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After 13 Years As a Top Professional Tennis Player, Andy Roddick Steps

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After 13 Years As a Top Professional Tennis Player, Andy Roddick Steps EID. R ILLY ILLY A Life B TAG AND TAG S PORTS, PORTS, S ERNARD B T. T. S ROTHERS, ROTHERS, B More OORIN Ordinary G After 13 years as a top professional tennis player, Andy Roddick steps away from the game to focus on the next chapter of his life, which includes building up his foundation, spending more time getting to know his hometown of Austin and adjusting to a mellower way of life. By Erin Quinn / PhOtOs By MAtthEw MAhOn STYLING BY CRISTINA FACUNDO; HAIR AND MAKEUP BY TEXAS DELA ROSA; WARDROBE PROVIDED BY BY PROVIDED WARDROBE TEXAS DELA ROSA; HAIR AND MAKEUP BY FACUNDO; CRISTINA BY STYLING 86 AUSTINMONTHLY.COM / JUNE 2013 Roddick relaxing at Spanish Oaks Golf Club, where you’ll often find him playing 18 holes. AUSTINMONTHLY.COM / JUNE 2013 87 On A wArM APriL EvEning at the Barton Creek Country Club, the Darrell royal Ballroom is packed with folks dressed in their kitschy ’80s best. there’s a run- DMC lookalike, Marty from Back to the Future and a pregnant woman wearing a gigantic rubik’s Cube around her bump. Even radio show host Bobby Bones, who is there as emcee, has joined in, doing his best Michael Jackson impersonation in a sparkly fedora, white glove and tight leather pants. they are all here to support newly retired pro tennis star Andy roddick in his latest endeavor: transitioning his Andy roddick Foundation from a “pass-through” charity into a foundation that develops and inspires underserved children through sports-based mentoring and education. this party, and a celebrity golf tournament the next day, are the first new events the foundation has thrown since roddick announced his retirement on Aug. 30, 2012—his 30th birthday. thE Young gun Driving to meet Roddick for an interview is a tad nerve-wracking. The Nebraska native, who lived in Austin from the ages of 4-11, moved to Florida for better training and then moved back to Aus- tin in 2003, is known for his smarts, work ethic, wit—and bite, especially when talking to reporters. “You can’t really get much by him,” says Tennis magazine’s veteran senior editor Pete Bodo, who has been covering Roddick’s career from the very start. “One time, Doug Robson of USA Today, an outstanding fellow and writer, made the mistake of calling him a ‘one-slam wonder,’ which is an expression in tennis for a guy who maybe won a Grand Slam in the past but never won anything else, and Andy took umbrage at that. For quite a long time after that, he was pretty snotty whenever he ran into Doug. He definitely has an edge, there’s no question about it. But the thing is, you can’t fly anything by him; you can’t bullsh*t him, essentially. To his credit, I don’t think he bullsh*ts you, either.” When I meet him at the ARF facilities on Austin’s East Side, he greets me with a handshake and a big smile. “I’m Andy,” he says. Nothing is off-limits during our interview, and we discuss every- thing from his tennis career and his wife of four years, actress Brooklyn Decker, to his evolving foundation, how he’s adjusting to retirement and where he loves to hang out in Austin. Dressed in jeans, a light sweater and his signature ball cap, the 6-foot-2 Roddick is relaxed yet straightforward and concise with his answers. Does he miss anything about tennis? “I’ll see a night match, with the electricity in the air, and that makes me jealous for about five seconds,” he says. “Until I realize that it takes about two weeks of travel to get there, acclimatize, settle in—there’s a lot that goes into that two or three-hour moment.” A-Rod, as he’s nicknamed in tennis circles, had plenty of those moments in his 13 seasons as a professional tennis player. He turned pro in February 2000, after winning the Australian Open Junior Championship. He was only 17, but he already had a killer serve and top-notch forehand. That year, he played two matches against his idol, Andre Agassi (he lost both), and his big serve drew comparisons to Pete Sampras. With no other American teenagers making waves, Roddick was anointed the future of U.S. men’s tennis. He lived up to that title pretty quickly by winning the US Open in 2003, mere days after turning 21. “I’m in disbelief right now,” *Additional reporting by Amy Gabriel 88 AUSTINMONTHLY.COM / JUNE 2013 Roddick told reporters after his big win. “It’s so far-fetched for me. who never won a Grand Slam, made the Top 10 a bunch of years and I came here as a fan so much when I was younger. It is an absolute that was it. It’s a mixed blessing for him, in a way—and he knows it.” privilege to have my name on the trophy.” Although Roddick never won another major, he did have many Although he remained in the Top 10 for nine years (give or take other career highlights over the next nine years, including win- a few weeks), that was his first and last Grand Slam title. What ning 32 singles titles and amassing more than $20 million in prize happened? To put it simply: Roger Federer, the Swiss player who money. He held the record for fastest serve (155 mph) for seven many call the greatest of all time. Although Roddick reached No. 1 years, and he gave the sport one of its greatest matches ever when before him, Federer overtook him in the rankings in 2004 and held he courageously went toe-to-toe with Federer in their marathon onto the No. 1 spot for a record 302 weeks. Oh yeah, he also won an 2009 Wimbledon final. As for his Davis Cup career, he won 33 astounding 17 Grand Slam singles titles. singles matches, placing him second to John McEnroe, and helped Roddick had his chances, reaching four other Slam finals—the US the Americans beat the Russians in 2007 to win the Cup back after Open in 2006 and Wimbledon in 2004, ’05 and ’09—but standing a 12-year drought. “Andy was the ultimate professional,” says four- in his way was Federer every time. “If it weren’t for Federer, Rod- time Grand Slam winner and former No. 1 Jim Courier, who was dick would probably have two, maybe three Wimbledons, maybe the captain for the U.S. Davis Cup team in 2011. “He was always another US Open or two,” says Bodo. “In fact, he himself will tell prepared, always fit, always ready to battle.” you that he was very lucky to come along before Roger. If he came And battle he did. He fought to stay in the world’s Top 10 until along a year or two later, he may have just been one of those guys July 25, 2011, when long-standing injuries to his knees, ankles, Aces High A look at his career highlights 2000 Roddick turns pro and is named the world’s top junior after winning the Australian and US Open juniors titles. 2001 He’s the youngest player in the ATP Top 20. 2003 Roddick wins the US Open at age 21 and takes over the No. 1 ranking—for nine weeks. 2004 Another big year for the young star, Rod- dick reaches the final at Wimbledon (against Roger Federer) and leads the U.S. to its first Davis Cup final since 1997 by going 6-2 in singles matches. He also hits his record-breaking 155 mph serve at a cup match. 2005 For the second time, he faces Federer at Wimbledon and comes out the runner-up. 2006 He makes it to the US Open final—only to lose to Federer once again. 2007 A-Rod finishes in the Top 10 for his sixth straight season and helps the U.S. defeat Russia to win its first Davis Cup title since 1995. 2009 He reaches his third final at Wimbledon and goes up against—you guessed it—Federer. Despite not dropping serve until the final game of the match, Roddick just can’t hold on. Their 77-game final, which lasted four hours and 16 minutes, goes down as one of the best matches in history. 2010 Roddick is the top American men’s player and finishes in the Top 10 for a ninth straight year. He and Federer are also the only active players to win at least one title for 10 straight years. 2012 On Aug. 30, after battling injuries for several years, Roddick announces his retirement from professional tennis. Six days later, he plays his final pro match, losing to Juan Martin del Potro in the fourth round of the US Open at Arthur Ashe Sta- dium, the site of his one and only Grand Slam title. AUSTINMONTHLY.COM / JUNE 2013 89 shoulder and back, along with keeping up with Federer and Rafael is, the old saying ‘all men are created equal,’ that’s not always the Nadal, got to be too much for him. (Although he walked away with case,” he says. “Some are born with opportunity and, for lack of a a winning record, 5-4, against current No. 1 Novak Djokovic.) In better term, they piss it away, and some have all the motivation, all fact, when he announced his retirement, he mentioned his right the right intent, and they don’t get that opportunity.
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