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After being written off before the start of the tournament Andy Roddick has almost equalled his best ever showing at Roland Garros. Almost. He may have got to the third round but it wasn’t pretty. It his first round he needed 5 sets to dispose of Jarrko Nieminen. His second round required 4 sets, and what felt like 100 service breaks to defeat Kavcic who is ranked at 112, considerably lower than the American world number 8.
Roddick. who is widely known to dislike both the Suzanne Lenglen Court and clay courts in general, was knocked out in the third set by world number 114 Teimuraz Gabashvili, in straight sets. The 6-4, 6-2, 6-2 victory took less than two hours and Roddick was livid afterwards.
The issue stemed from the wet tarps, normally used to cover the court, being stored at the back of the court causing balls to get heavy and wet when they went up the back of the court. “They dry the whole court, but then they leave the tarps soaking wet. If a ball rolls through a puddle enough times, can you tell me what happens to it? Then, when clay attaches to it, it doesn’t get lighter. It’s something that I’ve been pretty adamant complaining about behind closed doors for a long time. The umpire said to me, ‘Well, it happens every year’. I’m going, ‘Is that supposed to make me feel better?’ I didn’t understand that logic.”
Roddick is looking forward to Wimbledon where he feels grass lends itself to his game more than clay.
