Andy Roddick is scheduled to play his opening match at the Delray Beach Tennis Championships on Tuesday night, assuming his banged-up legs make it through the Memphis tournament this week. Roddick is playing on a bum right ankle, has a partial tear of a hamstring tendon, and his ranking dropped to No. 27 this week, his lowest since August 2001.

Roddick injured the ankle in the first round at the SAP Open in San Jose, Calif., last week and wound up losing 6-2, 6-4 in the quarterfinal to Denis Istamin of Uzbekistan.

He slammed a racket, broke another and was visibly frustrated for much of that 76-minute match.

“It was pretty ordinary all the way around,’’ Roddick said of his San Jose performance. “There’s certainly a significant gap from where I am and where I need to be. It would be abnormal if you weren’t frustrated.

“The question is, ‘How do you figure your way through it?’ ’’

Roddick turns 30 in August, which means he is asked regularly how long he plans to play, whether he has thought about retirement, and if he feels a sense of urgency to win matches.

“I don’t think I’m going to get in the habit of addressing that every time I’m at a tournament,’’ he said, when the subject arose at the SAP Open. “That seems to be a no-win situation for any athlete.

“But I don’t know that I feel a sense of urgency. Honestly at this point, with health and everything else, I feel like I’m almost starting over. I’m not really protecting anything. My streak of top-10 years is over. There are a couple of short-term goals. I’d love to win a tournament, keep that going. I’d love to get 600 wins sooner than later.

“But as far as urgency, my only urgent thing right now is getting this hamstring right.’’

Though Roddick’s ranking slipped, he is still just as sharp in front of reporters. Asked for his impressions of the epic Australian Open final between Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal, he replied: "When I’m not at a tournament, I find it hard to set my alarm for 1 in the morning.

“I’d be lying if I said I watched it in its entirety. But just seeing what I did see, it almost looked like the kind of the tennis you see when you play XBOX, where the guys really don’t get tired and they just hit whatever shot they want.

“It’s pretty remarkable. Probably at no time in my career, and I’ve been in pretty good shape throughout it, I’m not sure I could play back-to-back six-hour matches of that intensity. It’s not like those guys were getting a lot of free points on their serves either. What they’re doing right now physically is impressive.’’

As for his assessment of Roger Federer’s “struggles,’’ Roddick said: “The last thing I or any sane person will ever do is knock Roger for not winning enough. It seems a little ludicrous. Especially as long as he’s done it, and to still be in that top echelon, giving himself a chance every slam, it’s pretty incredible.’’

Roddick will be joined in Delray’s 32-man field by No. 13 John Isner, No. 21 Marin Cilic and No. 22 Viktor Troicki.

Tickets are available at 561-330-6000 or at yellowtennisball.com.

A month later, on Saturday, March 24, top-ranked Djokovic plays his opening match at the Sony Ericsson Open at the Crandon Park Tennis Center in Key Biscayne. Djokovic, Nadal, Federer, Andy Murray, Caroline Wozniacki, Kim Clijsters and Serena Williams are in the field.

For tickets, call 305-442-3367 or go to sonyericssonopen.com.