It’s been three up and three down so far on the 2015 PowerShares Series for Andy Roddick.
The 32-year-old, in a rousing display of serving dominance, won his third PowerShares Series title in as many tries this season, beating 56-year-old John McEnroe 6-3 in the one-set championship match at the PowerShares QQQ Challenge Thursday at the Sears Centre.
On the live national broadcast of the event on Fox Sports 1, commentator and former pro Mark Knowles said he believed Roddick, almost three years after last playing on the ATP tour, still has one of the top five serves in tennis today. Roddick proved him right, opening his 6-3 semifinal match win over James Blake with a 130 mph ace while being clocked as high as 132 mph during his two-sets of play through the evening. He fired nine aces past McEnroe in the final, including a rocket down the T to close out the match. During his playing career, Roddick’s serve was regarded as one of the best in the game, being clocked as fast as 155 mph, which was then a world record.
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McEnroe, who won last year’s PowerShares Series points title by winning four events, was playing in his second tournament of the season. He was still very much the curiosity on how he would handle the new format on the PowerShares Series with no linespeople, players calling their own lines with the Hawk-Eye line-calling challenge system – with unlimited challenges – being used for disputed calls. Prior to play Thursday night, McEnroe and Roddick both jointly appeared on the Fox Business Channel show “After The Bell” to discuss the ground-breaking line-calling format on the Series.
Roddick, who won the title in Lincoln, Nebraska Wednesday night in his birth state, also won the title in Los Angeles last week and vaults into a commanding lead in the PowerShares Series points standings with 1200 points. Trailing Roddick in the rankings are Salt Lake City champion Mark Philippoussis with 600 points, Blake with 500 points, Courier with 400 points, McEnroe with 300 points and Andre Agassi with 200 points.
The PowerShares Series, the 12-city tennis circuit for champion tennis players over the age of 30, continues Thursday, April 16 in Austin, Texas at the Cedar Park Center where Roddick, playing in his new hometown, will seek to go four for four on the 2015 PowerShares Series. He will be joined in the field once again by McEnroe, Courier and Blake. For full schedule, player and ticket information, go to www.PowerSharesSeries.com.
The remaining PowerShares Series schedule with full fields are as follows:
Thursday, April 16: Austin, Texas (Cedar Park Center) “Champions Shootout” featuring John McEnroe, Andy Roddick, Jim Courier, James Blake
Friday, April 17: Little Rock, Ark. (Jack Stephens Center at the UALR) “Champions Cup” featuring John McEnroe, Andy Roddick, Jim Courier, Mark Philippoussis
Saturday, April 18: Dallas, Texas (Moody Coliseum at SMU) “Champions Showdown” featuring John McEnroe, Andy Roddick, Jim Courier, Mark Philippoussis
Wednesday, April 22: Boston, Mass. (Agganis Arena at Boston University) “Champions Cup” featuring John McEnroe, Andy Roddick, Jim Courier, James Blake
Thursday, April 23: Richmond, Va., (Siegel Center at VCU) “Champions Challenge” featuring John McEnroe, Andy Roddick, Jim Courier, James Blake
Wednesday, April 29: Minneapolis, Minn. (Target Center) “Champions Shootout” featuring John McEnroe, Andy Roddick, Michael Chang, James Blake
Thursday, April 30: Cincinnati, Ohio (Cintas Center at Xavier) “Champions Showdown” featuring John McEnroe, Andy Roddick, Michael Chang, James Blake
Saturday, May 2: Vancouver, Canada (Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre at UBC) “Champions Showdown” featuring Pete Sampras, John McEnroe, Michael Chang, Mark Philippoussis
In 2014, John McEnroe won the points title for the first time in the nine-year history of Champions Series tennis by winning events in Kansas City, Indianapolis, Nashville and Charlotte. McEnroe was followed in the points standings by Blake in second place and Roddick in third place.
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