It would be difficult for Andy Roddick to avoid reminders of his one and only Slam title. Not that he would want to. The reminders are everywhere on the grounds of the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center. They’re in the walkways below Arthur Ashe Stadium in the form of wall-sized photos. They’re in the locker room, where former champions are treated to a plaque on their lockers: “Andy Roddick 2003.”
But as glorious as those memories are for the Texan — his 6-3, 7-6(2), 6-3 triumph over Spaniard J.C. Ferrero, his tearful on-court celebration — they’re not necessarily his stand-alone favorites from the USO. After his easy opening-round 6-3, 6-2, 6-2 win over Frenchman Stephan Robert on Monday afternoon, A-Rod revealed that standing side by side with 2003 in his memory bank is 2006
Wait a minute: didn’t he reach the final that year, only to fall to his nemesis Roger Fedrerer 6-2, 4-6, 7-5, 6-1? Why would a loss rank up there with his greatest-ever win?
“Because I was in a rough kind of career transition that summer,” said Roddick, who’ll next face Serb Janko Tipsarevic in the second round. “You guys were trying to kick me out at 23, so it was like, you know, I got just as much joy out of that kind of run to the final as I did when I won.”
That summer, working with Jimmy Connors, Roddick dropped out of the top 10 for the first time in four years, and was clearly struggling to find his form. But he righted his ship with a win in Cincinnati, then outlasted Lleyton Hewitt and Mikhail Youzhny en route to his second USO final.
