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Grand slammed

Andy Roddick was comprehensively beaten by Feliciano Lopez © Getty Images

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Wimbledon Day Five Gallery
Plays of the Day: Day Five
Men's round-up: Roddick crashes out
Women's round-up: Wozniacki waltzes past Razzano
What They Said

To be beaten by the greatest player to ever step onto a grass court is no disgrace. But the man who took Federer to five sets in the 2009 Wimbledon final is a shadow of the player he was two years ago.

His defeat to Roger Federer secured his place in the hearts of the British public at the All England Club, but Andy Roddick may never fulfil his dream of adding his name to the exclusive list of Wimbledon champions.

With a blistering serve and a fierce forehand, Roddick's best chance of a second grand slam (to add to his 2003 US Open title), was undoubtedly on the grass, where he had reached the final three times.

For the second consecutive year, the American has failed to reach the quarter-finals, but the nature of the defeats were very different - and after this year's straight-sets defeat to Feliciano Lopez, the alarm bells should be ringing.

Last year, Roddick served 38 aces but nevertheless fell in five sets to world No. 82 Yen-Hsun Lu in the fourth round. Against Lu, Roddick had his chances - he squandered a break point to lead 5-4 in the decider, before falling 4-6 7-6(3) 7-6(4) 6-7(5) 9-7. He dropped his serve just once - in the final game of the match.

Although such a defeat would have undoubtedly smarted, it could easily be put down to a bad day at the office. Roddick faced just two break points in the match, while Lu had to save seven.

Roddick's defeat to Lopez was more worrying. Lopez, like Lu, was unseeded, but the Spaniard has calibre - he beat Rafael Nadal on grass at Queen's last year, and has victories of Juan Martin del Potro and Robin Soderling, and narrowly lost to Roger Federer 6-7(13) 7-6(1) 6-7(7) in Madrid last month.

Roddick never really got a look in. While the American can still rely on his serve to get him out of awkward situations, he was second best in all areas of play.

Lopez served more aces and fewer break points; hit more winners and fewer unforced errors. While other players will come up with a catalogue of excuses before admitting to being outplayed, Roddick was quick to admit he was second best.

"He played better than I did," Roddick said. "He beat me. It's easier for me to walk out of here with that and move forward with that than '08 where I lost to (Janko) Tipsarevic and I felt like I completely choked or last year where I just kind of had a million opportunities and kind of gave it away. Those are tougher to take now."

While defeat may be easier to swallow for Roddick when he can admit he was comprehensively outplayed, the concern for the American is that these kind of results are becoming more frequent.

When Roddick won the US Open as a 21-year-old, he was hailed as the man who would take on the mantle from 14-time major champion Pete Sampras. Unfortunately for Roddick, he was destined to be overshadowed by Federer.

At 28, Roddick is one of the veterans of the game, and with the likes of Milos Raonic and Grigor Dimitrov touted to be grand slam champions of the future, not to mention the likes of Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray, Roddick may have run out of chances.

"What do you do?" You either keep moving forward or you decide to stop and at this point I'm not going to stop so I'm going to keep moving forward," Roddick said in his post-match press conference.

While he may not be prepared to hang his racket up just yet, Roddick may have to get used to first-week exits at the grand slams in the future.

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