Andy Roddick is an inspiration
Andy Roddick has made over 15 million dollars in his tennis career, and countless more through endorsements. Last year the 2003 US Open winner famously married the absurdly beautiful Brooklyn Decker.
You can imagine it would be difficult to look at this resume and decide you need to overhaul your life. But that’s just what Andy Roddick did prior to the 2009 tennis season.
Following a high profile but ultimately fruitless collaboration with Jimmy Connors as his coach, Roddick entrusted his suddenly faltering professional career to Larry Stefanski. What’s more Roddick requested and accepted total guidance from Stefanski.
“I see your wife and pocketbook. I don’t care. Lose 15 pounds. Like yesterday.”
Yes.
“I’m sick of you accepting the conventional wisdom that you can’t consistently hit your backhand. That’s ridiculous. It is now another weapon for you.”
Yes.
“The difference between you and Roger Federer is not as pronounced as your 2-18 career record against him would suggest. You are now his equal.”
Yes.
…Almost.
Andy Roddick is in the midst of a career turnaround equal to Andre Agassi’s resurgence of 1998. Sure Agassi had plummeted to 122 in the world rankings before reemerging as a major title contender (I’m not sure Roddick ever dropped out of the top 10), but the distance between relevant and irrelevant was equal.
On Sunday Andy Roddick displayed two key recent additions to his game: a reliable and threatening backhand, and a previously lacking mental toughness. Roddick staggered the great Roger Federer with his baseline game to the point that John McEnroe rightly noted that the American was occasionally pushing the legend around the court.
Read again: Roddick was pushing Federer around the court with his groundstrokes. Roddick came up with a handful of devastating passing shots from his backhand and featured excellent depth and variety with the backhand throughout the match.
On top of having a fluid and exhaustive game, Federer’s greatness stems from his mental toughness. Roddick flat-out matched him Sunday. It would have been easy and predictable for Roddick to fold after blowing a 5-1 second set tiebreak lead. Instead Roddick steadied the ship and held his serve until the 30th game of the miraculous final set.
Despite losing, Andy Roddick asserted himself as a rightful successor to the American tennis legacy. Consider that he was completely out of the Grand Slam picture at the end of last year and his brisk recent rise becomes remarkable. Roddick has beaten Djokovic and Murray this year in majors. He also boasted his best ever finish at the French this year in making the 4th round.
I lived and died with every point on Sunday. It was like watching Agassi back in the day. At the end Roddick was reduced to resolutely choking back the bitter tears of what might have been, while Roger Federer smugly (not judging, he earned it) accepted his record breaking 15th major championship trophy.
Despite a life full of successes that 99.99999999% of people will never approximate, Andy Roddick decided that it wasn’t enough. If he continues with this recent dedication to the game Roddick will be able to look back on his career with zero regret because he gave everything he had. If he continues with this recent dedication he will win another major.
I guess what I’m trying to say in a roundabout/rambling way is that I am amazed and proud of what Roddick has accomplished to this point, and am completely invested in his career now. He has publicly declared his intentions, tried everything possible to realize them, and may or may not succeed. Who can’t relate to that? I see his effort and it motivates me to be better in the little stupid things I try to do in my life. This is why I watch.
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Amazing piece of writing. It captures in shot all my feelings that unfolded as the match wore on…..
Best of luck for Andy…….
I am a Rafa fan and was thrilled to see Andy Roddick perform so well at Wimbledon, he played fantastic tennis in his matches and I really thought his grit and determination would down the Fed. But for result of the second set, Andy would be celebrating his first Wimbledon title. Feds parading around like a gold plated diva did not impress me at all and he should have shown more respect for tennis and his fantastic opponent. Real champions show respect and humility to their opponents, like Rafa does. Andy, go and win it next time, this Brit will be supporting you all the way.
I hate the fact that Andy won more games yesterday, and leaves the loser.
He deserved victory!
I have feelings similar to this when it comes to Phil Mickelson. Now, Phil is less likable than Roddick, but I think in his sport he is one of the only players in the world to actually make the effort to take it to the next level. In the past 10 years Phil is the only guy who has contended with Tiger on any kind of consistent basis.
Phil’s problem is that he seems to be content after he gets ‘pretty close’ and then lets it slide away again. This creates a situation whereby he is constantly having to lose weight, dedicate himself in the offseason, and ‘take the next step’ to get back to where he’s almost the guy who can compete with Woods.
It will be interesting to see if Roddick takes this resurgence and continues to build with it, or if he kind of stalls out as one of the top 5, but not one of the top 2, players in the world.
Without taking anything away from great Roger, it should be fair to say nobody in the world would have complained on sunday if Andy Roddick had won! As is very aptly brought out in this write-up, Roger – like any other true champion – has a steely mind, and his strength of mind is as much the reason as his sublime tennis skills behind his jaw-dropping success. But, on last Sunday, Andy matched him in exactly that area – strength of mind; well, till the last. That’s what has endeared him to m-a-n-y people (I believe). He played great tennis, but Roger displayed a shade greater resolve.
Well done, Andy! Here’s wishing you more success.
And, oh! An excellent write-up this. It grasped the thoughts very succinctly.
Nirmalya
I’m sorry, but comparing Roddick to Agassi is like comparing Tubby’s circumcised falafel to Lexington Steele’s Mizuno lumber — incomparable. Roddick is a good player, stuck in an era that belongs to Federer and Nadal (if his brokeback knees hold up). Prove me wrong, Andy, prove me wrong.
Although we have been friends for a long time, I didn’t want to embarrase myself with my lack of tennis technique or the extreme gayness of the website I’m hawking (hocking?). So I decided to get myself a bit of help before our first session. I “kinda” dissapear of the radar for a couple of weeks. The reason, I was training with an amazing series of oline videos on how to learn to play tennis.
To my amazement and his, my first class with him wasn’t bad at all. He immediately noticed that I had had “some help” so he asked what I did. I mentioned the videos, he took a peek and was quite impressed.
I am far from perfection, but I have been doing quite well.
I wish your old and dear friend Arturo linked up those tennis videos he was talking about. They seem really great and completely not gay.