It's always interesting to see how a relatively low-ranked player will respond when he's in a position to upset a better one, especially if the latter happens to be a big name. There's a point where the forehands and backhands don't have much to do with it, but nerves and reputations do.
In that regard, Nicolas Mahut acquitted himself decently if not brilliantly on Court Suzanne Lenglen, where he had his French countrymen chanting "Nico, Nico, Nico" by the end of his 6-3, 6-3, 4-6, 6-2 win over Andy Roddick.
Mahut's only major lapse came in the third set, when he allowed Roddick to slip the noose and record just his second break of the match—one that would end up costing Mahut the set. But if it looked for a while like Mahut's wheels might fall off, Roddick's game mysteriously and fatally declined not long thereafter, and he'll leave Europe without having won a single match this spring.
In some ways this match could be described as the blind leading the blind. We know all too well what kind of trouble Roddick has had on the red clay of Roland Garros for most of his career. Compound that with his age (29) and plummeting ranking (he's presently No. 33) and you can see why he might want to fast forward through this portion of the year.
But No. 89 Mahut is no wizard of clay, either, developmental background and lineage notwithstanding. He's most famous for losing the 70-68 Wimbledon match to John Isner, and you still have to wonder how Mahut managed to hold serve long enough to slide into the history books so swiftly and firmly. We saw today that he's a man in whom flashes of brilliance are freely mixed with streaks of inconsistency, kind of like vanilla-fudge ice cream. His career record on clay, the surface that puts a premium on consistency, was a dismal 6-20 before today's match. And he'd won exactly one match in the 10 previous trips he made to Roland Garros (beating No. 142 Mischa Zverev in 2010).
But let's be fair: Mahut's "big game" style, with the emphasis it puts on serving and volleying, isn't ideal for the French Open—except when it's really working. And on days when it is, like much of today, it can be a real pleasure to watch; Mahut is a man who likes to play opportunistically and aggressively. Truth be told, Roddick played pretty well in the first set—he made 11 winners to just five unforced errors and won 77 percent of his first-serve points—but he failed to convert any of five break points he created, while Mahut made good on the single break point that came his way.
Mahut's game—and nerve—held up in the second set, and he broke Roddick again to take a 4-3 lead. It was a pretty comprehensive lapse by Roddick—four straight points lost, the first three on Roddick errors and the fourth on a Mahut forehand down-the-line winner. Just as important, for our theme, Mahut played well from 30-all in the next game, using a forehand drop shot and a booming service winner to consolidate the break. He broke Roddick again in the very next game to take the set.
While Mahut was taking care of business, Roddick was yielding to all the tendencies that have made his life difficult lately. He was playing from well back in the court, reluctant to force the action, gun-shy of the down-the-line backhand that is one of the few dangerous plays he can (and must) make, given the precise way opponents try to break him down. It may sound a bit abstract, but one of Roddick's greatest problems these days is the simple failure to look and play as if he feels positive.
Roddick did not produce a backhand winner until the fourth game of the third set, which he held to stay even at 2-2. The pressure on Mahut to close it out was growing, and it was at that point he blinked. His forehand deserted him, his feet became glued to the court. Roddick stepped up to challenge him and Mahaut caved, broken at love via a forehand volley error. Roddick held to go up 4-2, and patiently went on to serve out the set. He seemed to be stirring to life.
That impression was reinforced when Roddick broke Mahut in the first game of the fourth set. But from 30-all in the next game, Roddick's concentration swiftly slid downhill. A backhand error and very weak forehand response to a service return gave Mahut the break back; the crowd favorite then held at love, the last two points aces. And in no time, he had Roddick down 15-40 in the next game. An inside-out forehand winner put Mahut up 3-1, and any hope that Roddick would force Mahut to step up and win it began to fade.
Roddick's last best chance was a 2-4; could Mahut keep his jumpy nerves and not-always-reliable concentration in check? The Frenchman served up another love game, closing it yet again with an ace for 5-2. Mahut was spared having to hold serve to win the match when he broke Roddick for the seventh time on the day to end it.