Andy Roddick lost the match he most wanted to win, but, in the process, he gained something he might not have achieved, even with a victory. It seems tennis enthusiasts were so taken by Roddick’s determined effort against Roger Federer, perhaps the greatest tennis player of all time, that they have joined his camp as never before.

The match was a pure classic, a marathon slugfest, with Roddick holding serve thirty-seven times before he was finally broken in the thirtieth game of the fifth set.

The number of Roddick’s Twitter followers and Facebook fans spiked precipitously in the two days after the final. At the customized gift site, Great Friends Greetings, interest in personalized greeting cards from Roddick has soared, according to Kenny Perschetz, the company’s president.

There is always a spot in the sports fan’s heart for an underdog and no one fills that spot any better right now than Andy Roddick. It will be fun to watch him lay it all out there as he strives to achieve his second career grand slam title at the US Open this September, with a fan base that will be heavily in his corner from his first rocket-like serve.