After missing the ATP World Tour Finals because of an injured left
knee, Andy Roddick is back on the court and preparing for the
Brisbane International.
The 27-year-old American said his knee isn't perfect after
his first practice session Thursday at Pat Rafter Arena. Roddick is
the No. 1 men's seed in the tournament, which is a tune-up ahead of
the Australian Open from Jan. 18-31.
"It's coming around all right," he said after an hour-long
session with defending champion Radek Stepanek. "It was
disappointing to finish the year like I did, especially considering
I felt like I was having a really good year until the injury came
about."
Roddick had one of his best years on tour last season,
reaching the semifinals at the Australian Open and losing to Roger
Federer 16-14 in an epic fifth set of the Wimbledon final.
"That was disappointing but on the flipside, I'm probably a
little bit more mentally rested than a lot of these guys, maybe a
little bit more eager to get out here," Roddick said of sitting out
with the injury. "I've been playing a lot. I'm definitely not
coming in under-practiced."
The 2003 U.S. Open winner said his 2009 record, including a
fourth Australian Open semifinal appearance, gave him extra belief
he can claim a second career Grand Slam title — possibly in
Melbourne in January.
"Obviously I feel like maybe I could have played a final
there before," he said. "It hasn't quite happened but there's not a
lot of people walking around that can say ... that they've played
in four semifinals."
Roddick said he still flashes back to the tough Wimbledon
loss against Federer.
"It's like anything that's hard in anyone's life," Roddick
said. "You just keep going and do the things you enjoy and slowly,
maybe, I'll only think about it four times today."
