YEARS 2000 THROUGH 2005
Roddick's breakthrough year was in 2003, in which he defeated Younes El Aynaoui in the quarterfinals of 2003 Australian Open. Roddick and the Moroccan battled for five hours, with the fifth set being one for the record books. The 21-19 set in favor of Roddick was the longest fifth set in a Grand Slam tournament during the open era, at 2 hours 23 minutes. (This was beaten in 2007 during a Wimbledon men's doubles second round match, when Brazilians Marcelo Melo and Andre Sa beat Paul Hanley of Australia and Kevin Ullyett of Zimbabwe in a 3 hour 5 minute 28-26 fifth set.) Both players maintained exceptional unforced errors-to-winners ratios and high quality of play even at the closing stages of the match. Despite a lackluster French Open, Roddick enjoyed success in in the United Kingdom by winning Queen's Club and reaching the Wimbledon semifinals where he lost to eventual champion Roger Federer in straight sets.

Roddick's hardcourt record in 2003 included his first Masters Series titles – coming at Canada and Cincinnati – and his first Grand Slam title. At the U.S. Open, Roddick rallied from two sets down and a match point against him in the semifinals to beat David Nalbandian. He then defeated Juan Carlos Ferrero in the final 6–3, 7–6, 6–3. By the end of the year, at age 21, he was ranked No. 1, the first American to finish a year at No. 1 since Andre Agassi in 1999. He also became the youngest American to hold this rank since computer rankings were started in 1973.

Roddick was unexpectedly knocked out of the 2004 U.S. Open in a five set quarterfinal against another big server, Joachim Johansson. At the 2004 Summer Olympics, Roddick lost to Chilean Fernando González, the eventual bronze medal winner, in the third round. Later that year, Roddick teamed up with Mardy Fish and Bob and Mike Bryan on the U.S. Davis Cup team that lost to Spain in the final in Seville. Roddick lost his singles match against Rafael Nadal, who would in the following year win the French Open. By the end of 2004, Roddick fired his coach of 18 months, Brad Gilbert, and hired assistant Davis Cup coach Dean Goldfine. Roddick finished 2004 ranked as the world's No. 2, the U.S.'s No. 1, and the player with the most aces (1017).

Roddick displayed his strong character when he saved fellow tennis player Sjeng Schalken and other guests from a Hotel fire back in 2004. He demonstrated even more bravery, also saving close friends Ben Campezi and Dean Monroe from the fire.[5]

Roddick's first 2005 tournament victory was the SAP Open in San Jose, California, where he was the first to win the event in consecutive years since Mark Philippoussis in 1999 and 2000. The top-seeded Roddick defeated Cyril Saulnier 6–0, 6–4 in 50 minutes, the event's first championship shutout set since Arthur Ashe beat Guillermo Vilas in 1975. In April, Roddick won the U.S. Men's Claycourt Championships, reclaiming the title he won in 2001 and 2002. (He lost in 2003 to Agassi and in 2004 to Tommy Haas.) In May 2005, Roddick had match point against Spanish big-hitter Fernando Verdasco. Verdasco was serving, attempting to save the match point on his second serve, when the linesman erroneously called the serve out. If this call had held, Roddick would have won the match. Roddick motioned to the umpire, pointing to the clear ball mark on the clay indicating the ball was in and the call was consequently changed. Verdasco went on to win the match. Many in the American media echoed sentiments such as Roddick had chosen "sportsmanship over a win." However, by Roddick's own admission, the umpire would certainly have come down from his chair since Verdasco was about to challenge the call anyway, and would have been able to see the clear ball mark indicating that the serve was in. Roddick said that he was just saving the umpire a trip.

At the 2005 French Open, Roddick lost to the unseeded Argentine Jose Acasuso in the second round, and at Wimbledon 2005, Roddick lost to Roger Federer in the final for the second consecutive year. At the 2005 U.S. Open, Roddick was defeated by World No. 70 Gilles Müller in the first round. Roddick's last U.S. Open first round loss had been in 2000. At the Grand Prix de Tennis de Lyon in 2005, Roddick defeated Gaël Monfils to wrap up a tournament without losing a set or getting his serve broken. Even though he reached the Wimbledon final and Australian Open semifinals, TENNIS Magazine and others criticized Roddick's poor game in 2005.

YEAR 2007
Roddick defeated Roger Federer to defend his AAMI Kooyong Classic title in Melbourne before the Australian Open. Roddick entered the 2007 Australian Open as the sixth seed. In his first round match, he lost a marathon first set tiebreak 20-18 but eventually won the match in four sets against wild card Jo-Wilfried Tsonga from France. Roddick defeated 26th seeded Marat Safin in the third round and 9th seeded Mario Ancic in a five set fourth round match. Roddick won his quarterfinal match against fellow American Mardy Fish 6–2, 6–2, 6–2 but was defeated by Federer 6–4, 6–0, 6–2 in the semifinals, making his head-to-head record against Federer 1-13.

In first round Davis Cup action, Roddick helped the U.S. defeat the Czech Republic, winning both of his singles matches against Ivo Minar and Tomas Berdych.

Roddick reached at least the semifinals of his next two tournaments. He bowed out to Andy Murray in the semifinals of the SAP Open in San Jose, California, a reprise of 2006. Roddick then defeated Murray in the semifinals of the Regions Morgan Keegan Championships and the Cellular South Cup in Memphis, Tennessee before losing in the final to defending champion Tommy Haas 6–3, 6–2. Reaching the final, however, enabled Roddick to overtake Nikolay Davydenko for the World No. 3 position, his first week inside the top three since March 6, 2006.

At the first ATP Masters Series tournament of the year, Roddick reached the semifinals of the Pacific Life Open in Indian Wells, California, where he lost to Rafael Nadal 6–4, 6–3. Roddick then played the Sony Ericcson Open in Key Biscayne, Florida, where he retired from his quarterfinal match against Murray due to a left hamstring injury. Roddick then helped the U.S. defeat Spain and advance to the Davis Cup semifinals, winning his lone singles match against Fernando Verdasco 7–6(5), 6–1, 6–4.

However, Roddick re-aggravated his hamstring injury during the Davis Cup tie and was subsequently forced to pull out of the U.S. Men's Clay Court Championships in Houston, Texas. Roddick also announced that he would withdraw from the Monte Carlo Masters, citing this injury.

His next tournament was at the Internazionali d'Italia in Rome. After a first round bye, he won his first match against Gaston Gaudio where he saved all three break points and fired nine aces. However, he was unable to stop Juan Ignacio Chela in the third round, losing 6–0, 6–4.

Roddick then withdrew from the Masters Series Hamburg tournament because, according to his website, he needed time to prepare physically for the French Open. Roddick was seeded third at the French Open tournament, but he was eliminated in the first round by Russian Igor Andreev in four sets.

Roddick was victorious at the Stella Artois Championships for the fourth time when he defeated Nicolas Mahut in the final 4–6, 7–6(7), 7–6(2).

At Wimbledon, Roddick was seeded third and considered one of the pre-tournament favorites behind Federer and Nadal. He reached the quarterfinals after wins against Justin Gimelstob of the U.S., Danai Udomchoke of Thailand, Fernando Verdasco of Spain, and Paul-Henri Mathieu of France. In the quarterfinals Roddick lost in five sets to Richard Gasquet of France 4–6, 4–6, 7–6(2), 7–6(3), 8–6.

During the summer hardcourt season, Roddick played four tournaments in four weeks. Roddick made it to the semifinals of the Indianapolis Tennis Championships, where he was upset by Frank Dancevic of Canada 6–4, 7–6(1). The next week, however, Roddick claimed his second ATP title of the year by winning the Legg Mason Tennis Classic in Washington D.C for the third time when he beat American newcomer John Isner 6–4, 7–6(4). He then lost in the quarterfinals of the Rogers Cup in Montreal to Novak Ðokovic and in the third round of the Western & Southern Financial Group Masters tournament in Cincinnati, Ohio to David Ferrer of Spain.

At the U.S. Open, Roddick defeated Gimelstob in the first round 7–6(6), 6–3, 6–3. He won his next three matches easily, one in straight sets and the other two when his opponent retired. In the quarterfinals, Roddick once again lost to Federer 7–6, 7–6, 6–2 with no breaks of serve and only one break point total in the first two sets, that being on Federer's serve.

Two weeks later, Roddick anchored the U.S. Davis Cup team during its 4–1 semifinal defeat of Sweden. Roddick won both his singles matches, opening the tie with a defeat of Joachim Johansson 7–6(4), 7–6(3), 6–3 and clinching it with a 6–2, 7–6(3), 6–4 victory over Jonas Bjorkman. This is the ninth time in nine tries that Roddick has clinched a tie for the American team.

Roddick's next tournament was supposed to be the Madrid Masters, but he pulled out, citing a knee injury. At his next tournament two weeks later in Lyon, France, Roddick lost in the first round to Fabrice Santoro of France 7–6(5), 2–6, 6–4. Roddick then withdrew from the Paris Masters, incurring a U.S.$20,000 fine for not fulfilling his media obligations at the tournament.

At the season ending Tennis Masters Cup in Shanghai, Roddick defeated Davydenko, the World No. 4, 6–3, 4–6, 6–2 in his first round-robin match and then defeated Fernando Gonzalez in his next match to become the first player to qualify for the semifinals of the tournament. In his third and final round-robin match, Roddick lost once again to Roger Federer 6–4, 6–2 for the 15th time in 16 career matches. In the semifinals, Roddick lost to Ferrer 6–1, 6–3, who had won all three of his round-robin matches. This was Roddick's third semifinal finish out of the last five years at the Tennis Masters Cup (semifinals in 2003 and 2004, withdrew in 2005, and failed to advance to the semifinals in 2006 after a 1–2 round-robin record).

Roddick finished the year by helping the United States defeat Russia and win the 2007 Davis Cup, its 32nd Davis Cup victory but first since 1995. Roddick won his rubber against Dmitry Tursunov 6–4, 6–4, 6–2 before James Blake and Bob and Mike Bryan completed the victory. Having secured the tie with an unassailable 3–0 lead, Roddick decided to sit out his second singles match of the tie.

YEAR 2008
Roddick started 2008 strongly, defeating Croatian Ivan Ljubicic 6–3, 6–0 and Russian Marat Safin 6–3, 6–3 to reach AAMI Kooyong Classic final for four consecutive seasons. In the final, he defeated Marcos Baghdatis 7–5, 6–3 to win the tournament for three consecutive years.

Roddick was seeded sixth in the 2008 Australian Open. In the first round, he defeated Lukas Dlouhy from Czech Republic 6–3, 6–4, 7–5. In the second round, he then defeated German Michael Berrer 6–2, 6–2, 6–4. Roddick lost to the number 29 seed Philipp Kohlschreiber of Germany in the third round in 5 sets: 4–6, 6–3, 6–7, 7–6, 6–8. Despite losing, Roddick served a career high of 42 aces.

Roddick won his 24th career title and his 3rd title at the SAP Open in San Jose, California. He defeated Czech Republic Radek Stepanek in straight sets, 6–4, 7–5.

Roddick's next tournament was the Dubai Tennis Championships. He made it to the semi-finals by defeating Rafael Nadal of Spain 7–6(5), 6–2, his first victory over Nadal since the second round of the 2004 US Open. This win also marked Roddick's first victory over a player ranked in the top two since June 2003. He progressed through to the finals by defeating World No.3 and 2008 Australian Open Singles Champion Novak Djokovic 7–6(5), 6–3 in the semi-final. By making it to the final, he became the first American to reach the Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships final in the tournament's 16 year history. In the final he defeated Feliciano Lopez 6–7(8), 6–4, 6–2, to win his 25th career title.

Following Roddick's quarterfinal match in Dubai, he announced that he had split with his coach of two years, Jimmy Connors. Connors had resigned a week earlier, saying he wanted to spend more time with his family.[7] Roddick will continue to be coached by his brother, John Roddick. Roddick then fell to former Number 2-ranked German Tommy Haas at the Indian Wells Masters in the 2nd round, 6–4, 6–4.

Recently Roddick announced that he will not play in the 2008 Summer Olympics, in order to concentrate on the 2008 US Open.

At the 2008 Miami Masters, Roddick advanced to the semifinals after defeating Federer 7-6, 4-6, 6-3 an hour after proposing to Brooklyn Decker, bringing his head to head record against Federer to 2-15. Roddick improved to 3-0 against top 3 players in 2008. Roddick lost in the semi-finals to Davydenko 6-7(5), 2-6. Roddick's next tournament was the Masters tournament in Rome. There he equaled his best result by reaching the semifinals, where he retired against Stanislas Wawrinka in the pair's first encounter due to a back injury.

Roddick was forced to pull out of the 2008 French Open due to a shoulder injury. After a visit to a doctor in New York it was determined this was nothing more than an inflamation of the rotator cuff. He next plans to play the Artois Championship, his annual Wimbledon preparation.

Last Updated: 7th June 2008

Credit: Wikipedia