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Roddick unhappy with "jackass" fan
Andy Roddick admitted an unruly fan had disrupted his concentration at a crucial moment on Friday.
Andy Roddick admitted an unruly fan had disrupted his concentration at a crucial moment after he was beaten in the Australian Open semi-finals by Lleyton Hewitt on Friday.
Roddick praised the behaviour of local spectators who had barracked fiercely for Australian hope Hewitt, bidding to become the first home-grown champion since Mark Edmondson in 1976.
But the American lashed out at a lone fan who had called out just as he attempted to hold serve while trailing 4-3 in the third set of his 4-6, 7-6 (7/3), 7-6 (7/4), 6-1 defeat.
Roddick's service was broken on a double-fault, handing Hewitt a 5-3 lead, and the American's frustration was all too apparent as he protested to the chair umpire.
"Just when you toss the ball up, the guy was feeling a little ambitious with his talking," said Roddick. "But that's stuff you have to expect and stuff you have to deal with. You know, it's unfortunate. But it's part of sports."
Roddick, the 2003 US Open champion, said he had no problem with Hewitt's cheer squad, known as 'the fanatics', who attend all of the Australian's games.
"They're totally respectful. I think they're great. They do their chants, but when you step up to the line, they always stop," Roddick said.
"The crowd was great tonight. They're really well-behaved considering how much they're pulling for one person. It just took one jackass to yell out."
Roddick said he was most disappointed with his own performance after blowing a 3-0 lead in the second set and failing to win either of the two tiebreaks.
"It was weird because I'd been serving so well, then I didn't win a point on serve in the first one. And the second one, I had a couple good looks and just missed them," said Roddick, who thundered down 31 aces during the contest.
"I'm pissed off. I felt like I was in there with a shot. I'm normally pretty money in breakers. To lose two like that, when either one of them would have given me a distinct advantage, it's disappointing."
And Roddick acknowledged that with the exit of overwhelming favourite and world number one Roger Federer in the other semi-final to Marat Safin he had started thinking that his second grand slam was there for the taking.
"I mean, obviously it was an opportunity for one of us to sneak in and win one," Roddick said. "It's obviously the mindset I had coming into today."
