Other Sports February 2008

Andy Roddick

– Walking tall with his feet on the ground

by Barry Wood

In a world of super-inflated egos, Andy Roddick stands out as

someone who never takes himself too seriously. The 25-year old American has had to deal with the unrealistic expectations of a nation that assumed he could simply step into the giant footsteps created by Pete Sampras, Andre Agassi, Jim Courier and Michael Chang. But things just don’t happen that way, and although he could have grown bitter about being unable to scale the incredible heights of his predecessors, he has instead kept a sense of balance.

One of the players who has stood in his way, twice at Wimbledon and more recently at the US Open, is Roger Federer. Roddick always comes out second-best, but with a sense of humour and perspective intact.

Take Wimbledon in 2004. He’d just suffered the disappointment of defeat in a Grand Slam final, but still Roddick was able to come up with the memorable ‘I threw the kitchen sink at him but he threw the bath tub’ line during the presentation ceremony. When Federer dumped on him again in the 2005 final, there was the same sense of perspective.

“You just have to sit back and say ‘too good’ sometimes. For me, if you can’t compete against the best and beat the best, then you don’t deserve to win these titles. And that’s what I’m faced with.”
Two years later, at the US Open, Andy’s lost to Superman again, but instead of bitching and feeling sorry for himself he yet again demonstrated his sense of balance in life was still intact.

“If I feel sorry for myself I’m a real asshole,” he said. “Honestly, I get a lot of opportunities. I’m very lucky. If I start feeling sorry for myself I need a serious sense of perspective. I was having a lot of fun. I’d have to be completely out of touch not to realise what the atmosphere was like out there tonight.

“If I don’t have fun doing that, then I’m not going to have fun playing tennis. It was a treat to play out there. You can just feed off the energy. It’s a show. You walk out there, you’re part of a very small percentage of people who can go out there and hear someone cheer for them, compete on that stage with that amount of hype. I’d have to be totally out of touch not to realise that and appreciate it.”
Roddick also recognises that his job offers him more privileges that others his age just don’t have. Many Americans find no need to travel beyond their own shores, but Roddick relishes the opportunity to observe other cultures.

“It’s pretty cool for an American,” he said on one trip to Europe. “Our country’s not real long on history, which was my favourite subject at school. We have little houses back home that were built in 1850 and everybody goes: ‘Oooh!’ To come over here and see things, the history is pretty amazing.

“I think growing up on tour and kind of having to rely on yourself, and being able to be exposed to other cultures and things like that, allows you to grow up a little faster. Especially as an American. In our youth we don’t get a lot of chance to travel as much as the rest of the world. In America you drive two hours and you might still be in the same city. You can drive two hours from here and be in a totally different country.

“I definitely make a point to at least have a walk around – in no direction in particular. You just run into stuff. You get lost and all of a sudden you make a right turn and you’ll be staring at the Coliseum. So I feel I’ve been blessed with a little bit of culture and I’ve probably learned a lot through travelling.

“Obviously you don’t like sitting on planes for days at a time, but at the same time I love being able to see different parts of the world, and I think what seems tough at the time you look back on with the most fondness. The biggest thing I’d change would be the length of the schedule. The travel, you make the decision on the places you go for the most part so it’s not so bad.”

There’s something else. Roddick’s celebrity status makes it easy for him to meet others in a similar position. Sometimes he’s in awe.
“I’m friendly with a member of the Dave Matthews Band, Boyd Tinsley. He’s one of my best friends, and it’s a little weird because they were my favourite band when I was 10 years old and all of a sudden on my off-weeks I can go and hang out and watch shows.

That’s probably one of my favourite parts about it, being able to meet people that I’ve admired for a long time.

“Sometimes it’s not normal. I don’t know if you ever get used to that, like talking to Elton John on the phone.”

He knows Elton John because the singing star is a keen player and is often involved in assisting with charity events. He has helped Andre Agassi raise funds, and he’s also helped out Andy. Agassi, in fact, was the inspiration for the Andy Roddick Foundation, which is run by his mother, Blanche.

“It helps at-risk youth in the Florida and Texas areas,” Roddick explains. “We’ve raised close to $7 million now and it’s fun. I always say selfishly I think I get more out of it than anybody.”

With such a sense of balance, he’s
worth an extra cheer when he
steps onto the court at the 2008
Barclays Dubai Tennis
Championships.