Cannon Roddick, who has been retiring for six years, appeared in the same frame as Fei Tianwang, who was resting in the United States, triggering countless fans to remember the years when the two fell in love and killed each other. Although Fei Tianwang is still one year older in age, at the peak of his career, the big p has stated that he is still running in the tennis world at the age of thirty and has never been in his own planning ranks. As a result, we gradually distanced ourselves from the former American heavy gunner and his sharp serve, and he focused his life on the happy life after retirement, spending time with his family, managing the foundation, and occasionally guest tennis commentary. But because of the past years, because of tennis, because of his brilliant career, his life has never been completely isolated from tennis.
Speaking of Roddick, the first thing that comes to mind is that he is perfectly present in the air that the American people expect of their own tennis flagships, and when the former Sampras and Agassi's generations of arrogance have come to an end, the decline of American tennis is something that those who truly love this career do not want to see. At this time, Roddick turned out to be the youngest world number one since the establishment of the career ranking system at the age of 21 years and three months, and from the top 10 to the world number one, his leap only made the expectant fans wait for a year, the hero out of the teenager, the talented player perfectly took over the banner of the predecessor, and in that rapid progress, it seemed that we had heard the long-lost flag flying, as if to see the arrival of another ruling period of American tennis.
Roddick, who has just entered the professional tennis world, with his powerful and rapid serve foothold, if you look closely at his serve, you will find: Different from the condescending "air supremacy" established by those tennis giants relying on the natural advantages of the body, Roddick's serve will play the "back bow effect" to another extreme, the appropriate throwing ball, and then the waist will try its best to reverse the bow, like a full bow, the full body's energy storage is converted into the momentum of the ball to the greatest extent. To this day, his 245 km/h service in the 2004 Davis Cup semifinals is still talked about. An excellent serve gave him priority firing rights to his victory, while violent forehand strikes further amplified the aggressiveness of his play.
In 2003, the most glorious season of Roddick's career, the Swiss Federer took the lead in achieving a career breakthrough at Wimbledon, and Roddick also made his own history before the US Open, under the leadership of the meritorious coach Gilbert, he achieved an impressive record of 47 wins and 8 losses, winning five championships, including two Masters in Montreal and Cincinnati, as well as St. Polten, the Queen's Cup and Indianapolis. The pinnacle of honor remained in his hometown tournament, the US Open, and in the semifinals, with his opponent leading in two sets and holding the match point at one point, Roddick fought back, eventually defeating Nalbandian to reach the final, and finally defeating Ferrero to win the first and only Grand Slam title of his career. It is based on this season's strong performance that the young Roddick became the sixth American player in history to be ranked number one in the world at the age of 21, and the youngest. But what we didn't know was that Federer, who had just made a career breakthrough at the time, was also on the road to victory, steadily advancing until he became the greatest player in the history of tennis and had the advantage of total suppression of the American cannons for nearly a decade.
Since his youth, Roddick has taken winning the US Open, Wimbledon, Davis Cup and world number one rankings as his goal, three of which were achieved early in the most brilliant moments of his career, but only in the Wimbledon journey, several times fell into the sand, three times into the final lost to a man named Federer. After a long time in retirement, Roddick, when talking about the bitter moments of competing with Federer, still regarded the loss of the 2009 Wimbledon final as the biggest regret of his career, but at the same time he played his best game and the best memory.
Let's briefly recall that game: in that ups and downs, Roddick took the next set 7-5 and took a 6-2 lead in the second set. However, the resilient Federer then won six goals in a row to reverse the tie-break. The two then took a set each, and in the final decider long set, the Americans were also the first to get the break point, but in the end it was Federer who relied on the only break in the game to win the epic victory 16-14. But if you're familiar with that game, you know it was roddick, who was perfect from serve to bottom line defense, and after 37 consecutive serves, he was not completed by Federer for the first break until the last minute, which ultimately changed the outcome of the game.
"Although I have many shortcomings, I am never one of them who is not persistent enough", perhaps this sentence he once believed in best explains his belief that he persisted until the last moment. Perhaps it was through this game that the former world number one gained more general recognition and respect from the majority of fans. In today's tennis world, even the 37-year-old Federer still maintains a high winning percentage against the top 10 players, and in the 24 matches against Roddick, the peak of the Fei Tianwang only let the opponent win three victories, and even beat Roddick 11 times in a row between 2003 and 2007, and these short four years are also the best years of American career, so the bitterness in his heart turns into the most famous joke in the tennis world: "We are all doing our best to reach the final, Then lose to a man named Federer." However, the repeated failures and defeats did not make the American heavy artillery resentful, but on the contrary, it gave birth to a respect and respect for Fei Tianwang. This tribute comes from the joy of restraint after the victory at Wimbledon, as well as the good upbringing and humility and friendliness throughout. This friendliness made Roddick unable to complain, and he even teased Fei Tianwang after a failure: "Roger, please send me your schedule as a Christmas gift, I will stagger as much as possible..."
For any professional tennis player, it is the highest honor to eventually enter the International Tennis Hall of Fame. In 2017, Roddick finally joined belgian Christers in the selection, when the once world number one, holding 32 tour champions, returned to the place where he dreamed of setting sail as a child, and also revealed his true feelings about his career: "When I walked into this place, it was as if I was looking back on my childhood, I grew up watching these superstars. I practiced tennis when I was eight or nine years old, got on the tour, and won a Grand Slam. Being in the Hall of Fame with the greatest players was still beyond my imagination at the time. In addition to looking back on his career and thanking the coaches and friends who have helped him, in an interview at the Hall of Fame ceremony, he also expressed his open-mindedness and gratitude for the era with the "Big Four", as we once said, we can't answer questions such as "What would happen without the Big Four men's tennis world?" "This hypothetical question, but there is no doubt that the existence of the Big Four pushes the limits of the sport to more unknown possibilities, whether it is the richness of techniques and tactics or the promotion and spread of tennis itself around the world." His friend Federer also congratulated him for the first time, praising his selection as deserved.
Behind the three Wimbledon defeats, rodick and Federer's acquaintance and mutual support in the career, Fei Tianwang appeared in Austin this time for the friend's foundation cause to personally stand. But in addition to those three defeats, Roddick also left us with a series of brilliant records: ranking in the top ten of the world for nine consecutive years, winning more than 600 singles games in his career, winning more than $20 million in prize money, winning the US Open, becoming the youngest American player in history to rank first in the world, helping the US team win the Davis Cup, and winning the game at the national team level second only to his predecessor McEnroe. Regrets or will exist for life, but in the closest to success, has persisted to the end, to do the best Roddick should be proud, I believe that time will release all this, bless Roddick, bless the retirement of the big p to live out another wonderful tennis! (Source: Tennis House, Author: Ma Dengyang)