“Let’s hope it’s not bookends.” That was Andy Roddick this
July after winning a tournament in Atlanta, the same place that he won his
first title. Sadly it was bookends; the 2012 Atlanta Open was the last
championship that Andy won, the 32nd of his career, including at
least one every year since his first. Andy retired at this year’s U.S. Open,
the site of his only major. He was probably the best server of all time,
holding all kinds of serving records, including fastest serve ever (155mph) until
recently. He also was well know for his charitable work, the Andy Roddick Foundation. He was a grand slam champion and a world #1. He went on to play in
four more grand slam finals, but he will be remembered as much for his quick
wit and honest personality as his tennis. Andy struggled with injuries late in
his career, but you would never know it, unlike so many athletes Andy never
played up an injury. Always known for his candor, on the court Andy would argue
with the umpire if he felt he was being shortchanged, or even if his opponent
was. Andy Roddick’s press conferences and post-match interviews were the stuff
of legend, they were always hilarious, intelligent and brutally honest. After
his last match a reporter asked him what he would miss most and Andy jokingly
replied, “All of you.”
A good
tennis player can be judged by how many tournaments he has won, the all-time
greats however are often measured by their grand slams. For those that don’t
know there are four grand slams; the Australian Open, the French Open, Wimbledon,
and the U.S. Open. In 2003 the era of
great American tennis was coming to an end. Andre Aggassi and Pete Sampras had
20 majors between the two of them and their final titles came back to back,
with Sampras winning the last major in 2002 (US) and Agassi winning the first
in 03 (Australian). The rest of 2003 saw a changing of the guard, the young
Spaniard Juan Martian Ferrero won the French, and Rodger Federer won his first
slam at Wimbledon. The stage was set for a dramatic end to the tennis season at
the U.S. Open. Defending champion Pete Sampras had retired and Aggassi had been
beaten in the semis by French champion Ferrerro. Ferrerro had one more American
to face in the final however, Andy Roddick. Roddick beat Ferrero in straight
sets to win the U.S. Open and cemented himself as the greatest current American
tennis player. For nearly a decade Roddick was the only great American tennis
player.
For a few years the only other
tennis player even in the conversation to compete for a major was the aging
Andre Aggassi, but soon enough he also retired. From then on Andy Roddick
became the “Sole American Man.” In fact
since Aggassi’s retirement in 2006 no American male other than Roddick has made
it past the quarterfinal of any grand slam. Roddick was a man alone; the burden
was his to bear. This was a sharp contrast to the era directly preceding
Roddick. The 90s were a golden age for American tennis; other than Aggassi and
Sampras grand slam champions like Jim Courrier and Micheal Chang were dominate.
Even the ancient slam winner Jimmy Conners made a miraculous run at the 1991
U.S. Open. The timing of the disappearance of American greats couldn’t have
been worse for one reason. That reason’s name was Rodger Federer.
When Roddick and Federer won back
to back slams in 2003 it seemed they both would have bright futures. Both did
end up having bright futures, but no one could have predicted how bright
Federer’s would be. Rodger Federer probably was the most dominate player in the
history of individual sports. From 2004 until 2007 Federer won the U.S. Open,
the Australian Open and Wimbledon every time except for once, that’s 11/12
slams (other than the French which is played on clay, Federer and Roddick’s
worse surface). Charles Barkley famously joked that his mother should have had
him five years earlier so that he could have avoided Michal Jordan’s reign and
won a championship. I wouldn’t be the first to relate Andy’s situation with Federer
to Barkley’s statement. After his win at the U.S. in 2003 Andy went on to play
in four more finals, three at Wimbledon and another U.S., and every time he met
Rodger Federer. If it wasn’t for Federer who knows how many grand slams Andy
would have won? He likely would have stolen a few more U.S. Opens, as well as
multiple Wimbledon championships. It’s safe to say that he would have gotten at
least one Australian too, where Federer knocked him out in the semi-finals on
more than one occasion. But I should stop making excuses for Andy; after all he
never made excuses for himself.
Either way Andy’s fate has always
been and probably always will be liked to his great nemesis Rodger Federer. In
the press conference where Andy announced his retirement a reporter noted that
both Andy and Federer were 30 and Andy replied, “I didn’t want to make it through
this press conference without a direct comparison to Rodger, so thank you for
that.” In fact what many consider to be Andy’s greatest tennis match ever, and
one of the best tennis finals ever played, was against Rodger Federer. In 2009,
three years after his last final Roddick made it to his second Wimbledon final.
The match was truly epic, both men seemed unbeatable. At 77 games it was the
longest grand slam final ever played, the final set alone was an amazing 30
games, with both Roddick and Federer refusing to give an inch. Roddick remained
unbroken on serve until the final game of the match. Roddick’s determination
and drive even in defeat won him untold more fans, especially in England. Even
Duchess Pippa Middelton came to watch his match while Brit Andy Murray was making
a (successful) title run a few courts over.
In his last two tournaments Andy
wore shoes with the American flag on them, rather appropriate considering that
he had big shoes to fill for American tennis. For years Andy carried the banner
of American tennis by himself, and now with his retirement there are sadly no more
truly great Americans, and it may be a long time before another arrives. Andy
Roddick was one of the greatest to ever play the game. He was also one of the smartest
and genuinely funny athletes I've ever seen. In this age athletes lie and deceive
any chance they get, it’s even considered part of the culture in some sports, but
Andy Roddick was honest to a fault. He wouldn’t sugar coat things he felt were
unfair, or if he felt like he was asked a stupid question at a press
conference.
I leave you with this, a press
conference of one of Andy’s worst defeats, the semi-final of the 07 Australian
Open, where he was crushed by Federer. It shows his honesty, his disappointment
at defeat, his wit, and his snarky and sarcastic nature. Most of all it shows
his willingness to never back down.
He also married Brooklyn Decker, pictured below:
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