Roddick came into the match with a losing record of 2-18 against Roger Federer. Under normal circumstances many people would have written him off. I definitely would have. But his recent performance against Hewitt and Murray suggested he was reaching another level. On top of that, Roddick's last few encounters with the Swiss were quite close.
I have always been perplexed over the curious fact that Federer out-aced Roddick in their matches. Sunday I realized why. Federer can get away with putting in a second serve. His ground game is superior so he has the option of going for aces on every first serve. Roddick on the other hand, can't afford to show Federer a second ball. He NEEDS a high first serve percentage. That he had - something near 80%. He wasn't always going for aces, but Roger still could not get his returns in play. Unlike in the past, Federer could not read the Roddick delivery. It took Roger 5 sets and over 4 hours to break Andy's serve - and his heart (sorry I just had to :))
Now to get a bit technical. Roddick did hit his groundstrokes well during the fortnight. But I still find his ground game the most technically immature of the top 10. The once fearsome forehand of 2003 has now become a jerky windshield wiper stroke. In order to produce a more penetrating ball, he has to produce far more racquet head speed than in the past. As a result, the consistency of his flat stroke has fallen dramatically as well as his accuracy. He also has to get properly set up and 'charge' the stroke which makes his defensive forehand particularly weak. Roger on the other hand has a forehand that is technically perfect as far as I am concerned. His swingpath is extremely versatile. As a result he can vary his spin-to-speed ratio extremely easily. He can also hit with variety from any position, as Nadal can do, and therefore defend extremely well. Similar principles apply on the backhand. Roddick will always have one of the best serves in the game. But he may never have as good a chance as he just had at Wimbledon.
