Roddick's losses, Davis Cup prep and signature trivia

Not only do matches against Federer leave Roddick puzzled, but now the ATP's fines are tough to figure out, as well. Getty Images

By now it ought to be plainly obvious to the American media that Andy Roddick does not match up against Roger Federer. Two steps too slow and unable to conjure up shot-making to pressure the Fed, Roddick is limited to a big serve, which Federer reads smack on. Barring an injury or boredom, I don't see a lesser player like Roddick beating Federer. So, why do you folks in the media insist on hyping up Roddick as a contender each time they play?
-- Tye Markinson, San Jose

Hype? I could barely get a match result from Shanghai in a major American newspaper. Naturally the anti-Roddick contingent was out in full force after the Federer match. This felt a lot like "message board hot-headedness" polluting my in-box. Look, Roddick is a top five player. He competed well in his previous Shanghai matches, whereas Federer lost to gonzo Fernando Gonzalez -- this on the heels of two indoor defeats in Europe. Roddick has obviously done very little against Federer in the past, but he was talking a confidence game. To me, this is an intriguing plotline. To me, this is a match I'd like to watch.

I don't recall a tremendous amount of "hype." I certainly don't recall any media accounts predicting that Roddick would win. I'm the first to admit the American media can tend to prop up unworthy players because of their nationality. But to listen to some of you guys, Roddick is the male Anna Kournikova. Is he Federer's equal? Hardly. Nadal's equal. Nope. But he's not exactly an imposter either.

As long as we're blowing Roddick kisses, any of you catch his rant last week in Shanghai? Can't recall the last time an athlete showed this kind of common sense: "So I have a little bit of a problem that has been bothering me --interested to know other people's thoughts. So during my match in Lyon I was feeling the effects of a previous injury a bit and also tweaked my right ankle a bit. I pulled out of Paris knowing that I needed to get back to heal and spend the next eight days putting a bunch of work into leg fitness training in Austin to make sure I was healthy for Shanghai and Davis Cup. I felt like I was getting some of these annoying injuries because I had not had a window to really work on my fitness. Anyways, I got fined 20 grand for not going to Paris. In order to avoid the fine I would have had to stay in France for four or five days to fulfill media obligations for the tourney. To stay there for an extra four days when I only had a 10-day window to train/recover did not seem like the right thing to do before Shanghai. I thought it was a smarter play to be at home with my doctors and trainers preparing to make sure I was healthy for Masters, which by the way is an ATP-run event...so I get fined 20 large, which is a flawed system, but I have gotten used to it -- fine, put it on my tab -- I read three days later that Nikolay Davydenko has been fined two grand for not trying in a match. I am not here to say he did or did not try in that match. I didn't see it .. just heard about it. The thing that got me was the two grand fine. In essence they are setting the precedent that preparing and getting healthy for their year-end event is worth a 20 grand fine, but tanking -- again I have no opinion on guilt or innocence here -- only warrants two grand. Taking care of injuries and health to be prepared for their event 20 grand.. not trying equals two grand. Anyone else see a problem with this?"

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