Roddick, ATP Offer Underrated Entertainment in Indy Doubles Final
Posted on July 25, 2006
By Richard Vach, Tennis-X.com Senior Writer
Those fortunate enough to catch the Indianapolis doubles final on The Tennis Channel last Sunday (or the rerun Monday night) saw why the game of doubles has so much potential -- when you can throw a name player in the mix.
Last February in San Jose, John McEnroe caused a media frenzy by playing his first ATP event in 12 years, teaming with Jonas Bjorkman and defeating the "B"-level American squad of Paul Goldstein and Jim Thomas (what, you don't have their trading cards?) in the final.
Last Sunday in Indy, Goldstein-Thomas were again served up as sacrificial lambs when Andy Roddick, fresh off his singles loss to James Blake, and partner Bobby Reynolds "Wrap" competed in the all-American final.
The minute Roddick walked out of the tunnel it was apparent he had shaken off the singles loss, talking animatedly with Reynolds, and nodding his head side-to-side to the stadium music as he sat with his partner in their court-side chairs. Roddick was in a playful, loose mood as a big fish in a little pond, and when a replay-challenged call in the first set showed the ball barely grazed the line in his favor, he called over to his opponents "WAY in!"
A large number of the singles crowd stayed for the doubles final, especially those of the female persuasion, and despite his lightheartedness the American was taking things seriously.
Called for two foot faults in one service game at the beginning of the second set, Roddick's mood turned dark. Babolat-tossing ensued, and unable to put it behind him, Roddick ranted at the baseline judge and the chair umpire for most of the next game and maintaining a stream of cynical badmouthing and muttering. In a matter of games, fans were treated to Fun Andy and Dark Andy, both of who provide more entertainment than on-court coaching, between-point marching bands or any of the other gimmicks du jour of the men's and women's tours.
Unfortunately there isn't a real plug-it-in formula for creating the kind of doubles entertainment that went on Sunday. Players like Roddick, Andre Agassi, the young Brit Andy Murray perhaps -- entertainers who can let their guards down and connect with a crowd -- are few and far between. A name player needs to be in the mix, a name player with personality. You could see James Blake laying down some smack, some zingers, and getting loose in a doubles final, but fellow Top 10ers Nikolay Davydenko or Tommy Robredo? You wouldn't look to them for receiving their own Comedy Central special anytime soon.
Developments like the Indy final offers props to the ATP for their doubles rules changes last year, under duress, that gave tournaments more wildcards to offer to top players. And lo and behold, the blast-heavy strategy of Roddick and Reynolds, lacking in doubles experience as they were, added to the entertainment value when matched against the crossing strategies and doubles expertise of Goldstein-Thomas.
Secretly every fan at one time or another likes to see a top player completely stone a shot, and fans had many such moments on the Roddick volley, which swings wildly from brilliant to average to USTA 3.5 level. But credit to Roddick -- that's why he's playing doubles, to hone the net skills he will need to nearly perfect to compete with run-away stars Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal.
So it was credit all-around Sunday -- to the much-maligned ATP for their doubles changes that, with fine-tuning, could be moving in the right direction; to Roddick for playing hard while at the same time treating doubles as entertainment; and The Tennis Channel gets props, shut out of the NBC-shown singles but covering doubles, year round, with gusto.
Maybe stick Goldstein in the entertainers-to-be category, with the fiesty American late in the second set screaming "...my ass!" after a chair umpire's ruling, kicking the net post in his best 14-and-under-tournament display, then kicking the chair umpire's stand for good measure. Nice effort, by Goldstein and the chair umpire for letting the outburst slide without a point penalty or stoppage of play.
After their straight-set win, Roddick spoke about his motivation for sticking with the doubles through to the final with his buddy Reynolds.
"I could think of better things to do that go back into the heat," Roddick said of taking to the court again after a singles loss to Blake that immediately had him looking like a suicide-watch candidate. "I think the fact that it was for someone else. You can afford to be selfish as far as your singles goes, but I wanted to go out there and play for Bobby. It's a good way to end the week."
For Roddick and tennis fans.
Richard Vach is a senior writer for Tennis-X.com who can currently be seen on The Tennis Channel's "Tennis Insiders: Super Insiders" episodes, and was recently awarded "Best Hard News" story for 2005 by the United States Tennis Writers Association. You can belittle him at rvach@tennis-x.com.