Roddick and Fish Rolling in Indian Wells — in Doubles?

by Richard Vach | March 17th, 2009, 11:45 am
  • 9 Comments

Andy Roddick’s and Mardy Fish’s singles resumes speak for themselves, but the Americans paired as doubles stars?
ADHEREL
On Monday the American pairing advanced to the doubles quarterfinals at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, defeating the very solid team of Czech Radek Stepanek and France’s Michael Llodra 6-4, 7-6(6). Stepanek-Llodra had previously ousted the No. 7-seeded team of South Africans Coetzee-Moodie in their opener.

Roddick and Fish teamed once each in the years 2008, 2007 and 2005, failing to get past the quarterfinals, and in 2004 lost in the opening round at the Athens Olympics. In 2002 they won the U.S. Clay Courts title at Houston.

In their opening round, Roddick-Fish beat the French squad of Chardy-Simon. Next up: the imposing Argentine squad of David Nalbandian and Juan Martin del Potro, a surprising partnership after their lockeroom blowout last year in the Davis Cup final.


“This tournament, for those top guys, is a no-brainer to play some doubles to get outside on the hardcourts, when most of the guys haven’t played apart from Dubai, haven’t played outdoors on hardcourts,” said Fish on many of the top players competing in the doubles at Indian Wells. “So I think there’s only a few guys that aren’t. You know, James [Blake] is one, and [Novak] Djokovic, I think, is the other in maybe the Top 20. So a lot of guys tend to play doubles here.”

The top-seeded Bryan brothers face a Spanish challenge in their second-round match-up, meeting world No. 1 Rafael Nadal and countryman Marc Lopez.


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9 Comments for Roddick and Fish Rolling in Indian Wells — in Doubles?

Jill Says:

Nadal is playing with Marc Lopez


Ryan Says:

Nadal is the GOAT. Federer will go outside the top 10 very soon.


FoT Says:

Whatever you say Ryan… lol! Define “very soon” for Roger going out of the top 10? lol!


MMT Says:

“…a surprising partnership after their lockeroom blowout last year in the Davis Cup final.”

Richard: Don’t you think this is an indication that this either never happened or was blown completely out of proportion? You should at least include the word “alleged” before “lockerroom blowout”, because I’m still not convinced this was anywhere near the nonsense that was reported in such a cowardly way at the DC final last year.


tennisontherocks Says:

I read somewhere that coaches of Nalbo-Del Potro got them talking again and playing doubles was part of the ‘team building’ exercise. Good for Argentina team…They have really good draw and could reach DC finals again this year.


Von Says:

MMT:

I absolutely agree with you. Until someone is proven guilty, it’s an alleged incident. Defamation is a bad thing. Very similar to the reporting on the Roddick thread; one obscenity lead to ‘several obscenities’ and a match ‘laden’ with such. Careful you guys, reporting should be about the ‘facts’ not sensationalism.

It’s very good to see the two Argentines playing together; positive for their DC team and their personal morale.


Richard Vach Says:

Jane — yes, Marc Lopez, Nadal’s buddy, corrected.
MMT — No, I don’t think their playing doubles together erases the fact they had a lockeroom run-in at Davis Cup, as I wouldn’t write that if I didn’t have a good source who says it happened. Happy to see the Argentine Davis Cup guys getting along again.


tennisfan Says:

what happened in the locker room. i missed thst one


MMT Says:

I would defer to Richard since he indicates he has a “good source”, but apparently there was a bust up between Nalbandian and del Potro during the Davis Cup final after del Potro came up lame against Lopez in the second rubber.

The rumor is, although it’s amazing that nobody seems to be able to cite their source or definitively confirm what happened, that Nalbandian chastised del Potro for playing the TMC in Shanghai rather than saving himself for the Davis Cup final (as did Nalbandian, who declined an offer to play as an alternate, which eventually went to Stepanek) to which del Potro took exception.

Of course nobody will publicly state that they heard this “discussion” personally, and it all comes from unnamed sources who’ve heard from someone who’s heard from someone…etc.

There are more stories, for example, that Nalbandian was “pushing” for the final to be located somewhere close his hometown and personal business interests. Of course, the final took place in Mar del Plata, which is about 400 miles away from his hometown of Cordoba.

There are also stories that Nalbandian had a bust-up with his doubles partner Augustine Calleri following their collapse in the doubles match, but again, nobody that directly witnessed the alleged incident has publicly corroborated.

In my experience, the only way 2 people can keep a good secret is if one of them is dead, and even that’s no guarantee, but somehow everyone who witnessed the event has kept publicly silent, but fed sources who’ve gone on to report the the incidents which have been repeated in great detail, but with no corroboration.

I also find it more than mildly ironic that the person at the center of these alleged “incidents” is the only player to have won a point for Argetina in the final.

I should also point out that the Argentine press has a history of sensationalizing rivalries between players (such as Guillermo Vilas and Jose Luis Clerc in the late 70’s and early 80’s), and their journalistic standards in sports are about as reliable as British tabloids, IMHO.

They even once went so far, once, as to falsely sub-title an in match dispute between Rafael Nadal and Gaston Gaudio (an Argentine), in which they alleged Nadal, after exchanging words with Gaudio, uttered an unflattering slur that the (some) Spaniards use to refer to South Americans; this is way back in 2005 long before Nadal had developed his reputation for proper behavior.

So, I have no doubt, particularly given that nobody seems to be able to cite a source, that much of this is an invention of the Argentine press. I’m sure there was some discontent and disappointment given the unexpected results, but I reitterate that, to my knowledge, the details above have not, been corroborated publicly by anyone who was there.

Richard, I’m sure, will correct me if I’m wrong.

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