"Get Wilson on the phone!"

Roddick vs. Djokovic, part 5.

This rivalry has become interesting of late due to the trash-talking that went down at last year's US Open. Djokovic won that one and proceeded to call out Andy afterward. They ran into each other again at the Australian Open in January, and Djokovic quit in the middle of the match. Now, they met again in the quarterfinals of Indian Wells.

Going into the match pundits declared Roddick the favorite, which surprised me. Yeah, Djokovic struggled in his lead-up matches, but I maintain that had Djokovic faced Roddick in sane conditions Down Under, he would have come out ahead. Well, Roddick just tuned the Djoker 6-3, 6-2 in just over an hour.

Roddick played efficient, tidy tennis, keeping his errors to a minimum and letting Djokovic litter up the stat sheet. 29 unforced errors is waaaaay too much. Djokovic recently switched to a new racket before the season and despite his protestations to the contrary, it seems he's still getting adjusted. Really, that switch made no sense at all. Djokovic won the Masters Cup last year, switched rackets in January as the defending Australian Open champion, and lost his mojo.

Anyway, onward and upward for Roddick. The Larry Stefanki experiment is a bona fide success now, and Roddick's win shook the loose tooth of the Top 4 even more, to the point where Djokovic is swinging in the wind. Against any prediction I might have made, Roddick has a good shot at being the one to fill the gap.