“Maybe its for his birthday celebration, this boy is a showman he can do that” murmured someone.
“Is he withdrawing from the open?” said other in worrying voice. In the press conference hall in which they had gathered for the conference which was not scheduled.
"I'll make this short and sweet, I've decided that this is going to be my last tournament," said Andy Roddick who was wearing his trademark baseball cap in a very monotonous tone in front of a packed press conference.
Much like his on and off court behavior it was unexpected to listen that he will retire on 30th august on his 30th birthday.Specially after he was back in form in last couple of months. That is Roddick for you. He did it in his own way.
"I just feel like it's time. I don't know that I'm healthy enough or committed enough to go another year," he said. "I've always wanted to, in a perfect world, finish at this event”
"I don't know that I've ever been someone who's interested in `existing' on tour. I have a lot of interests and a lot of other things that excite me. I'm looking forward to those."
Says much about his attitude towards the game and his love for the Home Slam. And if we look back in his interviews. Years ago he has mentioned it many times that he would like to play the game at the top and not just for the sake of the pay checks.
Roddick could not resist to make a few jokes like he always does..
Reporter: what does your wife feels about this?
A-rod: I haven’t asked her yet (laughter).. I’m joking.
Reporter: “What do you think you'll miss the most? You've been doing this a long time.
A-rod: All of you (smiling)
Going 10 years down the lane on the same venue 21 years old Andy Roddick was serving for the match in the 3rd set against 3rd seed Juan Carlos Ferrero(who will become no1 just after the tournament) infront of the full capacity crowd including the likes of Justin Henin. The crowd went crazy and andy had to stop for a while before serving..
1st point: boom.. Juan managed to put the raquet in the line of the ball but the return is long.. 15-0
2nd point: ace 30-0 (a kid in the background shouting 149, 149!, he served a 149mph serve earlier) , 3rd point ditto 40-0 ,
and it’s a triple championship points for young American, and Roddick serves 3rd consecutive ace of the game to win US open which would be his first and last grandslam till now. all of this happened in 46 seconds those who saw this were in a little disbelief after seeing such a show from the youngster.
US crowd was no stranger to this moment infact last year only Pistol Pete won the US open and Aggasi was world no1 at that time. But he was 33 and the Americans were looking for their next generation of superstars and and certainly Andy became one of them that night.. Known for his confidence and self belief Andy could not stop his tears.. But what was to follow was a roller coaster ride.. In which he will carry the American tennis for the next decade almost on his own.
The Swiss-job:
Many people expected Andy to win many slams and reach great heights like his peers did. His impressive juniors career and the initial years of him on the tour suggested the same for the things to come. Andy too continued to roll along on the tour , reaching the semis and the finals on many tournaments regularly . but every time he reached to the point of threatening a shot at another slam there was one man on his way. “Roger Federer”.the swiss proved tobe a nightmare for the young american’s dreams.
Out of 24 times they have met each other. 23 times it was on or after the quarter final stage, infact the only time the meet each other before that was possibly their last meeting in 2012 in Miami where andy beat federer in round of 32. And federer who 21 out of their 24 meetings.
It was even worse in the grandslams. They met 8 times in the grandslams and Roddick lost all of them. A semifinal and three finals at Wimbledon, a final and a quarter final at US open and two semifinals at Australian open. Roddick never came close to winning it expect the last time they met in a grandslam in 2009 wimbledon. where he was "almost" up two sets and hadn't lost the serve until the last game of the match. He later said sorry to Sampras because Federer went passed the tally of his 14 slam after Andy's defeat. Andy might have won the match but that made him favourite of the home crownd who already loved him so much
Roddick was simply outplayed by federer in all departments of the game including serving. But Andy never stopped trying. God knows howmany more slams Andy might have won if federer wasn’t there. This is how sports can be cruel to you, playing alongside one of the greatest players of all time. But Andy would be remembered for more than just being a one time grandslam champion and a former world number one.
Even though Andy's career(career in stats) was amazing in which he was very consistent remaining in the top 10 for almost all his career.. These are some of the things he would be better remembered which include mostly his off the court activity:
Style of play and serve:
You can almost not talk about A-rod without mentioning his serve which is for me the greatest serve in the game ever. If michael chang revolutionized the backhand for ever Andy changed the tennis serving. Many players like Monfils have tried to develop similar serve. If Andy was successful as much as he has been it has to be mainly because of his serve. Later on he improved his backhand but the main weapon in his arsenal remained his serve and a big forehand that followed it. He held the record for the fastest serve in the game which was broker later. Andy still holds the record of 4th fastest serve of all time. (155mph in a davis cup match in 2004)
Injuries, changes in coaches :
It was almost given that his body will take a toll, If you are serving over 130 mph for years your body is gonna react. Imagine the load on the legs and the stress to the back. Andy had to withdraw from the many events including two french opens. But Andy opposite to his image was very hard working and commited to the game. He wanted to comeback stronger every time. Andy had as many as 6 coaches including some of the most high profile names like Brad Gilbert, Jimmy Connours and Larry Stefanki. His coaches and support staffs have often mentioned that they have not seen more commited guy than Andy in their life which is true. Even though he changed his coaches he stil has good relations with them.
Davis Cup 2007:
Not many guys can boast about winning davis cup and playing a major role in it. Even Roger Federer hasn't done it yet. In 2007 Andy Roddick played some of his best tennis and won every single match he played in that event. In the finals USA beat Russia 4-1 to win. And a nation with rich davis cup past USA hadn't win davis cup in last 12 years. James blake has publically thanked Andy for the davis cup which he think USA won only because of him.
Personal Life:
Roddick has Dated some of the world's most beautiful hotties. Even before his 21st birthday Roddick was datting Mandy Moore(voted in almost all polls of the top 10 beautiful women alive). they couples parted ways in 2004.
Rumours had it that Andy and Maria Sharapova were Datting during 2005-2006 but Roddick himself rubbished the news saying that the were a good friends maria is a nice girl but there is nothing between two.Roddick started dating Brooklyn Decker in 2007. the couple married in april 2009 and Brooklyn is said tobe the main reason why Roddick didn't quit earlier. she motivated Andy constantly during his lows.
Roddick has always been in spot light and has never hidden much about his personal life. Roddick regulerly tweets from his verified account.
Roddick is Good friends with James Blake, Mardy Fish, The Bryan Bros. William sisters (with whom he trained for some time as a kid). Maria Sharapova and Some of the upcoming young players from America like Isner, Sam Querrey, Ryan Harrison. Andy has been more than a role model to the youngsters in America. He guided them as a mentor and often practiced with him.
On-court Tirades:
Andy some times lost his cool during the match and yelled the the officials. The thing with it was he always lost the match when he lost his cool. let it be AO 08 or Ao 10..
Roddick once famously said during the match:
“I’m going to speak very slowly so that you can understand me. You’re an idiot. Do you have to be like a second grade dropout to be an umpire? Did you go to school until you were eight years old? I think you quit school before you were 10,” Roddick said to an official, before addressing the crowd: “Stay in school, kids, or you’ll end up being an umpire”
Impersonations:
Younger fans here would have seen Novak Djokovic impersonating different players but I bet Roddick is the best when it comes to impersonations. here are links to two of his funniest impersonations but he can do it for more people than those shown in these clips. have a laugher ride.
Off the court Activities:
Andy is no stranger to the Glam world. He has been featured many times as a guest in various chat show like the late night show with david letterman, Andy has also been hosting the radio show on sports and entertainment for few years.
Andy has his own foundation which takes care of more than 150 children every year. he regularly tweets about the events of his foundation which is managed by his mother.
Andy has been the first choice of the organizers of the charity matches because of his public apeal and sense of humoiur.
Quotes:
I call Roddick the Shaq(famous retired basketball player) of tennis. I mean this guys maybe the funniest tennis player ever. he had a wicked sense of humor. he was unbeatable with his comic sense of timing and I have not seen many people doing press conference better than this guy. he was a leader. He had the karizma and charm that would win the heart of people and Specially girls. It would be harsh to say these are the top 10 or top 20 quotes of roddick because A seperate blog on roddick's quote might also not be enough but these are some of the famous quote that I remember and came across while preparing this blog.
1) Question:"How do you rate Gonzalez's chances?" (in the 07 AO Final v Federer)
"Slim."
2)Question "What was your favourite press conference?"
"I don't really rate press conferences. It's not as though I leave the room fist-pumping my way down the corridor after a good one."
3)“I'm fine with it. I'm not always real thrilled when they show up at 5:30 in the morning. I think it's necessary.”- about being asked if he was okey with the drug tests
4)“If you write #nestorforever @justinbieber follow you..... Serious” he joked on twitter on how justin bieber randomly followed people on twitter
5)“I’m equally unproud of my sweater and my rap performance,” about his rap performance
6)The Bryan brothers always try to get me to sing with their band, but I've retired from the Bryan Bros. Band.
7)“I’m going to speak very slowly so that you can understand me. You’re an idiot. Do you have to be like a second grade dropout to be an umpire? Did you go to school until you were eight years old? I think you quit school before you were 10,” Roddick said to an official, before addressing the crowd: “Stay in school, kids, or you’ll end up being an umpire”
8) "I'm the most successful bad player ever.
9) “You’re on live TV, you know – you look like a real moron right now.”
10) “He’s got ankle injuries. And a back and a hip. And cramp. And bird flu. Anthrax. SARS, a common cold and a cough,” Roddick on Novak Djokovic’s ailments at the US Open one year.
11) “I’m pretty convinced that I could be a tennis analyst when I’m done. It just doesn’t take much thought. It’s the easiest job in the world.”
12) “Hey, you guys with the ladders, if you come here I’ll buy you pizza.” Roddick to the firemen who were rescuing him and other players after a fire in a hotel in Rome.
13)"Pretty much the only time I ever wear a suit is to the formal Davis Cup dinners."
14) “oh it felt great.. you can not ask for a better way to start the tournament. He played so amazing last year to win here. He school me last time so this time it was one less person to play” about being asked what does he feel about Sampras retiring in 2003 late night show with david letterman
15) “he has about as much dorpshots as much as has had throughout my career so.. haha haha” when asked how do you rate Rhyne williams his 1st round opponent at US open 2012
16)“If there were rankings for press conferences, I wouldn’t have to worry about falling out of the top five.”
The way ahead:
Andy had decided that he wil hang up his boots and as far as I know he will not comeback from his retirement like some players do. So we can do nothing but accept the fact the he is not gonna be there. And if we think he has made a right choice. I dont think I can see Andy as some world number 126 guy who plays in the grandslam events with wildcards and has no chance to win it. As many say the right time to exit the game is when you are at the top. andy is not exactly on the top but he isn't bad either. He has been struggling with injury and was as low as world #34 in febuary this year first time since 2001. He may be retiring but he will still be the last North American to win a Grand slam. he will still be the guy who won US the davis cup after 12 long years and he will still be our favouritet Andy whom we dont want to miss in action.. Roddick like Safin was a real character. Maybe Safin was more talented than roddick but roddick was real hard worker and a real fighter. Some times mis understood and full of life. one of the better humans off the court.
Roddick plans to give a proper day to day attention to the youth tennis and learning center in austin after retirement. he said he still love tennis and would not stop playing it so we may see him in many exhibition and charity matches.
Once he mentioned in an interview to the duece magazine:
"One thing I did was ask Andre [Agassi] what he regretted. Of course I figured he'd say something about tennis, but instead he said he wished he'd started his foundation even earlier."
And Some of you will be surprised to know that he founder the Andy Roddick Foundation back in 2001. DO expect him to come up with various programs for the welfare of the under previleged people.
Given his personality Andy was almost sure to enter into entertainment world. we might expect him Doing the radio show on Daily basis of maybe atleast more frequent than it was earlier. I wont be surprised if I see on TV or even in movies.
Or maybe he will surprise us again doing something out of the box like he always does.
Now that he at the end of his career lets hope the he completes the full circle by winning the slam which he won here a decade ago. Maybe against Roger Federer cause both are in opposite half. Whatever happens next it doesnt matter to us. You are a people's champion and always will be. Thankyou very much for every thing. hasta la vista!! :((
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