Injury Leaves Roddick Down Under and Out

The sight of Andy Roddick limping off the court at Grand Slam tournaments is becoming a well-worn image.

You could call him the King of Pain, but here at the all-injured Australian Open, there is plenty of competition.

Roddick, who already hurt his right ankle in his opening match, re-injured the same one again in a serious-looking tumble against Ivan Ljubicic of Croatia today in their first set tiebreaker.

The 13th-seeded Roddick lost the tiebreaker, 13-11, and was having major difficulty moving in the second. On the final changeover, instead of sitting, he shook hands with Ljubicic and withdrew.

Roddick maintained his composure, signing autographs as he left Vodafone Arena. But tears flowed as the 19-year-old headed to the locker room, and Roddick was said to be disconsolate. One official likened the locker room to “a morgue.”

Ljubicic, who advanced, 7-6 (11), 3-2, reached the third round of a Grand Slam for the first time. Not long after the Roddick drama unfolded, No. 8 Pete Sampras found himself in the midst of a difficult second-round test against Juan Ignacio Chela of Argentina, winning 6-3, 7-5, 3-6, 6-4, in Rod Laver Arena. Chela fought back, winning the third, 6-3, in 31 minutes.

With Roddick’s departure, there are four American men remaining--qualifier Alex Kim, wild-card entrant Taylor Dent, veteran Todd Martin and Sampras.

“It’s pretty crushing,” Roddick said. “It’s happened a little too much and it’s just really disheartening. I sprained my ankle the first night and I was able to play through on adrenaline. I had it taped almost like a cast, it affected my movement. Then I did it again. I asked the trainer to come out. He said, ‘If your ankle is so weak, it’s turning in that thing, there’s risk of long-term damage if you play again.’”

Roddick said he has sprained his ankles several times through the last six months. At the French Open last year in the third round, he had a hard fall on the clay and was forced to retire in the third set against Lleyton Hewitt with a strained left hamstring. Before the Hewitt match, he had severe cramps against Michael Chang but managed to win.

Now, adding to his frustration is the fact that he worked hard during the off-season on his physical conditioning only to have his ankle give way twice in two matches.

“Now I’m sick of it, fed up,” he said. “I want to find a long-term solution.... I’m really running out of answers. I’m as confused as anybody.”

Ljubicic said he was surprised Roddick retired and told him he was sorry about his difficulties when they shook hands.

“I hope he is gonna be OK,” he said. “Again, he fell on the same ankle. When you do something twice it can be very bad. We know physically that he’s very fragile. Unfortunately, he has a lot of problems, but that’s tennis, these days, if you see how many players are calling the trainer these days, it’s ridiculous.”

The tumble came at a time when the level of shot-making hit a high point in the tiebreaker.

Neither player double-faulted before the tiebreaker. Ljubicic fought off three break points, and Roddick did not face a single break point. Roddick went down on his own set point, his third, as he ran wide for a forehand and the ankle gave way.

As he hit the court, Roddick grabbed at his ankle, tumbling on the often-sticky Rebound Ace surface. He took time to compose himself at the back of the court and had enough to fight off three set points before Ljubicic took it with a backhand winner to grab the 49-minute set.

“I think it was one of my best matches,” he said. “I was very aggressive from the beginning, I wasn’t expecting he wasn’t going to finish the match. I think I played a very good first set, and a good start in the second. I didn’t expect he was going to give up. I was really sorry because it was becoming a nice match. I’m sure we’re going to play a lot more matches because we’re both young guys.”

The immediate future is uncertain for Roddick. He will have the ankle examined here and then later at home in Florida. His appearance against Slovakia early next month in the first round of the Davis Cup would have to be considered questionable.

Despite the short-term and larger implications, Roddick managed to make a wry joke at his own expense when he spoke about how he has sprained his ankles.

“I like to divide it between the two,” he said. “One gets jealous, so I have to sprain the other one.”