Roger Federer and Andy Roddick: What Could've Been

Roger Federer is obviously, one of the greatest ever to play the game.

Andy Roddick is one of the best of his generation, and with multiple Grand Slam finals to his credit and a past number-one ranking, a pretty sure lock for the Hall of Fame.

As these two met for the 23rd time in the quarterfinals of the ATP World Tour 500 event in Basel, Switzerland, it's clear that they have done quite well for themselves over the course of their careers.

But how much better would Roddick's results have looked if he hadn't gone 2-21 in his head-to-head matchups against Federer, tacking on yet another loss today in straight sets?

It might seem a little hard to remember right now because his time at or near the top has been so long, but the player that Federer first overtook for the No. 1 ranking was Roddick back in 2004.

It appeared those two would be going back and forth with it for a couple of years at least, but with Federer hitting his stride—combined with the emergence of younger rivals, such as Rafael Nadal—Roddick was left out of the running for the top spot after a while.

Aside from that, though, what also served to keep Roddick lagging behind was his inability to solve the Swiss superstar's game in at least a quarter of their matches.

In their first five encounters, Roddick went 1-4 against Federer, only defeating him in the semifinals of the ATP Masters Series event in Canada in 2003.

That was the magical summer when Roddick could do no wrong, which led him to his first and only Grand Slam title to date, the U.S. Open.

After that victory, Roddick lost to Federer 11 times in a row before breaking the streak in the quarterfinals of the ATP Masters Series event in Miami. Federer's wins during that period included three in the finals of Majors: Wimbledon in 2004 and 2005, and the U.S. Open in 2006. There was also a semifinal win at the 2007 Australian Open for Federer.

If Roddick had won at least one of those Grand Slam final matches over that period, then obviously, any talk of him being a "one-Slam wonder" would have ceased. The closest Roddick came to putting that title to bed was in that classic 2009 Wimbledon final, when he had Federer on the ropes.

Federer found a way out, though, as he always seems to do against his American peer.

Granted, Federer has done a lot to slow the careers of 95 percent of the players on the ATP Tour over the past few years. But nowhere has it been more apparent than what happened in the case with Roddick.

Still, Roddick has had a career a majority of players—past and present—would have hoped for. It could have been even greater if not for that particular obstacle ahead of him.