Andy Roddick

I was planning to write something about Andy Roddick after his final match... But a friend's post inspired me to just write much of my feelings about him right now, while he is playing what is probably his last match of his career...

Tonight against Del Potro, is probably it, but Andy Roddick is actually my favorite player--mainly because even if the expectations were set so high (and everyone seems to always expect American Men's Tennis to be the absolute best in the world for whatever reason) and led an impression that he "dropped a baton..."

I see him as someone who has over-achieved, fighting with and as part of one of Tennis' best generations despite a game many would consider as "limited" or "not as talented as most of his peers." He fought with grit, determination, and he happened to be pretty entertaining while doing all of that. His press conferences were always entertaining to me as well. And he was "very American" in much of the good (he was a fighter with a smart mouth) as well as the bad (he could be a disrespectful ass to the chair on many occasions), but despite himself he also carried a lot of perspective and didn't even complain about the pressures of being the figurehead of American Men's Tennis.

It's been an awesome many years watching him fight! And to be honest, I think he gave it everything he had and more. Fate did not give him the status of the best of his generation, but he defied fate more than almost anyone I can imagine--at least in sports. And I'll be damned if that's not inspiring ^_^

 

For me, as a Tennis fan, there have been a lot of memorable Roddick moments for me. This Sports Illustrated article highlights some of them ^_^

http://tennis.si.com/2012/08/30/andy-roddick-retires-videos/?sct=tn_bf1_a6

I think Wertheim (one of my favorite Tennis writers) sums up Roddick's career best:
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/tennis/news/20120830/andy-roddick-retires/?sct=tn_bf3_a6

And here are some of the numbers from his career (again from SI):
http://tennis.si.com/2012/08/30/andy-roddick-retires-numbers/?sct=tn_bf1_a7

 

I should also write that it is also sad seeing Kim Clijsters retiring (I imagine her final retirement) this year too. While Roddick was my favorite, there are a lot of reasons for the haters to hate on him. It is hard to imagine any real reasons to hate on Kim Clijsters, she was an amazing player, a complete class act, and one of the most wonderful personalities in sports. History better be more than wonderful to her because she definitely was, imo, one of the best tennis players in history and in so many ways.

 

Well, $21,000,000 and a trophy wife later, he did GREAT for himself. I knew he won the US Open that one year, but I forgot about the 4 runner-ups in Grand Slams.

In this age of Fed/Rafa/Joker, who's gonna step up for the US?

Roddick, and his post-match press conferences will be missed.

 

It'll be interesting to see who will be able to step up for the US now.

Hats off to Roddick, though. He had a great career.