Help
3/6/09 5:42 AM | Ricky Dimon
Andy Roddick and unheralded Marco Chiudinelli will square off in the second singles rubber on Friday afternoon in Birmingham, Alabama. It will be their first career head-to-head encounter.
Andy Roddick won't get another shot at Roger Federer, who is nursing a back injury, in this weekend's Davis Cup tie between Switzerland and the United States in Birmingham, Alabama. Instead of playing Federer for the 19th time, he will meet Marco Chiudinelli for the first time in their careers.
Chiudinelli, needless to say, is no Roger Federer. In fact, Federer has almost as many Grand Slam titles (13) as Chiudinelli has ATP match victories (16). In fairness to Chiudinelli, he was approaching the Top 100 in 2005 and 2006, but he has missed most of the past two seasons with injuries. So far in 2009, the Swiss has two relatively impressive performances. Twice Chiudinelli has qualified for the main draws of ATP events and advanced to the second round. That happened most recently in Dubai, where Chiudinelli upset Ivo Karlovic in a third-set tiebreaker before falling to Fabrice Santoro in a decisive 'breaker.
In Roddick, the 341st-ranked Chiudinelli is facing a whole different beast. Roddick, back up to No. 6 in the world, is in stellar form this season under new coach Larry Stefanki. He finished runner-up to Andy Murray in Doha and reached the semifinals of the Australian Open, taking out Novak Djokovic in the quarters before falling to Federer. America's top player has also appeared in the final weekend of his past two ATP tournaments. Roddick lost to Radek Stepanek in the San Jose semifinals, but got revenge on Stepanek in the Memphis title match.
The only real good news for Chiudinelli is that he has absolutely nothing to lose. All the pressure is on Roddick, while the Swiss team will be relying on Stanislas Wawrinka to provide a singles point (over James Blake) on Friday. Chiudinelli just needs to go out and swing away with wreckless abandon. Roddick, however, has everything else going for him: the crowd, indoor hard courts, and outstanding current form. He should definitely be able to finish this in straight sets.
Tell a friend »
Scan QR code to access Unibet mobile.
Bet on Sports wherever you are and whenever you like, with Unibet's quick and simple mobile client you can place bets, check results and see live odds.
For more info about QR codes & scanners click here.
Contact us
/ About us
/ Cookies
/ Recommended links
/ Advertise
/ Sitemap
Tennistalk v1.5.0
Disclaimer © 2001-2012, Moneytainment Media Ltd - All rights reserved
Roddick's almost sure to win..But ALLEZ SUISSE!
janhavi , 3/6/09 10:21 AM