Andy Roddick out of US Open
September 02, 2010 10:23:23 UK
Andy Roddick has been knocked out of the US Open by Serbia's Janko Tipsarevic, losing 3-6 7-5 6-3 7-6 (7/4) in a match in which he ranted at a line judge who called a foot fault against him.
Roddick was serving at 5-2 down in the third set when a line judge called the fault on what would have been an ace.
The ninth seed appeared to ask the female official if it was his right foot which caused the fault and was told it was, when in fact it was his left foot which touched the line.
It was probably a correctable mistake and I let it get to me more than I should have.
Andy Roddick
"Not once in my career has my right foot gone in front of my left foot, never. That is unbelievable," Roddick complained.
"Why don't you get some umpires who know what they are doing? 1-800-rent-a-ref."
The 28-year-old's outburst went on for some time, although he stopped short of the infamous foul-mouthed outburst by Serena Williams which occurred during last year's semi-final with Kim Clijsters.
However, he did tell umpire Enrique Molina "I think you and I both know that's ridiculous," as he left the court to change his shorts after the fourth set.
Tipsarevic won that set 6-3 and went on to seal victory to book his place in the third round.
Roddick admitted he had gone "too far" with his tirade, adding: "I wasn't upset with the call, I just expect my umpires to know their left foot from the right foot.
"The stubbornness... I let mine get in the way. I got called for two others after that and have no issue with it. In the moment I was just stupefied.
"It's the fact I couldn't get her to admit it wasn't the right foot which infuriated me, the lack of common sense was unbelievable to me. We have got to be able to have a test like 'Point to your right foot, point to your left foot, now call lines'.
"In hindsight did I let it go too far? Probably. It was probably a correctable mistake and I let it get to me more than I should have."
However, Roddick refused to blame the incident on his defeat.
"I was down 5-2 in the third set already, if anything it shifted the energy a little bit and after that I played okay," he added.
"It had zero impact in the match, it's not like I was up. I'm sure a lot's going to get written about it but the actual impact on the match was close to zero. At that point any change in energy was a good change for me.
"He played great tonight. He played very high risk and executed for four sets. I kept telling myself this has to have an expiration date on it but unfortunately I needed another set for that.
"He deserved to win tonight."
The men's Round 2 matches continue today with highlights including Mardy Fish (1.062) v Pablo Cuevas (8.00), Robin Soderling (1.12) v Taylor Dent (5.50) and Andreas Beck (21.00) v Roger Federer (1.005).
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