Rafael Nadal is like the tennis version of Christopher Walken: Everybody has a good impression of him. (And he really cares about his watch.)
Andy Roddick, in particular, does a great Nadal, as he showed off Monday night during a New York exhibition against Roger Federer. The rolled-up sleeves, the grunting, the frenetic footwork, the upswinging groundstrokes behind the baseline; it was spot-on. The only negative: He didn't play left-handed.
Roddick continued the Nadal impression throughout the night, defeating Federer in the exhibition, 7-5, 7-6 (7). Having lost 21 of 23 tournament matches against Federer, Roddick jokingly saw this victory as a turning point in their rivalry.
"It was pretty clear that I'm obviously in Roger's head and he didn't quite know how to deal with it," Roddick told ESPN2. "He's not really good under pressure, as you saw in that tiebreaker. He has no idea how to play me, so I just capitalized on that."
The 2003 US Open champion also credited his victory to New York Knicks star Jeremy Lin, who plays home games at the Garden.
"I feel like [he] wanted me to win," Roddick said to the crowd. "I felt his energy in the building, so I had to try to pull through."