AMERICA’S WARRIOR REFLECTS ON ROGER FEDERER, LANCE ARMSTRONG, SERENA WILLIAMS, U.S TENNIS AND A CHANGING GAME
It’s been a decade since Andy Roddick won a Slam. Still, all the while, the big, proud Texan has been the face of American tennis; a brave, if not always triumphant, warrior who battled with the best of them. After beating young American Ryhne Williams 6-3, 6-4, 6-4 in the first round, Roddick – who just turned 30 – spoke with the media.
Question: The age of the top 10 players has gone up dramatically.
Andy Roddick: The game has become a lot more physical. You have to be a fully grown human to deal with the ins and outs of the physical grind … You have to kind of take a beating week in and week out.
Q: What are the differences in the way you played today, versus when you won the here [in 2003]?
AR: The game has changed a lot. You used to be able to get two feet under you so you could kind of launch the ball a lot more then. I had a massive serve at 135, and this kid today was hitting them that big. The game has gotten significantly better.
Q: What do you marvel most about Roger’s return to No. 1?
AR: I was never off the Roger bandwagon … I’m not surprised to see him back there … He never stopped being the greatest. It’s just a matter of who’s got the hot hand. Novak was playing unbelievable last year. Roger was a little unfortunate in the match here last year and a couple of others. That we can talk about his matches, the negative ones tells you something about him.
Q: You do extraordinary work with your foundation and you were inspired by Lance Armstrong. Now Lance has been stripped of his Tour de France titles. He’s done so much good work, but now this.
AR: It’s tough to talk about it as a whole with what he’s done as far as positive versus what he’s accused of … You have to pick your side and then have an opinion … I don’t think it’s that simple. I don’t know anything more than you guys do, but he has done a lot of good. Hopefully that won’t change, because he’s a pretty big symbol for a lot of people. It’s almost bigger than his sport what he’s been able to accomplish with his foundation.
Q: Do you think that the drug testing in tennis is important to maintain? Should it be maintained or intensified, or should they stop knocking on your door at 6:00 in the morning?
AR: I’m fine with it. I’m not always real thrilled when they show up at 5:30 in the morning. I think it’s necessary. It’s certainly not convenient when you’re trying to have dinner somewhere and they say, ‘Come back now and you’ve got to do it.’ Our [testing] is probably better than any other sport, as far as what we have to be accountable for. We’ve had a couple guys get suspensions in this sport for stuff that every person buys at GNC or at Walgreens. You know, Sudafed. So it’s pretty intense. I’d rather have it that way than us sitting around being in that position of not knowing.
Q: What are your thoughts on Serena dominating?
AR: Again, I have a hard time seeing how that’s a new story. She’s been great for a long time … When she is playing her best throughout the course of her career … no one’s really challenged her ‑ with the exception of Justine ‑ for a little while. You take Serena playing well I think against anybody in the field any day.
Q: Would you agree with Kim Clijsters who said Serena was the best ever?
AR: Well, I’m sure Steffi would argue that. It’s tough to compare. If you’re comparing their highest level at a given moment in a straight‑up match, that’s more of a conversation, but I’m not sure that Serena would sit here and tell you that you can compare 14 to 22 [slams] yet.
Q: You talked about getting to the second week as a birthday gift. At this stage, is that a very acceptable result?
AR: No, there is no acceptable result. You … try to win your second round. You go as far as you want. Or as far as you can. I don’t think we think of it in the context of what’s acceptable.
Q. What are your thoughts on the future of men’s tennis in America? Who are some of the guys that have impressed?
AR: It’s not always pointing towards the guys that are 18 and 19 … You know, Isner has impressed me this summer. He’s only a couple years younger than me, but he’s coming into his own with that serve. And he doesn’t have a lot of wear and tear. He hasn’t been out here for 10 or 12 years, so he should have five, six good years left. Sam’s been playing better. So I have liked what I’ve seen from the guys that we know.
Q: Milos Raonic says the thing he admires most about Federer is his fluidity.
AR: Fluidity is great. I respect the fact that he lost No. 1 and he went back and got it … He’s able to come out here and be motivated day after day, he’s beyond reproach. You can’t really say anything bad about him, but he still wanted to get back there. Seems like he’s never satisfied, and that’s pretty respectable.
Q: You worked very hard, big serve and big forehand early on. Then you worked hard to add things to your game. Were you always adjusting?
AR: No, the game completely changed. I was able to recognize it. It’s funny, because the things I feel like I get criticized for having kept me around a lot more than my contemporaries. I came up with Marat and Ferrero and a couple other guys. I saw the way the game was going. You have to get stronger and quicker. I don’t think there was much room for a plodder who could hit the ball pretty hard.
Q: Could you talk a little bit about your coach Larry Stefanki.
AR: Larry has a very high tennis IQ. If I make a small adjustment or am tinkering a little bit, he can see it right away. There are not a lot of people who can see that. He has a very smart tennis mind.
Q: We are hearing about possible strike threats for Australia.
AR: The ATP, the ITF, powers that be are betting against us being able to unify, and they have been getting away with that gamble for 25 years and we haven’t proved them wrong yet. That’s where we stand. U2 doesn’t ask permission to go on tour. We ask permission do a lot of things.
Q: To sort them out, there is not an easy, quick…
AR: You’re dealing with a bunch of different languages, different agendas, guys who play singles, guys who play doubles, guys who play clay, guys who play hard. My view is more of a scope what’s best for the game, not exactly what’s the cut in Kitzbühel and how do we fix that … Maybe I have too simplistic of a view on it.
Q: What was your take on the move that San Jose is basically going to Rio?
AR: Well, you don’t like losing tournaments. I don’t like that trend that’s been being set of taking tournaments from here internationally. When I started there were close to 20, 22 events here, and now I think we’re down to 12 or 13. It just speaks to the popularity of the game; it has grown globally the last 20 years and people want ATP tennis. As with anything, you guys in your job, a lot of times, you will follow the story that leads to the money trail. It’s not any different for tournaments. So until we can step up in the marketplace, it’s always going to be. It’s free trade, also.
Q: Personally, were you sad to see it go because you played it for so long?
AR: I don’t like seeing it go. We have one more year, which is nice. But, we need events like that for the generations coming up here.
