By MATTHEW CRONIN

Andy Roddick has an exterior that’s nails tough - a fierce, in-your-face demeanor that would make Pete Sampras and Jim Courier proud. But last year, the pressure of being America’s No. 1 became a little too much for him to bear, which at least partly explains the six month title-less drought he underwent from late July through mid-February. Moreover, the intense spotlight that the here-and-now of U.S. tennis is constantly under also took away some of his joy for the game, which may have adversely affected his play.

After he lost two matches in the Davis Cup final against Spain, Roddick canned his coach, Brad Gilbert, and hired the more easy-going Dean Goldfine. Through San Jose, Roddick was 10-1 under Goldfine, but that lone loss was the one that many point to, when Roddick played two lousy tiebreakers against Hewitt Down Under and fell in a dramatic four-set semi. It reminded folks of the three tiebreakers Roddick lost in the Davis Cup final, when, at times, he looked lost.

“The opportunity was there,” said Roddick. “I don’t know how much I let it slip away. Obviously, it was totally under my control. Unfortunately, I was playing a guy in form. I didn’t step up and take my chances the way I should have. I’m still disappointed. It’s been running through my mind. As Andre said, the later in the tournament it is, the more it hurts. That definitely rings true.”

Roddick and Goldfine would both prefer the mental pain went away and Andy begin to consistently deliver the same physical hurt that brought him to the ‘03 U.S. Open title and the year-end No. 1 ranking. Both like what their relationship has wrought in the improvement department so far, but both realize that it could be a long, slow process full of fits and starts.
Goldfine wants Roddick to ease up on himself, which he believes will lead to good things in the intense powerballer’s future. What he doesn’t want to see is a repeat of the second half of last year, when Roddick was, at times, unhappy with his place in the game.

“Maybe Andy was putting too much pressure on himself and the media was putting too much pressure on him - being labeled the future of American tennis, or now he is American tennis,’” Goldfine told IT. “That’s a lot of pressure. He’s only 22. You compare him to a lot of guys at 22 and he’s accomplished a lot. There’s still room for improvement. The media expects a

little too much for him to win all the time. The year Roger Federer had last year was unbelievable and you can put that up against a year anyone else has ever had. Roger is one of those guys who could end up being one of the best to ever play [Roddick is 1-8 against Federer]. To finish second to him and accomplish what Andy did was okay. It was disappointing not to win a Slam and lose in the Davis Cup final, but he got to the quarters of the Aussie Open, the final of Wimbledon, quarters of the U.S. Open and Davis Cup final - that’s pretty impressive.”

The fact is, Roddick hails from a nation that is fresh off the greatest generation in history - a bar that was set high by Sampras, Agassi, Courier and Chang, who combined for 27 Grand Slam titles and at least two of whom were in the elite mix for 13 years. The bar is hung very high, but that it where Roddick’s immediate predecessors set it. As much as Roddick might not like the weight of the comparison, there’s no avoiding it. U.S. men’s tennis does not have the mundane, less accomplished history of say, Denmark. U.S. fans expect their top men to compete for Slam titles and No. 1 annually. Until the bar drops a few notches , a Slam-less year and a six-month title drought won’t be looked at through rose-colored glasses, especially when it concerns a guy who already has a Slam title in his pocket and was briefly the top dog before Federer took over the kennel.

“The thing you have to remember is that Agassi, Sampras, Courier and Chang ame around at the same time and it made it a little easier because the focus wasn’t just on one of them,” Goldfine said. “If one didn’t do that well, one of the others would, and then there was Todd Martin, who could sneak in. They all backed each other up. None of these other young guys [Fish, Dent, Blake and Ginerpi] have even made it to the quarters of a Grand Slam. So we’re looking at it coming down to Andy and Andre if he’s healthy, it’s a lot of pressure.”

Roddick said that he doesn’t view Agassi coming back to the Davis Cup team as an immediate relief to the pressure that was put on him last year to be The Man at every tie, but the fact is, in singles, he was that guy ( while the Bryans were nails in doubles).

“Andy doesn’t think of it that he can lose a match, but I do think he thinks of it as at least ‘I don’t have to win every match,’” said Goldfine, who assisted U.S. captain Patrick McEnroe in Seville. “At least Andre is someone he has confidence in. I’m sure he has confidence in Mardy, but not the same confidence that he has in Andre. It does help him breath a little easier, that if he has a little hiccup there is someone else there to pick up the slack. He had to be feeling some pressure.”

Goldfine (left) on Andy: "Last year, during the second half, he didn't look like he was enjoying himself."

Goldfine said that Roddick hasn’t confided his reasons for parting with Gilbert (Roddick will only say publicly that he and Gilbert “plateaued”), and the two have been focusing on improving Roddick fitness and multiple facets of his game. Even Agassi (who Gilbert coached for seven years) was taken aback.

“I was very surprised,” Agassi said. “Everybody was. We saw Andy go from maybe 7 or 10 in the world to No. 1. We saw him win tournament after tournament, win the U.S. Open, finish No. 1. Again, if it weren’t for Roger having the incredible year, we would have seen him have the same sort of year again. It seemed to me like a lot of good decisions were going on there.”

Of course, Agassi also left Gilbert after he coached him to six Grand Slam titles, and Roddick has let on that he needed to hear a new voice. That voice is Goldfine’s, a longtime coach to the brainy Todd Martin who not only has a good intellect himself, but also understands when to stop beating the drums. With a high-intensity, ultra-competitive 22-year-old like Roddick, that can be crucial.

On court, Roddick’s transition game is being addressed, as is his being more aggressive with his return, the types of volleys he’s hitting, his court coverage, and his confidence in his once negligible backhand down the line. “I’m going to be a lot more comfortable if I force myself to stand in on my returns,” Roddick said. “Even if I don’t hit it that well, it’s bound to go deeper. There are going to be times when I go back further again, but I’ll continue to move up until I don’t feel comfortable...My transition game was one of the best I’ve had...It comes and goes on the first volleys. It went against Lleyton and I was horrible. It’s something I’m doing more consciously and can only improve in long run.”

Goldfine believes that if Roddick focuses on the process, the results will come. Plus, the full-of-vim-and-vigor Roddick needs to be having fun. He could tell at their initial meeting that Roddick’s cock-eyed grin was in danger of disappearing. “He wanted to get back to basics in terms of working hard,” Goldfine said. “Last year, during the second half, he didn’t look like he was enjoying himself on court. I told him he had to realize that it’s his job and he needs to put in the work just like everyone else, but he’s in the fortunate position of playing tennis for a living and should be enjoying it. He likes to get out there and work his butt off, but he needs to feel good about it.”

Roddick is a positive person for the most part and rarely walks around with dark clouds hanging over his head. When he does, it’s a thunderstorm, which breaks quickly, crashes down loudly and dissipates like a cracked frame after a lousy overhead. He wasn’t depressed late last year, but clearly wasn’t pleased with the direction that his career was going, or Gilbert would still be around. “Just like anyone, there are days when you’re feeling it and feel great, and then are days that I’m grinding through it and I don’t have my best stuff,” Roddick said. “I play better when I’m having fun, but I think anyone would. When you find a way to win and you are not playing your best, in some weird way, it’s more satisfying. I enjoy the process of working through it.”
Roddick was in fine form during his last two matches in San Jose and it’s obvious to those who have tracked his career since he splashed out of the juniors in late ‘00 how much his overall game has improved. He’s no longer just a serve and a forehand. However, mentally, he’s not the same player who stormed undefeated through the U.S. hard courts in the summer of ‘03. He’s still a tremendous fighter and competes as hard as anyone, but he has begun to doubt himself at crucial moments, which has led to some questionable decisions. Last year, Roddick owned the tour’s best record in tiebreakers. But in the Davis Cup final against Carlos Moya and Rafael Nadal, and in Australia against Hewitt, he went 0-6. His mental lapses were obvious. “The bottom line is I didn’t step up in those tiebreakers and I didn’t beat Lleyton,” Roddick said. “I beat myself. Lleyton makes you feel a little bit weird because you feel like you beat yourself, but he puts you in a position to do that. Unfortunately, I didn’t come up with the goods. A lot of it’s just bearing down mentally.”
Roddick respects Agassi more than any other player, and even though he was already out of the tournament, Agassi took the time to watch the re-play. Even though they are 12 years apart, the two are friends. But Agassi knows Roddick still has a lot to learn about how to properly respond in huge matches. “I just didn’t sense the whole tournament he found his comfort zone,” Agassi observed. “You play a lot of events. It was a long year for him last year. If it weren’t for Federer having an outrageous year, Andy would have finished the year No. 1 again, probably winning Wimbledon. So you’re talking about a guy that has incredible potential. Expectations are always high. With his commitment to Davis Cup and all the other stuff he’s doing, he was playing so hard through the year, so who knows if he’s feeling a little tired or fatigued, mentally or physically. So I was waiting for his game to come around the whole tournament. But nobody ever really pushed him to get a sense for that. And Lßleyton was the first one that did it. There’s no question Andy could have won that match in straight sets. But then again, I’ve watched a lot of matches with people playing Lleyton that Lleyton found a way. That’s a tribute to him.”

Goldfine aims to change Roddick’s mental approach to those situations. He wants him to use all the tools at his disposal and not think that he has to immediately unload the full clip on his Howitzer. “Sometimes Andy tries to hit his way out of the situation, instead of learning to construct points and work himself out the situation,” Goldfine said. “Because of his serve he can do it sometimes, but the serve isn’t going to be there every time and it puts a lot of pressure on him to come up with serves every time. To realistically do it for three out of five sets is tough. I’m trying to teach him to use the serve more as a starting point to where he can control the point and get the upper hand. The aces are still going to come.”

En route to winning the title in San Jose, the tide had at least briefly turned for Roddick. He nearly let go of a 6-0 lead in the second set tiebreak against Thomas Enqvist, but mentally held the fort to win to 8-6. Roddick’s run to the San Jose crown will at least temporarily silence those who believe he is about to skid out of the top five and who were rattled by his quarterfinal upset to Joachim Johansson at the ‘04 Open and his losses to Hewitt at the Tennis Masters Cup and Aussie Open.

“There was a perception I was totally off track,” Roddick said. “I didn’t feel that way. I guess I was one of the few. But it’s a great stepping stone. I lose here and I’d have to answer a lot of nonsense. It’s a great springboard.”

Roddick says his goals this year are to win another Slam and bring the Davis Cup back home. Goldfine believes those are realistic goals - if Roddick focuses on making baby steps and keeps his mind off those who want to see him put on a legendary performance every time out.

“He’s already more confident,” Goldfine said. “If he keeps making progress in the areas we’re working on, there’s a good chance he’s going to win a Slam. I’m more into process and if we’re doing a good job in process, the outcomes are going to take care of themselves.” l

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