A sportsman and his ball

Being a sportsman isn't as easy as it sounds. In my daily life I meet all types and ages who claim to love sports, and so call themselves a sporty type. The trouble is, that, with time, the criteria for being a sporty type become tighter and tighter, because there are so few of them left.

Lawn tennis

I thought about this when reading about Roddick, who retired this year after he had descended to around 40 in the world rankings. He actually won a tournament this year, one of the minor ones to build up to Wimbledon, and you could tell that it brought him immense pleasure. So there you have the first category for a sportsman, the love of winning. Already winning is fraught with problems. There are some who want to win at any cost, at risk of becoming labelled a cheat, or a gamesman, or a bad loser, or a big baby. There are others who can lose, and accept losing, but nevertheless hating it enough to not want it to happen too often. Roddick is one of them. Yes, he does the fist-pumping to get the crowd on his side, to maybe even get himself going, but he has no problem applauding an opponent's shot, applauding an opponent's moment of glory. And when it is his turn to win, it makes him glow and smile. Today it's his turn, and let him enjoy it.

Roddick got half a reputation for being a bit ascerbic in his press conferences, for sometimes some disagreeable language, and some run-ins with umpires. Surely a sportsman does not do this? Roddick comes from a line of players who confronted and questioned the structures around him. If it became stupid, unprofessional or tiresome, he protested. And he cared enough to not apologise for his behaviour. He paid his fine and moved on. This shows that all Roddick wanted to do was to compete. To be disturbed and interrupted by irritating side-issues detracted from the only thing that counted - performance. I think we should all forgive Roddick for this, because at these moments he showed his true sportsman characteristic - his competitiveness and professionalism. Let's also not forget that many of his press conferences were quite funny, exactly because he had no time for small talk. He expressed his feelings graphically and honestly.

Roddick has been talking this week, just after he beat one of the most successful players of 2012 in an exhibition - Murray. Roddick modestly explained after the match that it was only an exhibition, and nothing should be read into this victory. This modesty was typical of Roddick all through his career - never feeling he had to rise to the bait of provocative questions - just be true to himself, and be true to a situation and opponent. If Roddick knows a performance doesn't rank with one of his best, he will tell you right out. There is no gloss and cover-up. He expects his opponents to be as modest as he is, but very few manage this. I'm not sure that Roddick always felt comfortable with his peers, for their frostiness and over-intensity off the court. He never let his own standards slip. If he thought his performance wasn't good enough, he admitted it. If he played well, he admitted it too, without expecting any fanfare. That is also being modest.

Baseball passion

But one of his comments this week stands out as being a true sign of a sportsman - the love of playing with a ball. He explained that he had always loved hitting balls (he was baseball mad as a kid), and that even in retirement he still loved hitting balls. That means practising with the same intensity as matchplay, giving every single ball you ever hit the same dedication. He indicated that part of the "old age" problem, is that every now and then, you find yourself giving certain balls less priority than you had done before. And you can't stop it happening. It's not because you don't care, it's not because you don't want to win, this loss of 100% just creeps in on its own, like an invasive weed that is starting to take a grip on your garden. He knew then it was time to stop. Knowing that he couldn't go onto the ATP match court knowing that the weed was about.

How much it means

Roddick finally beat Federer not too long ago, and Roddick used to love to talk about him, even though there was almost a running joke as to not, IF he was going to lose, but how much by. He took this with his usual humour and self-deprecation, but knowing that if he were to face Roger again, he'd still compete to win. And only to win, despite the history.

Asked why Federer is surviving so well into old age, Roddick said that Federer was so supple, technically and physically, that the old age weed creeping in couldn't get a grip. Roddick with his effort shots, and effort legs was like a piece of concrete by comparison, strong yes, but with tiny fissures where the weed could get down. Vulcanised rubber-man Roger doesn't have these fissures.

What you notice is not that Roddick says Federer was better than him. He says he was naturally equipped to hold out longer on the hard ATP tour. Ever the sportsman, Roddick thought and knew that he could beat anyone. "Put me on the court", he says, " and I'll run and hit until I bleed."