US Open Tennis 2012 Results: Rain Delay Will Propel Andy Roddick to Victory

Andy Roddick's bid to keep his 2012 U.S. Open hopes, and his career, alive were bolstered when rain forced he and his opponent Juan Martin Del Potro off the court for the evening. 

Roddick was actually in the lead in this fourth-round battle when they were forced off the court, leading the first-set tiebreaker 1-0. However, that set should have already been in Roddick's pocket. 

Roddick needed just one more point to win the set 6-4, but couldn't pull it off. While this caused a bit of a momentum shift, that is not the biggest reason this delay will benefit the American. 

The biggest benefit is that Roddick's old legs will not have to be on the court as long. Roddick is 30 years old, and he has so many tennis miles on his body that he has announced this is his last professional tournament. 

With the first set going to a tiebreaker, this is not destined to be a quick match. The more time these two spend running around the court, the bigger the advantage is for the 23-year-old Del Potro. 

The break will let Roddick rest his legs. It will also hopefully give him a chance to reset his serve. Roddick was hitting just 60 percent of his first serves. In his previous three matches, he had not hit lower than 67 percent of his first serves. 

Roddick was making up for this by winning 56 percent of his second-serve points. While this was serving him well (see what I did there?), it is not what he wants to count on. 

Roddick is at his best when he is pounding away at his opponent with his first serve, and the more he hits, the easier his service games are going to be. He will need that to outlast his younger and higher-seeded opponent.