Tennis star Roddick confident of wiping out “one-slam wonder” tag
By ANISaturday, January 23, 2010
MELBOURNE - American tennis star Andy Roddick says he is well aware that the clock is ticking on his ambition to be more than a one-slam wonder.
Roddick had a tough third round game against Spaniard Feliciano Lopez in the Australian Open and the tournament will get more difficult against Chilean Fernando Gonzalez, a former Australian Open finalist who excels at Melbourne Park.
“It’s tough to predict health, but you know, certainly I’m looking at, I’d probably say, at least three or four more years, I hope. (But) you know what, I don’t deal in that big of a picture,” The Australian quoted Roddick, as saying.
“As boring as this for all of you, literally . . . (today) we talk and we game plan and we discuss what we’re gonna do. (Tomorrow) we go and try to apply it. How we negotiate this tournament has nothing to do with two or three years from now,” he added.
Roddick progressed to the fourth round with a 6-7 (7-4) 6-4 6-4 7-6 (7-3) victory over the left-handed Lopez, an indication of how tough a test this was for the seventh seed.
The 27-year-old will be confident against Gonzalez given he has claimed eight of their 11 encounters, but the Chilean does presents an intriguing match-up given the power of his forehand and his adeptness at Melbourne Park.
“He’s a very dangerous player. Some days he comes out and looks like he’s playing ping-pong with the way he can sling the ball around. It’s going to be a completely different match-up than I’ve had the last couple,” Roddick said.
“Obviously the returning will probably be a little bit easier, but everything besides that will probably be a little bit more difficult. I don’t think there are going to be a lot of secrets out there. I don’t think anybody’s going to be real shocked with what they’re seeing,” he added.
Gonzalez defeated Russian Evgeny Korolev 6-7 (7-5) 6-3 1-6 6-3 6-4 to qualify further. (ANI)
