WIMBLEDON, England — The current edition of Wimbledon is the 23rd Grand Slam tournament since Andy Roddick won his lone major championship at the 2003 U.S. Open.
He badly wants to win a second.
It’s why he changed coaches for this season. Slimmed down. Put in as much work as ever in practice, striving to improve his returns, his backhands, his volleys.
Add it all up, and the sixth-seeded American is back in the Wimbledon semifinals for the first time since 2005, facing No. 3-seeded Andy Murray today. Roger Federer — seeking a sixth Wimbledon championship and record 15th Grand Slam title — faces No. 24 Tommy Haas in the other semifinal.
“Andymonium” has hit the All England Club, but don’t think Roddick is happy merely to be a part of it.
“By no means is he satisfied, because the whole gig when he hired me is we’ve got to win a Slam,” said Roddick’s coach, Larry Stefanki. “I said, ‘That’s what I’m here for.’ Winning a Slam is what it’s all about. Coming in second is like kissing your sister.”
Roddick’s major title, not quite six years ago, was also the last at any Grand Slam event for an American man, the country’s longest drought in the Open era, which began in 1968.
That wait must seem rather quaint to the folks around here.
Murray, who is 6-2 against Roddick, is trying to become the first British man to win Wimbledon since Fred Perry in 1936.
