No Regrets

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Andy Roddick was on the line earlier today with handful of reporters, talking about the upcoming summer hardcourt season, known as the US Open series, in North America and what had been a very tough call for him to skip the Olympics.

‘Let me first say that it was probably one of the most difficult decisions I’ve had to make in my career,’ he said to Liz Clarke of the Washington Post. ‘You normally don’t have to choose between two huge events.

‘My decision had nothing to do with lack of respect for the Olympics or anything like that. I completely am the biggest fan of it, and I’ll be a huge fan watching it from home. It had to do more with at the end of my career I want to have been making runs in Slams.

‘So I felt the best way to do that is to play a lot in the hard-court season and get my body ready for it. Especially with everything that’s gone on. I didn’t feel like a trip to Beijing, you know, followed by playing a first round match five days later at the U.S. Open was the best preparation for Flushing.’

I asked him about the turnaround in 2004. Of course, Athens to New York is not nearly as problematic as Beijing to New York.

‘It was tough,’ he said. ‘Coming back on short notice, it was pretty tough. I think I definitely remember that. I don’t know if my body was in the greatest shape for that tournament. I was playing good tennis at the time, but I remember feeling a little bit beat up before that Open. You know, that probably played into my decision as well.’

He will catch the Olympics on TV, being a huge sports fan and is looking forward to the swimming, saying: ‘I think [Michael] Phelps’ run -- he’s always kind of an Olympic legend. He’s so young and he has a shot at so many more medals this year. I’m big into track and field and the swimming. I think those are probably the events that make the Olympics.’

Roddick, who will be playing in Los Angeles and Washington D.C. instead of the Olympics, was getting ready for this week’s Rogers Cup tournament in Toronto. And there is a big-event buzz around that event because of the post-Wimbledon lift the sport has received from the epic final between Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer.

‘I watched the first part of it,’ Roddick said. ‘I was up at my fiancée’s parents house. I got to watch the first set and a half. Then I took a flight home and got to watch the last little bit when I landed at the airport. So I actually watched the last half of it at the airport.

‘ ... There weren’t a lot of people there. I rushed off the plane and had about 20 text messages on updates from the match. I kind of just ran to the TV and settled in and watched the end of it.’

-- Lisa Dillman