NEW YORK -- Novak Djokovic came out paranoid. And bitter. And pounding forehands and crafting backhands, taking out his anger by taking out Andy Roddick, after which a booing crowd took it out on Djokovic.
It was Djokovic in the U.S. Open quarterfinal Thursday night, outplaying Roddick, the last American male standing, winning 6-2, 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 and sweeping to a semifinal against the great Roger Federer, who defeated Djokovic in the final last year.
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| An interesting night: Djokovic beats Roddick, calls him out and then apologizes later. (Getty Images) |
So in the usual postmatch interview, for both the television audience and the sellout crowd at Arthur Ashe Stadium, Djokovic let his emotions overflow.
Instead of being a gracious winner, he was a young man looking for revenge.
Which you would have assumed he already had gained against Roddick.
"Thanks to my box and all the fans supporting me," Djokovic began. "I know Roddick ... this is his favorite city. Andy saying I have 16 injuries. Obviously I don't."
Boos swept from the crowd. Djokovic responded, "Like it or not ... I know they're already against me because they think I'm faking it. ... That's not a nice thing to say."
He is 21, No. 3 in the world, the Australian Open champion, a Serb who speaks beautiful English, known for doing satirical impressions of other players. But this time there was no laughter, just derision.
"I figure if you're going to joke," Roddick said of Djokovic after the match, "if you're going to dish it out, you've got to take it. Yes, I should have known better, but anyone who knows me knows I joke all the time. I'm sorry he took it that way." Roddick was no less sorry about his tennis, but Djokovic was very much a part of that. He's a better player, and he took Roddick out of his game.
If Roddick, ranked No. 8 in the world, was going to win, he had to do it with his well-known big serve. He owns the fastest on record, something above 150 mph. But after only being broken three times in his previous four matches, Roddick was broken in the first two games against Djokovic and in four of the first eight.
Then after he had held nine consecutive times and it seemed the match -- which started around 8:30 p.m. and lasted 2½ hours -- would go into a fifth set, Roddick fell apart. Leading 5-4 in games in the fourth set and 30-0, Roddick had back-to-back double faults and ended up being broken once more.
"I had been playing pretty high-risk, high-reward tennis," said Roddick, who, as U.S. Open champion in 2003, is the last American to win any Grand Slam. "And I probably wasn't about to stop.
