After missing the entire fall tennis season due to a knee injury, Andy Roddick returned with a bang and took the title at the Brisbane International, beating Radek Stepanek in the finals, 7-6 (2), 7-6 (7). Stepanek, the tournament's defending champion, nearly pushed the match to a 3rd and deciding set when he recovered from a 0-4 2nd set deficit to take a 6-5 lead. In the 2nd set breaker, Roddick squandered 5 match points, and then allowed Stepanek to hold a set point. The American then won his next 2 service points, and earned the victory on Stepanek's match-ending double-fault.
“I didn’t expect to come in and win my first tournament after a pretty extended layoff,” said the 27 year-old Roddick. “You could focus on the last 20 minutes of stress or look at the whole week.....overall I feel pretty good about it. It was weird. I don’t think I have squandered a lead where I have been putting in first serves and making approach shots. And in the breakers it was the same deal. I kept making first serves so that was helping me hold on to the last shred of sanity I had."
“I didn’t expect to come in and win my first tournament after a pretty extended layoff,” said the 27 year-old Roddick. “You could focus on the last 20 minutes of stress or look at the whole week.....overall I feel pretty good about it. It was weird. I don’t think I have squandered a lead where I have been putting in first serves and making approach shots. And in the breakers it was the same deal. I kept making first serves so that was helping me hold on to the last shred of sanity I had."
It was the 1 time Grand Slam winner's 28th ATP title and his 1st ever in Australia, earning him $63,800 in prize money.
p.s. Roddick has confirmed that both he and James Blake will be skipping this year's Davis Cup.
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