TENNIS/AUSTRALIAN OPEN CHAMPRIONSHIPS: The Melbourne Park triangle, otherwise known as the Australian Open, claimed yet another victim yesterday when Andy Roddick, fast gaining a reputation as Mr Accident Prone, turned his right ankle during the second set of his second-round match against Croatia's Ivan Ljubicic and had to retire when 7-6, 3-2 down.
These are worrying times for the 19-year-old Roddick, who is playing here for the first time. He has been working on building his body strength throughout the winter break, and was patently deeply frustrated by this latest injury setback.
Roddick had sprained his ankle during his opening win against Argentina's Mariano Zabaleta, but played through on adrenaline. "I had it taped, it was almost like a cast, but I guess the ankle was still too weak," he said yesterday.
The trainer told Roddick, who has been touted as the successor to Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi, that he might do some permanent damage if he tried to carry on, so Roddick had no option other than to quit while he was ahead.
He has a short-term history of injury. After he had defeated Sampras at Key Biscayne last year his wrist gave him trouble, and then he both cramped and damaged his leg during the French Open when he had to pull out of his third-round match against Australia's Lleyton Hewitt. "I'm kinda sick and fed up with it. I want to find a long-term solution, not just fixing it temporarily," said the 13th seed.
It may be that Roddick has to cut down his schedule a little, and build his strength more gradually. He has a tall, gangling frame which, like that of Venus Williams, puts a good deal of strain on the knees, ankles and wrists.
He is, it must also be said, something of a drama queen on court, frequently spilling over in an exaggerated fashion and making a meal of every twinge. But it was impossible not to feel sorry for him afterwards. With the draw having fragmented, although not so much in his top half, the young man clearly had high expectations. And there is a great deal riding on his rather bony shoulders. The future of American tennis, as Sampras would say - and indeed has.
Last year it took Sampras five sets to defeat Juan Ignacio Chela in the third round. This time he accounted for the Argentine in four, and with a touch more conviction, although the American was often not moving awfully well, and rather more times than he would have liked found his serve being returned with considerable interest. "This has been a bizarre tournament, but, knock on wood, I still feel healthy," he said after a 6-3, 7-5, 3-6, 6-4 win.
Neither the public nor the experts is agreed who will end up lifting the men's singles trophy a week on Sunday. Small clusters can be found perusing the draw and shaking their heads, while the players keep a wary eye on the floor for anything that might trip them up, and are doubly circumspect when approaching doors and steps, to say nothing of showers and baths. The young men are getting particularly excited, none more so than Russia's Marat Safin, the 2000 US Open champion.
He reached the last 32 with a 6-2, 7-6, 6-1 victory over Belgium's diminutive Christophe Rochus, and believes he can win. He also has his own theory as to why so many of the top seeds have fallen by the wayside in the first few days: "I don't think they had enough time to rest or prepare themselves after the Tennis Masters Cup in Sydney last November." Safin failed to qualify for that tournament, finishing outside the top 10, having ended 2000 as the world's number two.
"Because of that my season finished early and I had four weeks of hard work in preparation for Melbourne. I almost ended last year in the top 10, and I think that this year I will do much better," said the young Russian, who will be 21 on January 27th, the day of the final, which might be deemed fate. He plays his fellow Russian Mikhail Youzhny in the next round, and then, if this draw goes to form, which it most obviously hasn't so far, he will face Sampras, whom he defeated for his first grand slam title at Flushing Meadows.
"Mikhail is a good guy. I practice with him and we grew up in the same club - Youzhny, Anna Kournikova and me. As for Pete, everybody knows he is the biggest ever. But I want to win as many grand slams as I can, so why not here?" And he may.
Yesterday's losers included last year's runner-up Arnaud Clement and former world number one Carlos Moya, who was beaten in the 1997 Melbourne final.
Moya was the latest grand slam winner to exit, the 1998 French Open champion and 17th seed blowing a two-set lead to lose 3-6, 6-7, 6-1, 7-6, 6-2 to German Rainer Schuettler.Clement, seeded 15th, went down 6-4, 4-6, 6-2, 7-6 to Argentinian Gaston Gaudio.
Germany's Tommy Haas overpowered French qualifier Jean-Francois Bachelot 6-1, 6-2, 6-3, while Switzerland's Roger Federer eased through 6-2, 7-5, 6-4 against Hungarian Attila Savolt.
