Roddick/Hewitt

Posted by Bess: I was really looking forward to last night's Roddick/Hewitt match-up. It recalled the days of yore, when these two seemingly locked horns at every turn. Their similar on-court personalities, intensity and fight made for some compelling matches. And it didn't hurt that they seemed to (at least mildly) dislike each other.

Those matches also afforded me the rare opportunity to root 100 percent, without reservation, for Roddick.

Did I mention I'm not a Hewitt fan? I rarely root against players, but for some reason he's the exception. That doesn't mean I don't feel for what he's been through to try to extend a career long past its prime and suffering numerous injuries and surgeries in an attempt to put the pieces back together. I can't even imagine how frustrating it must be to not be able to perform to your potential for (ostensibly) no fault of your own.

But on court, I'm completely fine with him losing.

I think a lot of people were excited for this match. It was last up on Rod Laver Arena, meaning it began at about 3:45 a.m. my time. I was awake and alert. Ready for the action. It was a mildly entertaining and quick first set, which Andy won with relative ease.

At that point I started to get sleepy. Turns out I dozed through the part where Andy got injured. I woke up to hear the commentators saying Andy was off court having an injury treated. I saw him come back out, and saw Hewitt go up 2-0 in the second set. Andy seemed tentative, but not terribly affected by his injury.

Annnnd... then I fell asleep.

Imagine my surprise when I woke up to hear the commentators saying, "If you're Hewitt, you don't want to have to win a match this way." and "What a disappointment for Andy." I got to see Andy walking off the court, with the score reflecting Hewitt up, 2 sets to 1. Andy had retired.

Evidently after he lost the third set he knew he'd have to grind out two more sets in order to win the match and with the injury he just wasn't up for it.

I feel bad for Andy. Not at all the way you want to start the season. I also feel a little let down since I was hoping for a next round match-up between Roddick and Raonic. I think that could have been great! With Roddick out of that match, Raonic is the clear favorite over Hewitt in a match that suddenly holds much less interest for me.

And while I'm not exactly sure how I felt about the mixed doubles pairing of Serena and Roddick, I'm bummed we most likely won't get to witness that in Melbourne. At the very least I bet the press conferences would have been entertaining!

Godspeed, Andy. I hope you're on the mend soon.