April 06, 2010

Tennis Canada

It took three-and-a-half years, but Andy Roddick has another Masters 1000 trophy in his collection of 29 career titles. After an unrivaled four-week stretch that included just one loss in the Indian Wells final, Roddick was on the right side of a championship match against Tomas Berdych, winning the Sony Ericsson Open 7-5, 6-4.

Roddick now has five Masters 1000 titles, with his last coming in 2006 at Cincinnati, the same year he last made an appearance in the US Open final. Having been an absolute force so far in 2010 with a Tour-best 26-4 match record, Roddick is now back to having his name mentioned as a contender in the major events. Even more impressive, is that he has demonstrated a variety in his game that was not present even when he was ranked No.1 in the world.

In the past two tournaments, Roddick has convincingly defeated players with wildly different styles. He beat hard-hitters like Robin Soderling and Igor Andreev with as much conviction as he did crafty, mobile players like Nicolas Almagro and world No. 3 Rafael Nadal. All the while however, Roddick’s No. 1 weapon never let him down; his serve. Roddick was broken only twice in Miami and did not face a single break point in the final.

Larry Stefanki, Roddick’s coach since 2008, credits the improved range in his player’s game to his unparalleled determination and work ethic.

"He works as hard or harder than anybody else on this tour," Stefanki said. "He could be similar to Andre Agassi, where his best years are from 27 on."

Even with the back-to-back final appearances, Roddick only moved up one spot to No. 7 on the ATP World Tour, illustrating how difficult it is to climb to the top, let alone stay there. However, with this new-found diversity and the confidence that he can compete with anyone, Roddick could easily find himself in the Top 5 again by the time he stops in Toronto for Rogers Cup presented by National Bank.

On the women’s side, fan-favourite Kim Clijsters held nothing back during her final match-up against Venus Williams. Williams turned in one of her more terrible performances in recent history handing Clijsters the title with a 6-2, 6-1 victory. Now, after less than a year back in action, Clijsters has climbed into the Top 10.

The loss snapped Williams’ 15-match win streak but she still managed to gain a spot in the rankings. She now sits at No. 4 heading into the clay court season which should see the return of Top 5 players Serena Williams and Dinara Safina from injury.