MELBOURNE, Australia — Andy Roddick lunged for a shot by Lleyton Hewitt and felt a sharp pain in his right leg. He stayed down on his hands and one knee for a few seconds, wondering if his Australian Open was finished.
He played the next two points, falling behind 3-0 in the second set, before taking a medical timeout to treat his hamstring.
Still, Roddick played on. Clearly restricted, he didn't bother to chase down some shots and walked slowly between points with his head down.
Finally, after 16 more games, Roddick called it quits. He retired with Hewitt leading the second-round match 3-6, 6-3, 6-4.
"It's a miserable, terrible thing being out there compromised like that," Roddick said.
The 29-year-old American knew he wouldn't be able to fool an opponent he was playing for the 14th time, one of the few players on the tour older than he is, somebody who was ranked No. 1 before he was and someone with one more Grand Slam title.
"He's a tough guy to play," said Roddick, now 7-7 against Hewitt for his career. "You can try to ham and egg it against a lot of guys. But he's really intelligent. He knew what was going on."
Roddick's limitations were obvious in the second and third sets. He threw his racket into the wall and argued with the chair umpire over a line call. He bristled when a woman shouted, "Come on Lleyton," just as Roddick was about to serve.
"It's frustrating. It's discouraging," he said, referring to the hamstring tendon injury. "You know, your sensible mind says to have a sense of perspective. You still have it pretty good. The competitor in you feels terrible and wants to break stuff."
Roddick had his chances. He converted the only break-point chance in the first set and even had opportunities after he injured his leg. But when he knew he needed to win two more sets to advance, he called the trainer, then walked over to shake Hewitt's hand.
"I was hitting the ball as well as I could from a compromised position and still felt like I was just hanging on," he said. "I don't know that it would have been smart to do that for two more sets. And if somehow you pull a rabbit out of the hat, I don't think you play in two days. If I'm looking at timelines, I think there's three weeks or so before I have to play again. I like those timelines a lot more than two days."
