It says something about sports, and tennis in particular, that when a guy does the right thing it is a big deal.  Case in point, Andy Roddick was playing in the Rome Masters and was up three break points (also match points) in the second set of his match.  His opponent’s second serve was called out which would have been game-set-match Roddick, but he looked at the mark in the clay and said it was good.  He overruled the line judge himself.

Now this wouldn’t have made the newswires (I read it here) except that Roddick’s opponent came back to win.  The pessimist in me says that Roddick never would have done the same thing if it was match point in a fifth set tie-breaker, but sadly most tennis players wouldn’t have done it even in the relatively safe position Roddick was in.

The optimist in me says that Roddick knows as well as any player in the game that no lead is completely safe and in this case he was only up one break and a couple of break points.  Definitely not an insurmountable lead, and still he did the right thing by re-playing the point. 

So my hat is off to him, and I continue to be impressed with how this very young man continues to handle himself in a situation that I’m sure would turn most of us into ego-maniacal jerks.  I know I would have been a terror in his shoes.