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Roddick happy to fly under the radar at Wimbledon
2008-06-15
LONDON (AFP) - Andy Roddick insists he is happy to go into Wimbledon as an underdog after Rafael Nadal ended his reign at Queen's. Roddick knows Nadal, Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic will all be ahead of him in the pre-Wimbledon betting, but the American doesn't care if he's written off because he is convinced he can still mount a serious challenge for the title. After being over-powered 7-5, 6-4 by Nadal in the semi-finals at Queen's, Roddick acknowledged he needs more time on court following his five-week lay-off with a shoulder injury. "I wish I could have obviously been hitting a little bit more. It's just something you deal with," he said. "It's definitely not a perfect scenario going into this tournament. But you do the best you can. "To be honest, I got about what I wanted out of it. I was coming in short on practice. I hadn't really played much at all. I hadn't even served hardly. "I wanted to come here, get some matches in, leave healthy. I feel that that's what I've done and now I have a week of preparation for Wimbledon." Despite missing out on valuable time on the grass courts when Mardy Fish and Andy Murray pulled out on matches against him, the former US Open champion still expects to make his presence felt at the All-England Club in a tournament he believes could be more open than ever. "I don't really pay attention to people saying I'm off the radar. I don't crave the attention or need the attention or anything like that. I just want to go in and try to put one foot in front of the other and get through some matches there," he said. "It should be very exciting. Roger's certainly the favourite until someone knocks him off. But there's probably maybe some more conversation this year than there has been in years past. It will be a fun fortnight." Roddick's hopes of winning a record fifth title at Queen's were ended in emphatic style as the reigning champion was dethroned by Nadal, but he won't dwell for long on the end of his dominance in west London. "They never actually gave me a crown. They let me hold up the trophy for about 30 seconds every year! That's about the extent of it," he joked.
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