Line judge provokes Roddick wrath

 

Originally published on: 26/02/10 13:01

Wimbledon runner-up Roddick posted a 6-1 6-4 6-4 win over Dutchman Thiemo de Bakker, maintaining the form which saw him win the Brisbane International, but the American was scathing with his criticism of the line judge whose foot he tripped over early in the match as he raced to make a return.

He told the official to “move out of the way when you see a player coming” and later expanded on his thoughts, saying: “I ran into one of those immovable objects called a referee (line judge). He wasn’t giving up any ground. I didn’t see him. He wasn’t really trying to do much to get out of the way.”

He added: “Normally they see a player running full speed, they decide to at least move or catch the player.”

Fortunately Roddick, who returned to action this month following a knee problem, did not suffer a recurrence of his injury, admitting he had merely “pinched” the knee.

“I promise you that first step afterwards was a relief,” he said. “It kind of jarred a little bit. But it’s a good sign that I can take that.”

Eleventh seed Fernando Gonzalez did not have such a smooth run, but the Chilean was ultimately too strong for Belgium’s Olivier Rochus and prevailed 6-3 6-4 3-6 6-1.

Czech player Radek Stepanek, seeded 13th, became the first major casualty in the men’s event but his 2-6 7-6 (7/5) 6-4 3-6 6-4 defeat to big-serving Croatian Ivo Karlovic was not a huge upset.

Croatia’s Ivan Ljubicic overcame Australian Jason Kubler, the 24th seed, 6-1 6-2 6-2, and an all-German first-round tie provided the comeback story of the day.

Philipp Petzschner appeared in complete control of his match against Florian Meyer when he won the first two sets for the loss of just two games. However, the tussle turned around and Meyer won it 0-6 2-6 6-4 6-2 6-2.

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