Anatomy of a match: Roddick/Safin

Another weekend, another short trip requiring jet travel - so much like last week, I will not be updating until next Monday or Tuesday, depending on when I return. Because of that, I wanted to get some thoughts in about this morning's (in my time zone at least) Roddick/Safin affair, which I of course woke up for (and have been feeling the effects of it all day).

Thankfully, this turned out to be quite a solid match, with real good tennis on display from both players. I haven't watched Safin play in some time, but every time I do, I am always reminded that he is just, plain and simple, a warrior on the court. Now of course, a warrior-like persona doesn't always mean victory in battle, but nevertheless, Safin usually always leaves "it" (subject to your interpretation) out on the court, no matter if it's a straight set whitewashing in his favour, or a perplexing defeat at the hands of an unknown.

With Andy Roddick on the other side of the court, this was certainly no unknown player, which was the reason for the intrigue of the match as a whole. You know, as much as Safin is labeled as a person that "you never know what you're going to get", shouldn't Roddick be second in command in regards to that assessment over the past year? Thankfully for Roddick fans, Andy seems to have turned things around rather nicely. The main element of this change may not even be related to his game itself - instead, his attitude on the court is something I was very impressed with. Safin was triggered by some judgment calls from the chair umpire during the match, and instead of also letting the emotion take control of Andy (even in a positive light), Roddick was low key and very business-like throughout the match. His unforced errors, usually a staple with any shot of his not named "serve", were few and far between. Technically, Roddick played one the best matches I've ever seen of his, and he was rewarded by escaping one of the toughest third round draws someone could ask for.

I mentioned in my last post about the attributes of this match, and who got the edge in each category. Let's revisit, with the match now completed (my earlier prediction in parentheses):

Forehand (Draw): This wasn't the deciding factor in the match, one way or the other, as each player was nearly automatic with their bread and butter shot. However, you have to give the edge to Roddick because his forehands were far more accurate than he is used to - hitting the back corners with ease, and getting Safin to move around on nearly every long rally.

Backhand (Safin): Marat showed why he got the nod in this category. A surprisingly versatile shot, Safin has extremely good control with his backhand, and often implemented it to dictate the end result of many points. If Roddick had Safin's backhand, just think of where the American could be now.

Serve (Roddick): Safin ended up with 22 aces to Roddick's 14, so if there is any part of this match that Safin should be faulted on, it's not this. Andy used not only the speed on his serve to his advantage, but precision placement as well, in an effort to get the big Russian to move around. This often led to some easy winners at net. This was a wash when comparing the two players, in my opinion.

Movement (Roddick): Here's where Andy really shined. Aforesaid, Andy's versatile shot making kept Safin on the move, and prevented him from planning a few steps ahead in his shots. If you keep you're opponent on the move, they will be unable to effectively set up their great shots, as the reaction is more imperative than the creation. Throughout the four sets, this is where Andy won the match. We also shouldn't forget that Safin came off of two five-setters as well, so this was of critical importance.

Volleys (Safin): Another area where Roddick stepped up from his usual play was at net - he went back and forth with Safin, trading winner after winner at net. In the end, Safin was 24 of 35 at net (69%), with Roddick going 33 of 52 (63%). With a lot more confidence in going to net, Roddick is maximizing the potential of his serve - and his game is much more dangerous in the process.

Intangibles (Draw): Obviously, this is the easiest one to settle, as the intangibles really don't matter after it's all said and done. If there should be another meeting between these two in the future, the momentum is all on Roddick's side.

In summation, Roddick played a great game on almost every technical level. By no means did Safin play poorly, aside from some well documented mental lapses during (but most notably after) the match. His shots were good, but not good enough as Roddick's. Andy goes to the fourth round, and Safin goes to the showers.

The bottom half of the bracket is playing its 3rd rounders as we speak - Nadal looks to be rolling, while Grosjean/Nalbandian is headed to a fifth. Since I went 4 for 4 yesterday (anyone else notice besides mell?), let's try and double that today and go 8 for 8, albeit with an asterisk due to the matches in progress noted above.

- Wawrinka/Nadal: Nadal

- Hewitt/Gonzalez: Hewitt

- Nalbandian/Grosjean: Nalbandian

- Santoro/Davydenko: Davydenko

- Blake/Ginepri: Blake

- Mayer/Haas: Haas

- Berdych/Tursunov: Tursunov

- Murray/Chela: Murray

In short, no upsets aside from Tursunov upending the Czech. That's also why I chose to focus on the top half of the draw yesterday - it looked much more appealing to me.

Once again, due to some time constraints, "Why I like tennis" will be seen next week. Talk to you then!