Last night, instead of playing a tennis match Roger Federer might as well have kicked Andy Roddick in the head and wrote ‘I Own You’ all over him. That was the end-result of last night’s match.
Roddick/Federer is one of the few matchups on the men’s side to have any sort of box-office or general intrigue. Federer is proving himself to be right there with Sampras and Rod Laver as the greatest of all-time. It is disgusting how much better he is than the competition. Unless he is playing Nadal at the French Open the man is just unbeatable, it is as simple as that. Roddick on the other hand came in young, brash and cocky. He’s won a Grand Slam. But Roger Federer has slowly but surely taken his soul. Now he’s #4 or 5 in the world and in positions where he must face his nemesis earlier and earlier. It used to be ‘All he has to do is get to the Finals and give it a shot’ now its ‘Can he even make it to the quarters to face Federer.’
Roddick is the flag-bearer for US men’s tennis. He’s always our best shot. Gone are the days of Pete Sampras, Andre Agassi and the rest of the super-crew. It’s Roddick and James Blake. I think Roddick is one of the best to listen to at a press conference. Not when he wins, but when he loses. Google some of the things he’s said at press conferences and you’ll end up laughing. His commercials have been pretty spot on, but he has only won one grand slam. And he can’t beat Roger Federer to save his life.
This “rivalry” has gotten completely out of hand. I don’t know of an example to go up next to it with. My dad (a Federer apologist) loves to throw it in my face that Roddick is too much of a psycho to touch Federer. I disagree…but is it true? I mean really…it didn’t take MJ that long to get the Bulls over the Pistons. It didn’t take Peyton Manning that long to take the Colts over the Patriots. In sports, one team gets beat on and then they finally get their revenge. Usually. Andy Roddick has lost 14 out of 15 times to Roger Federer and I’m guessing the 1 win was in like 2003. Will he ever be able to get over that hump? Is Roddick the Charles Barkley or Patrick Ewing to Federer’s Michael Jordan?
I write all of this because last night for two sets Federer and Roddick put on a show. Whether you are a tennis fan or not, that right there was the pure essence of competition. Back and forth, back and forth. There were no break points in the first two sets. Roddick did everything he could to stick with Federer to take it to a tiebreak. And he lost both tiebreaks. I mean to play your best game and to end up losing is heartbreaking enough. But to lose it to a guy who owns you, you know he owns you and he knows that you know he owns you…it’s sad. Federer owns Roddick it is a simple as that. Worse than how Sampras owned Agassi.
Federer is on his way to another Grand Slam. I think he would be a lot more appreciated if he was more calculating and evil. I don’t want to say he has no personality, but damnit he is such an iceman. His quite confidence doesn’t translate well to American audiences.
Speaking of foreigners…Euro Wrap-Up from last night
–It was ELIMINATION TIME for four teams from the four groups. Ya see, the Euros they send one team packing from each group after they all play each other. Uber-complicated I know. But we wave goodbye to Marko Jaric and Darko Milicic who along with their Serbian co-horts will be going home early after losing to Israel 87-83. Darko put in his best performance of the three games (18 and 13) but they couldn’t stop Greece’s Yaniv Green who finished with 26 and 12.
–Neither Lithuania or Germany will be going home, but after two easy wins the two faced off last night. Lithuania nearly blew a 21 point lead but held on to win 84-80 in one those ‘this wasn’t that close but if you weren’t watching you’d think so type games.’ Sarunas had 15 and 10 for Lithuania while Dirk had 28 and 9.
–Punching bag Portugal beat Latvia 77-67. They needed Croatia to upset Spain so they could advance. So of course…Croatia upsets host Spain 85-84 thanks to a Marko Tomas three ball with 5 seconds left. YouTube? Of course. Amazing that the Croatians managed to turn the ball over 20 times and still upset Spain. Pau had 26 but it simply was not enough.
–That sound you hear…that’s Slovenia going crazy. 3-0? That’s right. Slovenia topped France 67-66 to go 3-0 in group play. So if you’re France, you’re down by two and Tony Parker gets fouled with two seconds left. You’re going to OT right? Wrong. Check out this gagjob by Tony. YouTube? Of course. Parker’s reaction is priceless…almost like ‘damnit…damnit…wait I’m still married to Eva and was the Finals MVP but let me keep acting disappointed’
–Kirlienko is on a mission of redemption ala Carmelo. His 17 points and 12 rebounds led Russia to a win over the defending champs Greece 61-53. Speaking of the Jazz, Mehmet Okur finally showed up in Spain scoring 16 with 10 boards as Turkey beat the Czech Republic 80-72. Hedo Turkoglu scored 22 so Magic fans…rejoice.
–The B&B Connection (Bellinelli & Bargnani) both went 3/5 from deep and had 20 and 19 respectively as Italy finally won a game beating Poland 79-70. Gotta love the charisma from Bargnani in the commercial. I swear I heard Kobe Bryant in there somewhere..I can only assume Bargnani was trying to get Belinelli ready or something? Who knows.
–So for those keeping score at home (ALL 3 OF YOU) we waved goodbye to Serbia, Latvia, the Czech Republic and Poland.