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Roddick comes of age French Open victory over Chang is one to savor
Eighteen-year-old Andy Roddick became a man at Roland Garros. A second-round victory over fellow American Michael Chang on Wednesday took Roddick to a new level of maturity, both as a tennis player and as an individual. Playing through severe cramps in a dramatic fifth set showed that the teenager is something special. Even if Roddick had lost, the tennis world would have loved him. But to rise above the pain and gut out a victory against a former French Open champion -- and one of the tour's shrewdest veterans -- was truly magnificent. Roddick resembled a contortionist as he reacted in agony after hitting every shot during the last 30 minutes of the four-hour marathon. Chang knows all too well the problem of playing with cramps, having been stricken as a 17-year-old when he faced Ivan Lendl in the 1989 French Open semifinals. The Chinese-American was somehow able to beat Lendl on the way to winning his one and only Grand Slam title. When Roddick's body gave out in their match, Chang cleverly angled off his serves, kept the rallies long and tried to hit behind his opponent.
The plan seemed to work until Roddick started to go for broke. And with some sweetly timed winners and a little luck, he was able to win his first-ever five-set match. How coincidental that Roddick's victory came in the manner that it did against a one-time teen prodigy who has also had such memorable moments on the red clay of Paris. It's almost as if the pair were destined to oppose each other in a Grand Slam. But Roddick has the potential to be a much more dominant player than the counter-punching Chang, who enjoyed great success on the tour despite a relatively limited range of shots. Roddick's massive serve and powerful forehand took him comfortably through the second and third sets against Chang. However, he did sometimes run into difficulty with a rather erratic backhand that contributed to many of his unforced errors. He simply went for too much and often hit long. Even so, Roddick made a big impression with all the Parisians who stayed until after 9 p.m. local time to see his emotional reaction after overcoming Chang. With tears in his eyes, the former junior star threw his hat and spare racquet into the crowd, and ripped his shirt in the style of Andrew Ilie . "A-Rod" will continue to have his ups and downs, but he's just what tennis needs. He gets an "A" for attitude, an "A" for ability and an "A" for heart. Australian-born Jason Dasey is co-host of World Sport, the international sports show that airs live on CNN/Sports Illustrated and CNN International.
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