Andy Roddick

Andy Roddick can serve a ball 155 miles per hour, faster than anyone in the history of professional tennis. For that reason, and one or two others (the 25-year-old’s forehand is good, he’s good-looking), he just got engaged to a 20-year-old bikini model named Brooklyn—you may remember her from the last two Sports Illustrated swimsuit issues. And, less noisily, he just bought his first Manhattan apartment.

The condo, at East 22nd Street near Gramercy Park, was listed for $1.195 million with Elliman’s Tamir Shemesh, who wouldn’t comment. According to his listings, the apartment is in an old brewery, which seems proper for a 20-something athlete.  read more »

Roger Federer once again proved himself unstoppable, but Andy Roddick played incredibly well.

Start with these total stats for both players:

Winners: 90

Unforced: 42

Doubles: 0

"It was great tennis," said Federer.

"I didn't make mistakes," said Roddick. "If he hits a 140, hits the back of the line, you know, whatever."  read more »

Tonight, Andy Roddick and Roger Federer will square off in what is perhaps the most uneven rivalry in tennis.(Federer leads the head-to-head, 13-1). Roddick said that he knows expectations are low.

But Roddick is looking good—he hasn’t dropped a set in the Open—and Federer has lost two first sets (wow!) in this tournament.

I asked one my favorite experts, Jon Wertheim, for his take on the match.  read more »

To listen to Andy Roddick over the last two weeks, you'd think he was closer to the end of his career than the beginning. He said before the Open began, "I still feel like I have another Slam in me. At least that's what I'm shooting for."

Then he said this today about his potential quarterfinal date with Roger Federer: "I'm excited. I expect a lot of myself. I don't think anybody else really expects much from me."  read more »

Andy Roddick moves to the quarterfinals after Tomas Berdych retired in the second set. It's the second time an opponent has retired against Roddick at the Open. Roddick has yet to drop a set and it's leading one to wonder: Could he give Federer a fight in the quarters?  

Svetlana Kuznetsova won easily in straights and advances to the quarters where she'll take on Agnes Szavay who also won today in straight sets. Aggie Radwanska is down a set against Israeli Shahar Peer in a fourth-round match at Armstrong.

Labor Day Match of the Day: Andy Roddick versus Tomas Berdych. Neither player has dropped a set in this tournament and the winner will be rewarded with a quarterfinals match against Roger Federer. Tommy Haas and James Blake have both endured bloody lead-ins and they’ll clash this afternoon.

The women’s bottom draw will get clearer tonight: the upstart Israeli Shahar Peer will take on the upstart Pole Aggie Radwanska.

It’s the hotly anticipated match of the first week. Federer v. Isner: The giant of tennis versus the boy giant.

It’s not really a matter if Isner can beat Federer -- no one thinks that -- but about how good a fight the young American can put up. Everyone seems to agree that Isner could be a headache.

“John probably has a game that can make Roger a little bit more uncomfortable than most people just because you can go game sometimes without hitting a ball,” said Andy Roddick when asked about the match.  read more »

Andy Roddick held an entertaining birthday-edition press conference yesterday.

Two points of interest from it: (1) He had a message for Rafael Nadal, who complained that the hard-court season is too long, which he blamed for causing his tendinitis.

"You play seven months a year on clay if you want to. I'm not going to throw a pity party by any means."

(2) Reporters yesterday were quietly questioning Richard Gasquet's dedication to the game due to his withdraw because of a fever. Roddick said if he were sick, he'd play.

"If you're sick, I don't feel like that's going to get worse. I feel like that's a short-term thing. I'd probably go out there and give it a go."

Happy Birthday, Andy Roddick! The 2003 U.S. Open Champ turned 25 today and won after Jose Acasuso retired after the third set. Other ranked straight sets winners today: Tomas Berdych, Anna Chakvetadze and Nadia Petrova. Svetlana Kuznetsova and Andy Murray both needed to go the distance to win their matches.

Men's no. 14 Guillermo Canas was upset today and Tommy Haas is down a set, which you can track here.

Maria Sharapova and James Blake play tonight.

I ran into celeb-coach Brad Gilbert -- the man who resurrected Andre Agassi's career and led Andy Roddick to his only Grand Slam -- and asked him for his thoughts on how to beat the rarely beatable Roger Federer.

"I coach [Andy] Murray, so the advice is in here," he said, tapping his head. "Won't give that away."

Was there anything he could tell us? Anything at all?

"No. Not about somebody that my guy can potentially play. I don't want [Federer] to read about it. Andy might have to play against him, so I don't want him to see or read nothing."

Okay!

Welcome to the New York Observer's U.S. Open blog.

For the next 14 days, Spencer Morgan and I will be in and around the Billie Jean King Tennis Center in Flushing gathering stories, game analysis and observations from the tournament.

Stay with us, and please keep in touch (as often as you like) about what we’re doing and what else you’d like to see. We’ll do our best to oblige.  read more »

Roddick loves the nightlife! The prospect of beating his long-time nemesis, Roger Federer, is not the only thing Andy Roddick is looking forward to at this U.S. Open. It's playing ... under the stars! From Reuters:

"It's probably my favorite tournament as far as the electricity in the air," he said. "I've had a lot of night matches there and it's just something you look forward to."  read more »

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