Andy Roddick finds no harm in Novak Djokovic ‘inquiring’ believing it’s the umpire’s job to allow players any break amidst controversy over Nole’s kit changeover

Andy Roddick gives his two cents on Novak Djokovic's controversial kit changeover.

Andy Roddick finds no harm in Novak Djokovic ‘inquiring’ believing it’s the umpire’s job to allow players any break amidst controversy over Nole’s kit changeover

Andy Roddick and Novak Djokovic (Credits: Tennis USA and Tennis.com)

American legend Andy Roddick has his say on Novak Djokovic‘s kit changeover during the epic Cincinnati final against the Spanish World No.1 Carlos Alcaraz. In one of the best matches of recent history, Novak Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz had a roller coaster of emotions and the momentum of the match was in a pendulum the whole match.

According to Roddick, it was the umpire’s right to whether allow the break for Novak Djokovic. And he hopes that the Serbian World No.2 player is not going to get criticisms for this. He also called Djokovic “an absolute specimen” for showing what he was able to do at 36 years of age. Roddick believes whatever Djokovic did was within the rules and hence all the criticism is superficial.

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As Andy Roddick said, “Novak is an absolute specimen. At 36 years of age, to be able to go and do that. Especially we are covering, when the sun went down, it changed something. It was the sun, it was the heat. Then once the conditions became a bit more muted, he took a break, he figured out a way to ask permission to change clothes, and the umpire said ok.”

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“We could talk about whether that was the right call but we can’t be mad at Novak for asking the question. it is the umpire’s job to enforce the rules so he shouldn’t take the direct criticism and hope he doesn’t,” Roddick added.

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Novak Djokovic became a new player in the middle of the second set

Novak Djokovic (Credits: Tennis 365)
Novak Djokovic (Credits: Tennis 365)

The Serbian star Novak Djokovic who played a great tournament found himself struggling to cope with the Spanish World No.1 Carlos Alcaraz towards the end of the second set. The 36-year-old champion failed to withstand the 34-degree heat of the American city. This became really evident after the break up by the Serbian was re-broken back by the young Spaniard.

Djokovic played just 5 hours on the court before the finals where as the Spaniard had to spend more than 9 hours to reach the finals. It was expected that this gap between hours on court will help the older Serbian. As the match progressed, the Spaniard found it better to cope with the conditions than the 23-time major champion but as the sun went down and the temperature dropped the Serb paved his way back to the match.

After coming back from a break down, the Serbian went on to win the second set in a tiebreaker. In between, Djokovic also saved a match point on his own serve. In the third set, Djokovic was evidently the better player but Alcaraz made him wait for 5 match points before eventually winning the thriller in the third set tiebreaker. The match lasted 3 hours and 49 minutes and the final score was 5-7, 7-6 (9-7), 7-6 (7-4). Both Alcaraz and Djokovic will next play the US Open in a week’s time.

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