Just registered. Have been following Andy's career for years and can't believe a) how unlucky he has been - at crucial stages he always seems to meet players on far better form than usual and on a mission eg Roddick at Wimbledon and b) how horrible the media are to him. If I hear that Sky TV bloke saying Andy is unpopular again I will eat my remote in frustration. Don't they realise that the more they say it the more it will be believed. Andy mutters and yells on court a bit OK but when interviewed he is unfailingly polite, knowledgable and self deprecating. He doesn't drink or mess around, keeps fit and is nice to his Mum. How much better a role model for our kids do the media want? Beckham? Tiger??
Agree about Roddick - he was playing his best tennis for years at Wimbledon. Also I think the media opinion softened after the AO final, when they finally realised Andy's a human being with the same emotions as everyone else. I don't care how much he mutters and yells on court, because that's what fires him up. And, yes, I do think he's a good role model for youngsters. He's gone through a really rough patch recently, but in an interview in Monte he said he hoped he'd put the "off-court" problems of recent weeks behind him (and Kim is in Monte), so maybe now he's free from these he'll give tennis his all and get back to being the player we know he can be.
I agree with Elly, Andy is a very tallented young player and this has brought him to the brink of a GS in the Us open, Wimbledon and Australia In the US open he was physically shot in the final but at Wimbledon, Roddick had more desire and in Australia, while Fed. played as only he can, Andy did not play as he can. Of course Andy wins a lot of games, he has great ability but too often Andy seems to bring his B game, while his opponent is up for a fight. Too often he has a bad habit of leaving it till he is in trouble before he seems to get motivated. There are many young players with tallent and the will to succeed, if Andy wants success he will need to find a way of not siezing up.
Agree Andy needs to start going in fighting at the beginning. He does have a habit of making life difficult for himself. He was certainly fatigued when he played in the USO final, but by his own admission, he choked because he was afraid of Federer. I'm convinced the same thing happened in the AO, but whether it was because of Federer or the importance of the occasion, I wouldn't care to guess. Whatever, this is something he really does have to overcome or else he'll simply become another "nearly man", which would be very sad.
