Andy Roddick got mad, then he got a win.
The 21st ranked American threw a tirade at USTA’s No. 1 tournament referee, Brian Earley, over poor court conditions at the resumption of his fourth-round match Thursday against David Ferrer.
When the match resumed on Court 13, Roddick went on to upset No. 5 Ferrer, 6-3, 4-6, 6-3, 6-3, to advance to the quarterfinals of the US Open.
The problem on the original court was that Roddick saw and felt water from a breech behind one of the baselines. Despite the dry weather at Flushing Meadows, the breech caused water to seep up and resulted in more than an hour delay after they had played one game.
USTA officials and maintenance workers appeared on their hands and knees, trying to dry the small area of the court with towels and vacuums. The USTA called it a “hairline fracture” on the court.
But when Roddick came back onto the court after the 70-minute wait, he saw a water spot and started ripping into Earley.
“Why are we out here?! Why did you bring us out here?!” Roddick yelled at the official. “I’m really starting to get pissed off. I was perfect the first time I came out here. How hard is it not to see water? I told you not to dab it every 30 seconds; now I’m pissed off …You’re killing us. I’m baffled right now.”
Video of the entire exchange can be seen here.
Roddick then campaigned to Earley to move the match to tiny Court 13, which holds 583 seats.
“Let’s go play, we’ll go to a rotten court” Roddick said to Earley.
Moments later, Earley agreed to move the match there.
In front of an overflow court, Roddick kept his Round of 16 record at the Open perfect with a four-set triumph, in 2 hours, 40 minutes.
Roddick broke Ferrer two straight times to win the match after which he ran a lap around the court, high-fiving some fans.
Roddick faces Rafael Nadal in Friday’s quarterfinals. Fans waited outside the court for more than 45 minutes to get a peek at the big match before an announcement in the second set urged waiting customers to seek other courts.
Earley took the abuse from Roddick without responding. The few fans on hand in the first 10 rows could hear Roddick’s complaint. When Roddick left the court grumbling and muttering to himself, he was booed. It is unclear if Roddick would be fined for his harangue.
The USTA released a statement saying play would not return to Louis Armstrong — the facility’s second biggest court — until the water problem was fixed.
“We have faced an inordinate amount of rain in August and through the early part of September which has saturated the court surfaces at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center,” the statement read. “All courts were completely dried prior to play on Thursday, September 8. However, as the sun began to warm, or “bake” the courts, evaporation of these saturated conditions began to surface on Louis Armstrong Stadium. Until this situation is rectified, no further play will occur on Louis Armstrong Stadium.”
Nadal ripped the USTA for caring more about money than player safety in sending them out in misty conditons. And Roddick’s anger could have stemmed from comments made Wednesday night by tournament director Jim Curley in defending the USTA’s decison to start matches at 11 a.m. despite misty conditions.
Roddick complained to the USTA on Wednesday and Curley shot back that Roddick was given the opportunity by the chair umpire not to play if he felt it wasn’t safe.
