US Open emotions still raw 10 years after 9/11

Dave James AFP 08/23/2011 08:30

When the Twin Towers fell, Andy Roddick was staying with his parents in Florida, Roger Federer was working out at a Swiss gym while a 15-year-old Rafael Nadal was losing his first ever senior match. Almost 10 years on from the 9/11 attacks on the United States, the memories are as fresh and just as raw.

They will be in even sharper focus still at the US Open from next week with the tournament staging its men's final on Sunday, September 11.

Roddick was to be the US Open champion in 2003, but two years earlier, at 19, he had been defeated in the quarter-finals by eventual winner Lleyton Hewitt.

He'd planned to remain in New York for a concert, but changed his mind and headed to his parents' home in Boca Raton.

"Like anybody else, you're just shocked. I didn't know what to think. You know, it was a place you were the day before. It was just really weird," said former world number one Roddick recalling the grim TV images.

"But I will say this -- the six months to a year after that, I probably haven't been prouder of the people in this country as far as the way they came together. I wish it would have had a little bit more staying power.

"Hopefully the 10-year mark will bring back some of those feelings of unity that we did have after that. You know, I don't think it's a bad thing to remember."