When I think of Andy Roddick, the first thing that comes to mind is his mind-blowing serve. At one point, he held the record of a 155mph serve during a Davis Cup match against Vladamir Voltchkov. Basically, Andy can blast a tennis ball faster than you can drive your car down the freeway.
With 612 wins, a 74% winning record, and 32 titles, he is easily one of the greatest tennis players of this generation. Unfortunately, he had to be born in the same era as Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, and Novak Djokovic. Because of the aforementioned three tennis greats, Roddick can only claim the 2003 US Open as his own. Such a shame that he had to run into them so many times, or perhaps we would be speaking of Andy breaking Samparas's record of 14 Grand Slams.
At times, the media would show him as petulant with his notorious outbursts and angry tirades. But we need to remember this man as one of the good guys of the sport. His foundation contributes to help at-risk kids by providing them with educational and other opportunities that otherwise would never be given to them.
So to you Mr. Roddick, happy trails and enjoy your retirement. Spending time with Brooklyn Decker is not such a bad retirement option.
photos courtesy of showstalker.net, vtennis.co.uk
3 comments:
the face of American tennis for a decade. respect.
not sure if that says a lot about him, or how much Men's tennis in the USA has been awful for the last decade...
For all of his faults, I appreciated what he did and the longevity/class that he did it with.
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