Roddick Gets a Scare

For a while last night, it looked like Andy Roddick might go down in the first round of the Australian Open, and I can't tell you how overcome with glee I was at that prospect. That result would have destroyed my men's tournament bracket on the Tennis Channel website, but so what? I won't win that anyway and a Roddick loss would be oh so satisfying. Why do I dislike Andy so? A few reasons come to mind. First, I can't stand the way he acts on the court when he tries to be so confrontational. Stare-downs, yapping at his opponents, strutting around the court and begging everyone to "look at me" are some examples of behavior that are straight out of the video game, in-your-face generation that I can't stand. In his match yesterday, he called his opponent, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, a "f***ing prick". Am I supposed to respect that kind of behavior? It would be one thing if something came up during a match and that was said in the heat of the moment, however it's different when this type of episode occurs in nearly all of his matches. Oh and what about that sickening Lacoste ad with Andy playing with his shirt off and begging for attention? That was exhibit A for why I can't stand this guy.

Yes, it's now official - I'm old and out of touch. Well, so be it. By the way, don't expect his behavior to get any better with Jimmy Connors as Andy's new mentor. Jimbo is king of the pricks and if anything, he'll encourage his student to be even more brash and confrontational on the court.

Reason number 2 for hating Andy Roddick - since he's an American, I feel like the media is telling me that I have to like him. That strategy isn't going to work with me. I have a very strong contrarian streak in me (can you say Yankee fan in New England!) and I don't like being told for whom to root. Plus, tennis is an individual sport so why do I have to cheer for Americans, especially if I don't like them? It's not like I have never rooted for any Americans - Jim Courier and Pete Sampras come to mind as two Yanks that I enjoyed watching - but some of the Americans just aren't as appealing as other players from around the world. So stop telling me I have to like Roddick because he's an American. That just ticks me off.

The last reason that I can think of, at the moment, has more to do with Andy's fans in the tennis blogosphere, many of whom are beyond rational thought. I'll admit that my bias against Andy is a bit on the irrational side, but some of Roddick's supporters are so detached from reality that I can't help but engage in schadenfreude.

Is Andy Roddick playing well? Yes. Has Jimmy Connors made an impact on his game? Absolutely. Will he have a good season in 2007? I would bet on it. Will I ever root for him? Not a chance.