Good morning all. I've tried to answer most (I think all, but I might have missed a few) of the questions in the Ask Tom post. If you have any interest, head back over there for more. Some of you might be watching Philipp Kohlschreiber as he threatens to put Andy Roddick out with the early morning Melbourne trash. The man's playing some fantastic ball at the moment, especially on big points. In the third set, he recovered from 5-5, 15-40 (including a 31-stroke rally) and in the tiebreaker he saved two set points. His backhand has been exceptional all night -- except for the one he just whiffed on (an omen of things to come?).
Feel free to comment here as I head upstairs for the rest of the match. I'll report back later.
***
Now, that was a classic Melbourne match. We had fabulous shot making, mostly from Kohlschreiber (at one point in late in the fourth late, the man hit so many backhand down the line winners and forehand cross court passes that you had to wonder whether he was plugged into a nearby electrical outlet--no human ought to put out that much voltage stroke after stroke).
We had clutch serving the likes of which I haven't seen in a long time, if ever, from Roddick, who obliterated three match points with three aces in the outside corner of the ad court service box, the first at 147 mph, the second at 141 mph, and the third at 138 mph. That's the most difficult serve in the business at the fastest speeds possible. Three times. In the same game. All three on match point. Unrealistic. He also let his second serve fly on a couple of key points, knowing that it was his best chance (once it worked, the other it didn't, but it didn't matter in the end).
You want gaudy offensive statistics? Kohlschreiber hit 104 winners and made 33 errors. Roddick had 79 winners and 24 errors. Roddick won 83% of points on his first serve; Kohlschreiber won 83% and 63% on his second serve (he served out of his mind; that's not one of his strengths). Roddick hit 42 aces; Kohlschreiber 32. If you are looking for a good way to measure the disparity between these two men in baseline rallies, here it is: 11 forehand and 3 backhand winners for Roddick, versus 27 forehand and 30 backhand winners for Kohlschreiber.
We had a hostile crowd, too, one that turned on Roddick, who is usually something of a fan favorite in Melbourne, in favor of an unknown (to most people) German player with a flashy game who hits one-handed backhands that at times defy belief. We also had steam coming out of Roddick's ears: I haven't seen him this worked up in a long time. He yelled at Kohlschreiber's vocal fans and told them to "Shut up!" He hated the way chair umpire Emmanuel Joseph, who was given the business by Lindsay Davenport earlier this week, called the match, handled the crowd, and interpreted the rule of Hawkeye challenges (when you can make them and when to play a let or award a point). Roddick heaped abuse on him--I'm not sure what was audible on television, so I'll share a few of his best lines:
"You need to do your job."
"Do you have ears? Do you have ears connected to your head?"
"Stay in school kids, or you'll end being an umpire."
And my personal favorite, "I'd love to be stuck in an elevator with this guy for about five minutes."
Why Joseph took all this without at least a warning I'll never know. Stick up for yourself man!
Kohlschreiber played the match of his life--and I have to say, I didn’t think he had it in him. He's what you might best describe as a high wire act, the sort of player who can dazzle and dominate, but who expends so much energy while doing it that he can't possible remain precise for long stretches. Roddick knew this and smartly tried to wait for Kohlschreiber to fall on his face, just as Rafael Nadal did at last year's Australian Open, when he beat Kohlschreiber in four sets. Kohlschreiber played a sloppy game in the second set and wobbled a few times in the third, when he wiggled out of a 15-40 jam at 5-5 (that 31 stroke rally I mentioned before). But he wouldn't fall. Roddick didn't expect him to keep his balance, either.
"I took his best stuff for five sets and I thought I was going to get him to break or to fold," Roddick said. "I thought if I kept it on him long enough that that would happen. Tonight he played like a great, great player."
Roddick also tempered his remarks with a bit of realism: "Let's let him get into the quarterfinal of a slam before we put him in the hierarchy of tennis. No disrespect, but I mean...." (Don't take it out of context; he was asked about Kohlschreiber's ability and gave a solid assessment. That's it.)
This was Roddick's best chance since the 2006 U.S. Open to reach a major final (he had a good shot against Rafael Nadal on this surface). For that reason, this is an enormous loss, a terrible, awful loss, worse than the loss to Gasquet at Wimbledon last year. I leave it to you to debate when he'll have another chance as good as this one.
That's it, I'm done for the night. Talk away and I'll check in later this morning.
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