Roddick to come of age

14 April 2012

The stage is set for Andy Roddick to celebrate his 21st birthday by winningthe US Open in New York and confirm his arrival as the new star of American men's tennis.

His big day is on 30 August, but of more importance to the hottest player on the men's tour is 7 September - the day of the men's final at Flushing Meadows.

Roddick leads the ATP Champions Race, which reflects this year's form, for the first time in his career. He has displaced Wimbledon champion Roger Federer thanks to a remarkable run of 30 wins from 32 matches since June, when he teamed up with coach Brad Gilbert.

Those two defeats came against Federer in the Wimbledon semifinals and Tim Henman at the same stage in the Washington event Henman won earlier this month - and now Roddick will face the British No1 again in the first round of the US Open. His run of success has coincided with the absence of Pete Sampras, last year's US Open champion, who is expected to confirm his retirement in the next few months.

Roddick has won five titles this year and has become only the third player in the past 15 years - Gilbert and Andre Agassi are the others - to amass 20 wins during the US hardcourt season leading into the Open.

He said: "Everything that has happened is out the door when you start a Grand Slam. As my coach can tell you, he had a great summer one time, but I think he lost first round of the Open. So that doesn't mean a lot.

"I'm happy for the summer I've had so far but now I need to regroup, calm down and get ready for a whole new tournament.

"When we first worked together in London, Brad said: 'Okay, we're here to win two tournaments.' So I won Queen's Club and he said: 'You're 50 per cent there.' For someone to come in and tell me what he expected from me was quite shocking.

"I knew I wanted him to be my fulltime coach straight away."

Agassi remains a major threat but the youngster is firm favourite to emerge as the new American hero this tournament.

Roddick added: "I'm aware of the hype but I never think about it until I'm asked. Support from fans is great but the rest doesn't affect me. I know the American public are used to seeing champions, but I can't play for other people. I'm just working as hard as I can, trying to do well."

In the women's event, Kim Clijsters will need to win her first Grand Slam to silence the detractors who claim that she doesn't deserve the No1 ranking ahead of Serena Williams.

Williams, who had been on top for more than a year, lost her position after undergoing knee surgery and will miss this year's tournament.

She remains most people's idea of the top woman, although Clijsters' performance in reaching the French Open Final in June shows that she has closed the gap this year.

Clijsters major rivals for the title are the other Belgian Justine Henin-Hardenne and Venus Williams. The elder Williams sister has won the US Open twice but the abdominal muscle tear she has had all summer means she has not played since Wimbledon.

Also in the field will be Maria Sharapova, the 16-year-old Russian sensation, who featured strongly in a pre-Open publicity stunt involving key players this week.

Also there was a rather older Russian player by the name of Anna Kournikova who also, it is rumoured, used to play tennis.

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Roddick to come of age

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