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U.S. teen Andy Roddick pushes Lleyton Hewitt in another late-night U.S. Open marathon, but loses his focus, and eventually, the match.
By SHARON GINN
© St. Petersburg Times, published September 7, 2001
NEW YORK -- On the longest night of his life, one of the newest models of American teenage cool completely lost his cool.
With Andy Roddick down 5-4 in the fifth set and on serve, chair umpire Jorge Dias overruled the linesman on the far side of the court -- incorrectly, it appeared on a television replay -- and called Roddick's return out. Roddick, known for his emotional outbursts, had the biggest one of his career in his biggest match, a U.S. Open quarterfinal on a court that seemingly never sleeps.
"What is wrong with you?" Roddick shouted to Dias. "You can't overrule that at 4-5 in the fifth! What are you, an absolute moron?"
Roddick lost the argument -- and the match.
Australian Lleyton Hewitt, No. 4 seed, broke Roddick for the third time minutes later to win 6-7 (5-7), 6-3, 6-4, 3-6, 6-4. Hewitt meets No. 7 seed Yevgeny Kafelnikov, a straight sets winner against top seed Gustavo Kuerten, in Saturday's semifinals.
On his way off the court, Roddick shook Dias' hand as is customary but then insisted he was right.
"I had pretty darned good reason for it," Roddick said. "Maybe the more experience I get I'll learn to handle that. But that's tough to handle. ... There's no way he can bet the house on that call. In the future, hopefully I won't blow up."
The Roddick-Hewitt quarterfinal couldn't match the artistry and urgency of Wednesday night's four-set, four-tiebreaker classic between Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi, two champions past 30 who wonder how many titles they have in them.
In another way entirely, people wonder the same about Roddick, 19, and Hewitt, 20. Roddick in particular has been under a microscope, with fewer questions about his game than -- at least at times -- about his maturity.
But he recovered quickly from his outburst, long enough at least to reflect on a year that has seen him rise from No. 338 in the world (at last year's Open) to No. 18.
"It's been a great run," he said. "I mean, I've had so much fun out here. A part of me is just dying inside, but a part of me is like, "Okay, I can relax now.' Everything has been pretty overwhelming for me."
At 3 hours 40 minutes and ending at 12:41 a.m., it was easily the longest match Roddick has played and just the second five-setter of his pro career.
After the first-set tiebreaker, Roddick seemed to have things in hand. He won five points in a row in the tiebreaker to take a 5-1 lead. Hewitt won four of the next five, then Roddick's 136 mph ace finished him off.
Hewitt made him pay. He broke Roddick right away, took a 3-0 lead and easily won the second set. For a while, Roddick seemed to lose a bit of his step after turning an ankle in the second, and Hewitt took advantage. In the third he made Roddick run all over the court, at one point sending him skidding into a sensor machine on the sideline.
Roddick had a break point midway through the third set for a chance to take a 4-2 lead. But he not only wasted the opportunity, he lost all four points on his next service game and fell behind 4-3, leaving the door open for Hewitt to win the set.
That prompted many fans, no doubt some who stayed late the previous night when that match ended at 12:14 a.m., to head for the exits.
But there was much more to come. Seemingly fresher, Roddick dug deep in the fourth set. He took the first game, broke Hewitt, then held serve to take a 3-0 lead. He never was in danger of falling behind in the fourth, but double-faulted twice while serving for the set. He closed it out with a nifty backhand at the net, pushing the match past midnight.
"Andy's got a tough game," Hewitt said. "I really didn't see how I was going to break him in the fifth set. ... He's a great player. What he's done over the last 6-8 months has been unbelievable."
Kuerten, ranked No. 1 in the world, evidently didn't have the stamina of Roddick or Hewitt. The Open quarterfinals is an unfortunate time to lose your pep, but that's what happened to Kuerten in a 6-3, 6-0, 6-3 loss to Kafelnikov.
One of two Russians -- third-seeded Marat Safin is the other -- to reach the semifinals, Kafelnikov needed nothing fancy or too clever to beat Kuerten.
Kuerten, the three-time French Open champion, admitted he lacked energy and it showed. After Kafelnikov broke him in the first set at 4-4, Kuerten lost 11 straight games, at one point calling for a trainer to massage his cramping leg. But it wasn't the injury that bothered him, he said.
"I started to feel like he was playing better and easier," Kuerten said. "And I was fighting just to make it a bit tougher for him."
Perhaps there was revenge involved for Kafelnikov. All three of Kuerten's French Open titles had come at Kafelnikov's expense. Kuerten beat him in the quarterfinals in 1997, 2000 and 2001.