A few minutes with Andy Roddick
Andy Roddick took some time before traveling to DFW for the Super Bowl to talk with members of the media on a variety of subjects. Roddick, fresh from the Australian Open will be playing next at the Regions Morgan Keegan Championships in Memphis, TN.
Roddick talked about the importance of staying healthy throughout the season, something he has struggled with of late. “So now it’s just a matter of everything is healthy again, it’s a matter of getting the tennis back on track like we had it going last year. I think the most important thing about Australia for me was that I finished healthy after an extended period of playing.”
After the Super Bowl, Roddick will travel to New York to and spend some time with his new Davis Cup coach, Jim Courier. Roddick expressed his excitement at playing for Courier, “I’m excited. You know, there’s only a handful of guys who are Grand Slam champions that have been at the
top of the sport. So to be able to kind of pick the brain of a another guy who’s done that always excites me. Jim and I have been friends for a long time. He’s always supported me. I was certainly happy with his selection as our new Davis Cup captain.”
Roddick talked about the difficulties facing young players trying to break into the upper levels of the sport, since it was pointed out that the average age of a top-100 player this year is 26.2 years old. “I think that’s because tennis has become a lot more physical. When you’re playing with a not fully developed body at 18 or 19 years old, I just feel like it’s tougher nowadays than even when I came up 11 years ago. You see the mature players kind of doing better. There’s no such thing as a slow top tennis player anymore. In generations past, I don’t think that was the case.” He was asked about the perceived lack of young American players winning, “It’s become a much bigger sport worldwide, so it’s going to become a little bit more diluted. From what I’ve seen, I’d like to see the younger American players hungrier and really passionate about the game of tennis as opposed to just being content with traveling around.” He stressed the commitment required for a player to be successful, “For me, you know, I just want to see guys go to work. I think the mindset with the guys coming up, I’m a little bit ignorant about 11, 12, 13‑year‑olds, I’m far way removed from how to train that way, but the guys 15, 16, 17, 18 trying to make it, I think it has to be treated like a profession. Everybody else goes to work from 9 to 5, put in long hours. I don’t think that should be any different for a tennis player.”
Roddick mentioned the most significant changes he has seen to the sport recently, “Two things I think stick out to me. The movement is a lot better. I kind of alluded to that earlier. You have to be a really good athlete to play tennis now. Also the strings. You’re starting to see the first generation of these polyester strings. The guys that grew up with it, they’re able to take bigger swings. It’s a little bit of an adjustment for guys that have not played with that stuff. Everyone talks about racquets. The same racquets have been around for a while. I think it has a lot more to do with strings now.”
Roddick was asked about the recent trend of taller players on the tour. “I don’t think it’s any different than any other sport. You know, you’re seeing as people learn more about how to train, everything else, the athletes are getting bigger, stronger, faster. Everybody acts kind of surprised. If you compare Becker to Laver, he’s bigger. Then if you compare Del Potro to Becker, Del Potro is bigger. I think it’s been a pretty consistent trend from generation to generation.” He added, “I feel like a Michael Chang or a Lleyton Hewitt would find a way to be successful regardless. You can’t really put a height requirement on the amount of heart that someone has.”
Being the top American player for most of the past decade, and the only player other than Roger Federer to be ranked in the world’s top-10 for the last 9 years, Roddick has accepted his place as a role-model for younger players. “I’m certainly available for any of the up‑and‑coming kind of high‑level juniors, and I always have been. I’m certainly not going to force my opinions on anybody. But I’m willing to help. I certainly have always accepted the responsibility of kind of being I guess the figurehead of American tennis right now.”
While in DFW, Roddick will be taking his father, a lifelong Packers fan, to the Super Bowl.
