I keep asking myself that question as I watch him play his early rounds. Year after year I ask myself the same question. But what about now--2007? Does he have his head on straight? :wacko: Is he still dating Maria?:wub:

I'd say that he wants to win more now than he did, say 6 months ago!

Connors has instilled a bit if tenacity, a bit of steel into A-Rod, if you like ;) He's throwing the kitchen sink into the mix, and with that attitude very few players will be able to throw the bathtub at him in return! :lol:

He threw his toys out of his pram in his match today, which shows that he is on a mission. In fact, with the withdrawal of Pim-Pim, and Lluby going out have resulted in his draw opening up up very nicely for him, even at this early stage. I'd be surprised if he didn't make at least the semis, as I think that his only likely stern opponents in his quarter are Safin and Ancic.

Re: Sharapova.. well, who only knows? :shrug: A-Rod does have quite a funny range of impersonations that he does of players at exhibitions. These include Agassi, McEnroe, Rafa, and curiously enough, Sharapova.. :whistle:

Im sorry but his brand of tennis just doenst do it for me.I have expressed this on many occasions.Its too rushed and looks awkward,I oersonally do not want to see that brash tennis being rewarded.I hope he meets Federer and gets crushed.

Apologies to anyone thats an A-ROD fan

I kind of agree. I think he makes tennis look a right mess myself, it is brash and rushed. I am not against the big serve as serve and volley is my favourite style, but Roddick isnt; a pure serve volleyer and his volleys are quite crap in the scheme of things. I mean look at how good Henamn's are in comparison, I often think it is injust that such great serves are wasted on people who lack touch and net skills. if onyl Tim had that serve, he'd be a slam winner for sure. :D

A majr criticism of roddick for me is that he appears to rush and panic a lot, and when plan A fails there is nothing to back it up. He's great when he's blasting an opponent off the court, and in front, but as soon as the pressure's on and another player gives him a bit of cat and mouse ahe seems to screw up big time. I knwo they say his game has improved, and if it has I take it all back but it bloody needs to! :D - but look at last year when Murray beat him at Wimby, he had no answer to a more clever and varied game.

The beauty of this world is in its diversity.....and the clash of styles.

I am not a big fan of Roddick's game but he is an ingredient of the best match I have seen in my life, nevermind it was a one-sided match: Wimby 2003 semi.

But I agree that I would not like to see this kind of tennis win on regular basis.

Nice to know that Im not the only one that feeels this way.I thought people would be killing ne by now.

You really cannot use Henman in this equation as he,in terme of serve and volley,is in the Sampras league.Its pure class.Roddick doesnt even look like he is volleying when he does.Its awful!

Even when he is blasting nobodies off the court it just looks like a different sport.Cleverly put there bud about how a varied game lik Murrays and Federer gives him so much trouble.Look what Nalby did to him in Shanghai!

I am in total acceptance of this as that 2003 semi was what I was told a great match if there ever was one.I need to get that DVD! This type of tennis isnt good on the eye let alone the mind because its one dimensional booming.I surely cannit accept him winning big titles with that style.I will say that if he proves to be the better player no matter who he plays then yes he can win,but thats almost a rarity for him so shame!!!!!!!!!!

Dark Necrofear - yep, you are damned right about Roddick's volleying, and I'm glad you agree about Henman's class. :ok: You are certainly not the only Roddick detractor on here and my partner is a lot less complimentary about Roddick than I could get away with typing here! roflmao I dont; hate him, he seems a nice enough bloke to me and can be quite a laugh in his interviews. I just find him very one dimensional, and whilst he caused a stir when he first emerged with his style of play, it's old hat now and things have progressed. I really would like Andy to improve and develop his game as they claim he is doing because that woudl make for some great tennis. :)

Sorry I wanted to say the 2003 semi was ONE OF the best one sided match I have ever seen and certainly not the best match I ever saw.

Opposition of style was striking. we need a black board for the chalk to be seen. Roddick was the black board that day, Federer ...the beautiful writing on the wall.

Hey, I like Roddick, though I certainly prefer Federer's style.

Andy has added some more variety to his game in recent months, in my opinion, which makes for more entertaining viewing as well.

to the actual question of the thread, I would say a definite YES! Andy is showing more determination, his game seems to have regained a little bit of the bite it had lost and Connors seems to have be having a positive influence on him.

For those that say they are not a fan of Roddicks game, I would add my agreement here. I dont mind watching him play, and he does come across as a funny guy in interviews and such like, but for someone who loves the S&V game, Roddick has little to offer. And like SB mentioned, he has a plan A and.... bugger all else!

That said, if his game is improving and he can match up to the others, I am all for a nice rivalry in the game, and hope he goes well.

Agreed! :ok:

I think that the crux of the thread was actually 'does he have the hunger back for the game?', rather than do you like the way that he plays or like him as a person?

And it safe to say that he has far more purpose about his game than he did 6 months ago.

For the record, I'm not a big fan of his game, but then I've never been keen on any player whose serve is his/ her biggest weapon.. they just win lots of free points and then finally when their serve is returned often don't have a great deal of variety to adopt a changed line of attack. I much prefer the touch players with flair who attack with creativity :)

I quite like him as a person though. He does have one thing in common with Henman though, i.e. he had the hopes of an entire nation riding on him for a long time, until Blake broke into the top 10. I recall watching some of the US coverage of Wimbledon (which in itself is just, well, weird once you're used to the beeb :huh: ) and the amount of hype that they were bestowing upon him was incredible, so OTT.. And for that he had my sympathy; at least Blake is taking some of the focus. pressure too.

Tenez, I have a copy of that 2003 SW19 semi on dvd somewhere. and after a tight first set, Roger's play was scintillating in parts.. including the most obscene mid-court drive half volley which I had never seen anyone else play before and not seen anyone else play since! :bow:

I agree Petalp, that half-volley was the shot of the century for me :lol:

Stunning control :bow:

Oh, we're talking about that jackass are we :rolleyes: roflmao

Well said Pebs :D

I personally don't like Roddick, but I think it's obvious that he's still trying his hardest to get the results and another major :ok:

I didnt want to say it roflmao

Fully agree though :lol:

i think andy roddicks passion for the game is amazing but i just dont think he is as good as he thinks he is.Too many times in big matches he gets in a lead gets cocky and then loses it.

I hope Jimmy Connors instills some quiet confidence in him. I think if he stopped caring about what all the people watching him were thinking, he could improve his game. He's kinda a showoff in my opinion. ;)

Fantastically expressed,Tenez.

Thanks Fedrules. Good to have you back. I was worried for a while. ;)

Have you ever been to Morocco by any chance?I'm going there next week and wonder what to expect.Thought,being French you might know what it's like over there.

I only went to Tanger and loved it. I know a lot of people who went there and loved it.

In fact I have had thought about living in morocco. If only I could transfer my job there.

Thanks.We're going to Fès and Marrakesch.Think I'll stick to French while I'm there as I suspect we Brits are not too popular there at the moment..Hopefully it'll be a bit less grey and windy than here in Switzerland.

I agree that Roddick doesn’t look very natural when he tries to volley, but all credit it to him for trying to adapt his game to give himself a chance of beating Federer.

Most of the players just play the way they always do when they come up against the Fed – and guess what, they lose! Just playing your usual game isn’t going to work 99 times out of 100, at least Roddick has the cojones to TRY something new.

However, am I the only one who thinks his bahaviour and attitude have got worse since his association with Connors? One thing I used to like about Roddick was his on-court demeanour, now he’s all nasty and snarling and overly aggressive – just like Connors, in fact.

Maybe that’s the trade-off, but I preferred it when he was nice loser :yikes:

Fez is really I was told. you are so lucky but in fact we have already planned a trip there for this April. Let me know how it goes. Speaking French should get you the red carpet there ;) . Great country, great people too.

I agree with everything here, especially the last bit with his aggressive attitude on court. This is why I am always more sensible to Blake as a person and a talent.

the other day we discussed how physical the game had become and I think as a results players are also much more aggressive verbally on the court with too much pressure with some turning ugly. Looking last night a bit of the older player (Grojean v Rochus) and it was refreshing to see some nice games with a gentlemen attitude on the court. Compare that with Djoko, Monfils, Roddick, Capdeville etc...there is clearly a change of mood. Looking we are heading back to the Connors/McEnroe time.

there wasn't really any 'quiet confidence' from connors when he played, i doubt he's passing it on to roddick ;)

I think Roddick's been playing pretty well recently but he's had a couple of bad losses as well - Gonzalez and Berdych in Vienna & Madrid after his USO final, and to Nalby after almost beating Federer in Shanghai.

That's why I'm not sure if he can win the AO but I think he'll do really well at Wimbledon this year. If he can keep playing the way he's been playing the last few months, he'll be a serious contender to dethrone Federer at SW19.

I really think he has a lot of catch up to do t worry Federer on grass. Grass typically sorts the naturally talented ones from the hard workers. Let's not forget that Andy played one of his best match in the last USO with a huge crowd behind him and it did not help. It was not very close either. On grass Federer is simply more agile and dextrious, able to inflict the first blows first. The only time it was close was when Federer had a big pressure of defending his first Slam. he has overcome that hurdle now and I believe only a youngster will be able to beat him on grass.

That may be true, Tenez, but Roddick doesn't need to beat Federer to win Wimbledon. As you said, Federer may lose to one of the youngsters and Roddick could take advantage of that.