London - Swimsuit model Brooklyn Decker talked then
boyfriend Andy Roddick back into tennis a year ago as the one-time
number one suffered through a crisis of confidence after a
second-round shutdown at Wimbledon.
'Last year after I played here, that was a hard, hard couple of
weeks,' Roddick said after reaching the Sunday final against Roger
Federer - the pair's third - with a 6-4, 4-6, 7-6 (9-7), 7-6 (7-5)
defeat of Andy Murray.
'We had a lot of talks on if I still thought I could play and at
least be towards the top of the game. I definitely openly questioned
it at that point.
'I was probably leaning towards not really playing that well. She
didn't really know much about tennis, so she thought I was playing
real great - and she thought I looked cute in the shorts,' joked the
2003 US open champion who has never duplicated that feat in three
successive Grand Slam finals.
'This off-season, we said, 'If you're not gonna be up there, let's
at least not wonder. Let's prepare yourself and give yourself every
opportunity.''
Roddick called the wife he married in April 'a very calming
influence and someone that I can kind of confide in and not have to
put up a super brave front in front of.
'So it's been real good. And certainly makes the (player) box
better looking.'
The American also said that despite his desire not to watch any
portion of last years' epic All England Club final won by Rafael
Nadal over Federer, the enthralling final set caught his attention as
he went through an airport after visiting Decker's family in North
Carolina.
'I didn't want to watch, because you wish you were there.
Especially kind of the mental state I was in at that point, it hurt
to watch.
'I landed and it was the match that it was - there was no chance
of me getting out of the airport before it was finished,' Roddick
said.
USA
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