Roddick dropped out of the world's top 10 in the latest rankings

Andy Roddick has revealed that his recent struggles on the court were due to a mild case of glandular fever.

Roddick, 27, said doctors thought he had been suffering from the virus, also known as mononucleosis, for two months.

The American, who has slipped to 11th in the rankings after recent defeats, said the news came as a relief.

"I'm just glad that we found out something that was causing it," said Roddick, who expects to play at the Cincinnati Masters next week.

Roger Federer was diagnosed as suffering from the same virus in 2008, a period during which his form and ranking fell.

Roddick has experienced a similar decline in recent months, most notably losing to 82nd ranked Yen-hsu Lu of Taiwan in the fourth round at Wimbledon in June.

He lost to Gilles Simon of France in the third round of the Legg Mason Tennis Classic at Washington at the beginning of August and complained of feeling unwell shortly afterwards.

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Blood tests have now revealed the reason for his sudden loss of energy and form.

"It's weird, the fear of kind of the unknown and not knowing what's going on," Roddick added. "There were some days where it was good, and some days where it was real bad.

"So it was like you would have one of those two or three good days, and it was like, 'OK, you're just being kind of a wimp.' It's nice to have a little bit of clarity moving forward. It's not something that's going to affect me, anything super-serious."

Roddick, who had cut back on his work schedule after feeling tired, said he had been baffled by his lack of energy.

"I opted out of probably four or five workouts this summer - that I've never done before," he said.

"So that wasn't fun. It was just me wondering if I was out of shape or what was going on, why there was this lethargic feeling."

Roddick says he expects to be fit to play in the US Open, where he lost to fellow American John Isner in the third round last year.

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