Sunday, April 04, 2004
Playing Hurt, Coria Loses to Roddick
KEY BISCAYNE, Fla., April 4 — Guillermo Coria had endured three three-set matches and had saved four match points in a semifinal just to reach the final of the Nasdaq-100 Open against Andy Roddick.
But when Coria reached up to serve late in the first set of Sunday's final and felt the entire left side of his back stiffen as he came down, one of tennis's grittiest players had finally been knocked out. Coria gripped his back and leaned over on his racket.
He continued and even won the first set in a tie breaker despite needing an on-court massage during an injury timeout after the 11th game of the first set.
But when that set ended, Coria slammed his racket to the ground, and afterward he moved ever more gingerly as his serves slowed to 79 miles an hour. With the torque straining his back, serving was excruciating, he said.
Finally, after Roddick easily won the second and third sets and Coria faced triple break point to open the fourth in the three-of-five-set final, he had had enough. He waved his hands in frustration and walked to the net to concede, giving Roddick his second title of the year, 6-7 (2), 6-3, 6-1, and extending a history of star-crossed finals in this tournament.
"I felt burned out and very sad after all that I had to go through this week," Coria said through a translator. "I was hoping that the pain was going to go away, but I knew after a certain point that it was not going to go away. I believe I should have retired after the first set, but nobody wants to retire in a final with all the people that paid the money to come see me play. I knew that I probably couldn't go through."
In the 1989 final here, Thomas Muster defaulted after being injured in a car accident the night before; in 1994, Andre Agassi agreed to a delayed start to allow Pete Sampras to recover from an upset stomach, only to lose to Sampras once the match was played; and in 1996, Goran Ivanisevic retired because of a strained neck.
Roddick, who grew up in Boca Raton and used to watch this tournament from the upper deck, was not at his peak either. He said he woke up with an upset stomach on Sunday, and he and Coria exchanged service breaks early in the first set.
Coria said he thought his injury might have resulted from returning Roddick's serve so high, meaning that, because he is only 5 feet 9 inches, he was stretching with each return.
Immediately after Coria was hurt, Roddick spent a few games trying to figure out what shots Coria could still play.
"I was trying to feel out what shots he wasn't hitting well and maybe trying to make him play a little bit more, maybe aggravate it some more," Roddick said.
Coria stayed in rallies, though, before Roddick began to go for the kill. The crowd, which had begun the match singing songs in Spanish for Coria and waving Argentine flags, quieted as Coria's injury became apparent. In the first set, he won 23 of 33 service points. In the third, he won 9 of 21, while Roddick won 16 of 17 points on his serve. Coria finished with 34 unforced errors.
"I just said, `O.K., I'm just going to try to imagine that he's not hurt at all,' " Roddick said. "That started working a little bit better for me. I was trying to maybe bluff my way through because I knew he was hurt, too. But I'd much rather play through an upset stomach where you know it's just a temporary thing as opposed to an injury. So I guess I was definitely working with the lesser of two evils there."
Roddick, who was seeded second, has won his past eight finals. When the world ranking comes out Monday, he will rise to second from third, behind No. 1-ranked Roger Federer.
KEY BISCAYNE, Fla., April 4 — Guillermo Coria had endured three three-set matches and had saved four match points in a semifinal just to reach the final of the Nasdaq-100 Open against Andy Roddick.
But when Coria reached up to serve late in the first set of Sunday's final and felt the entire left side of his back stiffen as he came down, one of tennis's grittiest players had finally been knocked out. Coria gripped his back and leaned over on his racket.
He continued and even won the first set in a tie breaker despite needing an on-court massage during an injury timeout after the 11th game of the first set.
But when that set ended, Coria slammed his racket to the ground, and afterward he moved ever more gingerly as his serves slowed to 79 miles an hour. With the torque straining his back, serving was excruciating, he said.
Finally, after Roddick easily won the second and third sets and Coria faced triple break point to open the fourth in the three-of-five-set final, he had had enough. He waved his hands in frustration and walked to the net to concede, giving Roddick his second title of the year, 6-7 (2), 6-3, 6-1, and extending a history of star-crossed finals in this tournament.
"I felt burned out and very sad after all that I had to go through this week," Coria said through a translator. "I was hoping that the pain was going to go away, but I knew after a certain point that it was not going to go away. I believe I should have retired after the first set, but nobody wants to retire in a final with all the people that paid the money to come see me play. I knew that I probably couldn't go through."
In the 1989 final here, Thomas Muster defaulted after being injured in a car accident the night before; in 1994, Andre Agassi agreed to a delayed start to allow Pete Sampras to recover from an upset stomach, only to lose to Sampras once the match was played; and in 1996, Goran Ivanisevic retired because of a strained neck.
Roddick, who grew up in Boca Raton and used to watch this tournament from the upper deck, was not at his peak either. He said he woke up with an upset stomach on Sunday, and he and Coria exchanged service breaks early in the first set.
Coria said he thought his injury might have resulted from returning Roddick's serve so high, meaning that, because he is only 5 feet 9 inches, he was stretching with each return.
Immediately after Coria was hurt, Roddick spent a few games trying to figure out what shots Coria could still play.
"I was trying to feel out what shots he wasn't hitting well and maybe trying to make him play a little bit more, maybe aggravate it some more," Roddick said.
Coria stayed in rallies, though, before Roddick began to go for the kill. The crowd, which had begun the match singing songs in Spanish for Coria and waving Argentine flags, quieted as Coria's injury became apparent. In the first set, he won 23 of 33 service points. In the third, he won 9 of 21, while Roddick won 16 of 17 points on his serve. Coria finished with 34 unforced errors.
"I just said, `O.K., I'm just going to try to imagine that he's not hurt at all,' " Roddick said. "That started working a little bit better for me. I was trying to maybe bluff my way through because I knew he was hurt, too. But I'd much rather play through an upset stomach where you know it's just a temporary thing as opposed to an injury. So I guess I was definitely working with the lesser of two evils there."
Roddick, who was seeded second, has won his past eight finals. When the world ranking comes out Monday, he will rise to second from third, behind No. 1-ranked Roger Federer.
