Andy Roddick was so close, the ball high above his shoulder but on his strings, an open court awaiting an angled backhand volley to give him a two sets-to-none lead over Roger Federer.   I hate the dreaded high backhand volley, and apparently Roddick does too, missing the ball badly wide, and blowing the fourth of four set points in the tiebreaker.  What could have been for Andy became what was for Federer: a 15th Grand Slam in a stunning five set match, more votes in the endless GOAT (greatest of all time) speculation, and unlimited opportunities to rake in the cash on more luxury ads. One crisp volley by Roddick to end the second set and it could have been different, although it’s of course very possible Federer could have come back and won in a fifth anyway, but I doubt it the way Roddick served. Andy can hold his head high and a classic match against someone who has beaten him 18 out of 20 times.  He played a near-perfect match, but he needed to be perfect.

But Andy has something that Federer still does not, a Davis Cup championship for his country (Federer bailed on Switzerland in March, citing a “precautionary measure”).  Federer’s credentials are still lacking when compared to Davis Cup feats of the other greats like Laver, Sampras, Budge and Tilden.  I still refuse to put Federer ahead of Laver until he wins a calendar year Grand Slam. And don’t tell me the game was different back then, because no one other than Laver won a Grand Slam in that era either.  Laver did it twice.

And while Federer next weekend will be putting his monogram on more household items and filming ads for products for the super rich, Roddick will be in Croatia, playing Davis Cup for the U.S.

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