AMERICAN WINS LONGEST FIFTH SET IN OPEN ERA

Roddick reaches first Grand Slam semifinal

By Sandra Harwitt
tennisreporters.net

Siggi Bucher

After his first two years on the tour led to what most would consider a very successful career start with five titles in his possession, the rumblings as to when Andy Roddick would live up to his billing as the next great American was starting to change from whispers to near shouts.

Now that the 20-year-old Roddick has indeed played an historic breakthrough match – a five-hour thriller for a 4-6, 7-6 (7-5), 4-6, 6-4, 21-19 victory over Younes El Aynaoui – to reach his first career Grand Slam semifinal, you can bet the pressure on Roddick will increase tenfold.

Before getting into Roddick's chances to lay claim to his first ever Grand Slam title, let's take a look at the amazing quarterfinal encounter he played at the Australian Open – a match that goes straight into the record books.

Not only did the match take five hours to play, but the final set went an incredible two hours, 23 minutes, marking the longest fifth set played in the open era of tennis.

While the match was not the longest in time played at Melbourne Park – Boris Becker and Omar Camporese play a five hour, 11-minute match in 1991 – it was the longest in terms of games played. The 83 games long match is the longest since tiebreakers were introduced, beating out the previous record holders of Yannick Noah and Roger Smith, who played 73 games in a 1988 match.

In terms of actual match statistics, Roddick won a total of 250 points to 234 points for El Aynaoui. The Moroccan won the battle of winners with 107 to 102, but fell short on the ace count with 25 to 27 for Roddick.

"Strategy was out the door … it was just pure fighting" Roddick said after the marathon match. "My respect level for him just grew and grew through the match. We could see each other 10 years down the line and know we shared something special Younes is a class act and I'm truly humbled by this victory."

All that jazz above adds up to Roddick having saved one match point and coming back from one-set down on two occasions in the match to keep his chances alive at the Australian Open.

VICTORY IS SWEET, BUT IS TOTALLY DRAINING

Siggi Bucher

But before all of Roddick's fans start calling him a Grand Slam champion, they ought to sit back and relax, and as they say, certainly keep from counting their chickens before they hatch. While the win over El Aynaoui had to be an exhilarating high for Roddick, it also has to be a physically and emotionally draining experience, one that the Boca Raton-based American has never encountered before in his career. For Roddick that means that being in the semifinals can feel so close, but still be so far away from hoisting a trophy.

The road to a possible victory for Roddick presents a semifinal encounter with Ranier Schuettler, a German who has shown steady improvement in recent times, reaching a ranking of No. 23 last June. It's true that Roddick holds a 1-0 career edge over Schuettler from the clay court event in Hamburg last year, and that fact should offer a psychological cushion.

But if Roddick does achieve his first Grand Slam final he is most likely to find Andre Agassi staring at him across the net.

Interestingly, avid tennisreporters.net readers will remember it was just last month that we reported from an exhibition in Miami that featured Roddick and Agassi as the star attraction. It was on that occasion that Agassi convinced Roddick that his best chance to win a Grand Slam at this juncture in his career would be on the Rebound Ace in Australia. Of course, Agassi forgot to tell Roddick that the opportunity will be severely minimized if he reached that final and would have to face him for the title.
Yes, Roddick held Agassi at bay in two sets with his huge serve at that exhibition. But the Australian Open is anything but an exhibition and Agassi would not be willing to surrender that easily and he does have the best return-of-serve in the game. Not to mention that Agassi has the experience – seven Grand Slam trophies, three at the Australian and at least one at every one of the majors.

Then there is the factor that any player arriving at their first Grand Slam final will naturally be very nervous. And if Roddick does attain that final position, he is liable to arrive very fatigued from his long passage through the Australian Open.

While it is entirely possible that Roddick could do the deed at the Australian, it would not be wise to put big money on that happening. Nevertheless, this Australian Open, win or lose, has brought Roddick to a new level in the game and that only bodes well for his future. Roddick may or may not become a Grand Slam champion this coming Sunday, but unless something goes seriously awry, he will be a Grand Slam champion in the future. And he'll probably be a Grand Slam champion sooner than later.