Andy Roddick moves up the good vibe scale

It was a sad day when Mr Roddick bowed out of the Aussie Open a couple of days ago after a five set thriller with Philipp Kohlschreiber.

Except he didn't really 'bow out'; it was more like kicking, screaming, and a full on tantrum. He insulted the umpire, "you've got two ears - start using them" and "You're an idiot. Stay in school, kids, or you'll end up being an umpire." He smashed his racket, he bleated like a five year old.

Poor old Andy. After all, he might have had some reason to be frustrated: he served 42 killer aces with a serve that rocketed across court at some 230+km an hour. Ouch!

Yes sirree, he played some damn fine tennis. But so did Kohlschreiber.

And so it goes.

Asked after the match about his temper, Andy replied, "In the moment, it feels better to be angry than it does to be disappointed."

Indeed. In the moment, where he lost yet another impossible point, it probably did feel better to be seething and frothing. The adrenaline of anger fired up his cylinders and he cracked a few more aces. It pushed him through an epic that Kohlschreiber evemntually won 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 (11-9), 6-7 (3-7), 8-6.

Yet even Andy knows you can't stay in anger. It will wear you out and turn you in to a bitter, nasty old man. Besides, you'll attract even more 'angry' stuff. Like the $500 fine he received for his outbursts. Fuel to fire. Dirt kicked in the downed man's face. Like attracts like.

To his credit, Andy rarely stays angry for long, which is what I love about this player. He's a passionate guy who really feels all his emotions to the hilt. By the time he gets to the press conference, his wit is back and he's a bit more philosophical.

"It's rough, yeah, but that's sports, man," Roddick said. "If you don't want an emotional roller coaster, if you want to be serene and kind of chilled out all day, then get a job serving margaritas at the beach.

"When you decide to be a pro athlete, you're going to have ups, you're going to have downs, you're going to have extreme highs and extreme lows. That's just the nature of the beast."

On the Abraham scale, he's moved up a few notches from the black rage of anger to the slow ebb of disappointment. A few more notches up he'll get to boredom (where he waits for the next tournament), then positive expectation and belief, and finally he'll be right up there again with passion, joy, and empowerment.

And we'll see the rockin' A-Rod firing again.