Basel event in 2001 that Roddick and Roger Federer, then both promising newcomers, met for the first time in the professional ranks, whereupon Federer narrowly defeated Roddick in a third-set tiebreak. Ten years and a brutally one-sided rivalry later, the two now meet again in the same round of the same tournament. Many will predict a like recurrence in outcome, but through my ever-tinted glasses, I see the hope of renewal.

UPDATE: No such hope, however, when Mr. Roddick is running a 36% first-serve percentage. Let us hope he can at least improve on that for tomorrow's match with Murray.