Andy Roddick tumbles after tripping over line judge at Australian Open; escapes unhurt

Roddick trips over line judge but OK in Melbourne

MELBOURNE, Australia — Andy Roddick took a tumble on his way to a first-round win Monday, tripping over the foot of a line judge.

Roddick rolled to the ground and angrily reproached the man when he stood.

“Move out of the way when you see a player coming,” Roddick told the official before resuming the match with Thiemo de Bakker of the Netherlands and winning 6-1, 6-4, 6-4.

Roddick was concerned a knee injury that sidelined him at the end of last season might have flared following the collision, but said he was not injured in the fall. He even joked that the line judge must have wanted a TV career as a professional wrestler.

“I ran into one of those immovable objects called a referee. He wasn’t giving up any ground. I didn’t see him. He wasn’t really trying to do much to get out of the way,” Roddick said.

“Normally they see a player running full speed, they decide to at least move or catch the player. You know, I felt like he was trying out for WWE (World Wrestling Entertainment) or something, just letting me go.”

The 27-year-old American was taken aback slightly by a question about his dog during the press conference. Roddick, who often Tweets about his dog, answered anyway. For the record, his in-laws — the parents of Brooklyn Decker — are taking care of Billie while he is in Australia.

A COLD SUMMER’S DAY: Mardy Fish made a last-minute decision to come to Australia this year, hoping the summer weather would make it easier on his left knee, which had been acting up in the cold American winter.

Last week, Fish reached the semifinals of the Sydney International in warm temperatures.

But a rainy Monday with a high of just 68 degrees drowned his chances at the Australian Open.

“I got here today and my body just completely failed me,” Fish said. “We were rain delayed three times while we were on the court, so to start up and cool down and start up again, I mean, you couldn’t draw a worse day for me and my knee.”

Fish, who is also playing doubles with James Blake, had surgery on his left knee to repair cartilage damage last September.

He said he hopes to be chosen for the 2010 Davis Cup team but worried that other players were performing better than him, including John Isner and Sam Querrey.

“Obviously, I would love to play,” he said. “I’ve always said yes to Davis Cup and always will probably. But there are players that are playing better than me and having better results than me.”

FOUR DECADES OF TENNIS: Fabrice Santoro of France has become the first player to compete in Grand Slam tournaments across four decades.

Santoro, who is also the oldest player in the men’s tournament, made his Grand Slam debut in 1989 at Roland Garros.

He played a Monday night match against Marin Cilic of Croatia in the first Grand Slam of the new decade, despite retiring from the ATP World Tour in November. The match was suspended because of rain, with Cilic leading 7-5, 4-2.

Santoro also holds the record for the most Open-era Grand Slam appearances among the men. This is his 70th; Andre Agassi follows him with 61.

It’s the 18th time Santoro has competed in the Australian Open, another record.

NO TIME FOR YOGA: Andy Murray — who once credited Bikram yoga with helping him trim down, tone up and win matches — said he has not kept up with the practice because of its dehydrating effects.

Murray said he only did one Bikram session during the offseason. Bikram yoga is a series of poses performed in a room heated to 105 degrees to loosen muscles, gain flexibility and detoxify through sweat.

“I used to do a little bit more beforehand, but it’s difficult to fit in because you get very dehydrated doing it,” he said. “You can’t really dehydrate yourself that much and then go and play. So you tend to do it at the end of the days.”

But Murray said a shortened offseason meant yoga was not one of his priorities.

The fifth-seeded Murray won his first-round match at the Australian Open on Monday, beating South Africa’s Kevin Anderson 6-1, 6-1, 6-2.

WTT DOWN UNDER: World Team Tennis will make its Australian debut at the Australian Open this year, with an Internationals vs Australia match on Jan. 27.

WTT co-founder Billie Jean King says Australians will love the concept.

“To have the opportunity to introduce WTT to an entirely new generation of Australian fans is both an honor and a privilege,” King said in a statement.

The WTT match consists of five sets, with one set each of men’s and women’s singles, men’s and women’s doubles and mixed doubles.

For the Internationals, Mary Joe Fernandez will coach and play along with Tracy Austin, Goran Ivanisevic and Todd Martin.

The Australian team of Pat Rafter, Pat Cash, Nicole Bradtke and Alicia Molik will be coached by John Fitzgerald.