Players Under The Microscope / Editor / 12 June 2008 / Leave a comment

With two losing finals behind him, American Andy Roddick is still one of the contenders when Wimbledon starts in ten days time. Betfair got down to the Artois Championships at Queen's Club to ask how he's getting over the shoulder injury that kept him out of the French Open.

Andy, after a couple of rounds the shoulder doesn't seem to be hampering you too much. How's it improving?

It's okay. I hit it pretty well yesterday, and today so it is pulling up right.

Do you have to nurse it through a bit. Are you taking anything off your serve, for instance?

No, right now I'm trying to hit it full out. It's maybe not going in quite as big as it normally does, but I think I served close to 80 per cent today so that helps, and it is just going to get better. If you don't serve for three or four weeks it will take a bit to get the pop back. It's not because I'm in pain that it is not coming off, it will just take a bit of time to get those three or five extra miles-per-hour back.

You had a tight first set with Mardy Fish and then he had to retire with an injury. That couldn't be the way you wanted to win?

No, and for a number of reasons. Mardy's a friend, and I don't want him to be hurt. I want to see him be ok. That might be in question for next week, but hopefully he'll be fine for Wimbledon. The second reason is I thought we were having a pretty good match, the level was pretty good.

So would you have liked a bit longer on court then?

Well actually coming off the back of my injury about an hour out there was probably just about right for me at the moment.

So how about playing five sets at Wimbledon. Will you be confident by then?

Yeah I'll be fine, It's only going to get better over the next week and a half. I'm already ahead of where I thought I would be a week and a half ago.

Queen's has been a big tournament for you. You've won it four times in five years. So where are your priorities between winning it again and getting the shoulder ready for Wimbledon?

Well, first and foremost you have to be healthy to play Wimbledon. If winning here meant I couldn't play Wimbledon then that's not exactly an option that I'm excited about, but hopefully I can have both, that will be great and that's what we are shooting for

How has it worked out for you since you split with Jimmy Connors and went back to having your brother John as your coach?

Well John's been my coach since before I worked with Jimmy too, so that kind of gets lost in the shuffle a lot of times, because it's not as fun as a story. But no, it's fine. I'm happy with the way things are going right now.

Obviously you're a very experienced player now. How much do you pick into what your brother helps you with and how much do you draw from your own experiences?

I draw a lot from my own experiences. I mean, I don't think it's rocket science to figure out what I need to do to win matches. You know Jimmy was great at helping me get my confidence back when I was kind of down and out a couple of years ago, when I wasn't playing well. I think it took someone of his pedigree to kind of help me get back. Now I feel like I'm at the point where I'm able to know what I have to do to go out and win tennis matches.

Was that part of the reason why it came to its end?

No, he just called it. But there were no hard feelings. There was no ill will. I'm sure we'll get together if he's coming over to do commentary.

You've said you hoped you'd be among the five put down as a possible Wimbledon winner. Apart from the three obvious ones of Federer, Nadal and Novak Djokovic, who would be the other contender?

I don't know, it's a tough one. There's a couple of names you have to look for. Obviously Andy Murray knows how to play on grass. And I don't think it would shock anybody if Lleyton Hewitt made a run to the semis. I don't know if that would surprise anybody just because of his past success, the fact that he knows how to play on this stuff. Then you run into a bunch of guys who can beat anybody on a given day. But I think probably those are my other two.

Roger Federer has won Wimbledon five times, but having just taken only four games in the final of a Grand Slam, is that likely to linger in his mind?

They are separate events. Playing the final on red clay against Nadal is not the same as playing on a grass court. It's just two entirely different things. And if anything it's going to piss him off to where he wants to prove everybody wrong. Maybe if he wins it six times people won't question him. People are sitting saying can Roger Federer win Wimbledon? Yes, he can, he's won it five times. I understand it makes a good story but I'm going to go out on a limb and say Roger is pretty mentally strong, you know, and is capable of overcoming a defeat to win a tennis tournament. He's still the favourite no matter how you look at it.

Andy, thanks for your time.

Tags: Andy Roddick, Artois Championship, Wimbledon