Analysis for Roddick-Melzer (Davis Cup)

Head-to-head record 6:0

A very slow clay prepared especially for Americans should be very important factor in this match. Roddick is known for his powerful serves and forehands. His style of play is that of an offensive baseliner. His most dangerous weapon is his powerful and accurate first serve, which he uses to earn free points with aces and unreturnable serves or put himself into position to hit a forehand winner. He is sometimes criticized for his lack of variety. He also occasionally uses the serve and volley tactic on both first and second services but this approach is totally ineffective on clay. Despite of being on of the best players nowadays, his clay court record is really poor and he has never made a good result on European clay (Houston´s green clay is obviously not counted as it is much faster and more suitable for Andy). He lost to Chela, Monfils or Andreev last year on clay and we believe he is not such a favourite in this match. Their head to head record is one-sided but 4 of these matches were played on hard and 2 of them on green clay in Houston. Off course, Melzer cannot compete with Roddick on fast surfaces, but if he plays his best, he should be able to keep in tight on clay, especially in front of his home crowd. He seems to be in a solid form at present and his odds above 2.8 could be taken for a small stake.