The rain delayed match between Andy Roddick and David Ferrer was forced off Louis Armstrong and onto court 13 today as water seemed to seep through the court. While it was an embarrassment for event organisers it left to reorganise the match.
Keen to get play underway while the sun was shining Roddick said, “Court 13 is open, let’s go play,” and took Ferrer and the umpire with him to the much smaller court 13.
To say that Roddick has, at times, been less that impressed over the last 48 hours is an understatement but he quickly went to work and took a two set lead before Ferrer won the third.
Roddick, who won 6-3, 6-4, 3-6, 6-3, later said he was determined to keep points short and avoiding being drawn into a baseline tussle with grinder Ferrer.
While the USTA released a statement saying that recent weather was to blame for the water of Louis Armstrong (and the fact the court is built on top of landfill), it amazes me that it was Roddick who took steps to keep the match progressing, not the umpire or tournament directors.
Roddick faces defending champion Rafael Nadal in the quarterfinals.
Q. Talk about the experience a little bit. Obviously it was a 
strange start this morning with the court bubbling up, et cetera.
ANDY RODDICK: Yeah, I mean, today you couldn’t do much. I looked down at one point and I saw like kind of like a little crack, and it had probably seven or eight nickel sized water drops on it, but it looked too perfectly placed. It almost looked like someone almost pored a little bit of water out. So I dried it off, played the next game, went back to play the point, and saw it was there again. That’s when I realized that we had a problem.
Q. I heard you used the word “baffled” on the court.
ANDY RODDICK: I was surprised the second time we got called out. We walked back there and it was wet, so I couldn’t quite figure out why we were called out. I even said it’s coming from under. It’s not something you can dab a towel on and make it go away. I watched the monitors, and they were dabbing towels on it the entire time. Then they called us back out, and we walked right over it and it was wet. I could not believe what I was looking at. I mean, puts us in a little bit of an uncomfortable position, too, because obviously, you know, we want to play and stuff. But it’s still there, dude.
Q. Andy Murray quipped about hoping it rains tonight. Then at least Roger will be in the same boat as the rest of you guys. Can you talk about the inequity in the halves of the draw?
ANDY RODDICK: I mean, it just happens. It’s a tough scenario where our half is obviously up against it. But weather is weather. You can’t control it. What are they going to like delay Roger’s match from four days ago because there was weather coming? It’s tough, but what are you gonna do?
