©Colette Lewis 2005--
The controversy in the Andy Roddick-Olivier Rochus match in Belgium will rage, and anyone who saw it must admit the home team was robbed. It is so infuriating to me that Brad Gilbert and Cliff Drysdale and everyone watching ESPN2 knew it was the wrong call--to the point of their spending five minutes trying to determine just what the umpire and the linesperson could possibly be discussing--and yet no one at the Sportplaza could be as sure. Why should spectators at home be privy to superior information? Get the call right. By whatever means necessary.
And I am incredulous that, on the USTA website, an AP report dares to describe this point in the match as:
The match turned Roddick's way in the fifth set when Rochus missed the easiest of volleys to give the American a 4-2 lead. The Belgians disputed the call but finally relented.It sounds like the reporter had already left the arena for dinner and had gotten this interpretation from a friend of a friend who might have been there. Reuters provides an accurate account here.
As for Roddick and McEnroe, well, let's just say it wasn't their finest moment either. Where was the Roddick who conceded a match point in Rome this year, costing himself a win? He watched the Rochus overhead, and went to receive serve, saying in that movement that he knew it was good. Perhaps it is a bit much to ask that he concede the point when there's teammates involved, and he's been running on heart and guts for four plus hours-- that's when he needs to take his cue from the captain, who is there to provide some emotional stability in the highly-charged Davis Cup atmosphere. Granted, McEnroe didn't make the mistake--it was the linesperson and the umpire doing the disheartening damage--but he certainly took advantage of it, and that's probably the reason everyone on the U.S. team seems to want to forget the whole ugly mess as soon as possible.
As I watched Alex Clayton and Sam Querrey on the sidelines, I wondered just what it is the two juniors had learned from the match. The will and the fortitude of two terrific tennis players competing with their last ounce of energy? Or that the clamor for a win can drown out that little voice telling us to do the right thing?