World No.8 Andy Roddick was back at Brisbane’s Pat Rafter Arena today preparing to defend the title he won here almost 12 months ago.
After returning from a knee injury that kept him off the ATP tour for three months at the end of 2009, winning his first tournament of 2010 was an unexpected bonus for the No.1 seed.
But while season 2010 started brightly for the former world No.1, it’s fair to say that it didn’t end the way Roddick envisaged it would – losing all three of his round-robin matches at the season-ending championships to world No.1 Rafael Nadal, Wimbledon finalist Tomas Berdych and No.3 Novak Djokovic was not how the American wanted to finish the year.
“I definitely don’t feel like I was well prepared for the last little bit of last year and it showed. The one thing that doesn’t lie in tennis is if you’re not prepared you can’t lie about it,” Roddick told media at Pat Rafter Arena following one of his two practice sessions today.
“I battled sickness for a big part of last year and from then on out I think I was playing catch up.”
For Roddick fans, and more importantly the man himself, 2011 is looking better. He says the off season has been a good one and he’s feeling better physically than he has since May 2010.
“I think everybody comes here with a fresh sense of optimism. Y’know, one of the biggest things for athletes is [to] kind of brainwash ourselves conveniently every so often and the start of every season kinda lends itself to thinking big and this year is certainly no different for me.
“I feel like I had a pretty good off season and I’m excited to start this year fresh.”
And compared to this time last year, Roddick is way ahead in terms of preparation.
“I come in last year and I hadn’t been playing much and so this was a really good springboard for me and I enjoyed my time and I’m happy to be back.
“I like this event [and] they put on a first-class event. My wife enjoys coming here, so let’s not pretend like I make any decisions,” Roddick joked. “It’s a good place to start the year.”
With day one of the tournament still a few days away and some main draw players still to arrive, Roddick and his team said they decided to travel to Brisbane early to finetune the world No.8’s game.
“I think as an athlete I don’t know if you’re ever satisfied, so there’s certainly always elements that can be worked on.
While not prepared to go into specifics, Roddick was happy to discuss the differences between the world’s top two players – Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer – and those who trail behind them in the rankings.
“The biggest thing with them is that they bring their best day after day after day and that’s the difference between those guys and the rest of the top 10, the rest of the guys 50 or 60, it’s just a matter of how often you can produce it.
“The thing about them is mentally they play well on big occasions, they take care of themselves, they’re professional as far as the way they treat their bodies, they’re true professionals and it shows.”
A former world No.1 himself and a Grand Slam winner, Roddick said that he feels he can match it with Nadal and Federer, but consistency is the key to making it to and staying at the top.
“I think we’re all capable of matching them on a given day but they bring it more often and that’s probably what we strive for.”