By Justin Chaffee
As he walked up to the service line, bearing his patriotic star and stripes shoes, he bounced the yellow fuzzy ball, and wiped the sweat pouring from his brow. Now with his mind racing was ready to reach back, and give it one more, just one last thunderous serve……
This past Wednesday September 5th American Tennis player Andy Roddick retired at the US Open after losing to Argentina’s Juan Martin Del Potro in four tight sets. It’s always a sad moment, when a sports athlete decides to hang up their respected glove, stick, helmet, or in this case racket, but unlike most sports you still have the team to follow. Tennis is different, being an individual sport, with the average age of retirement being around thirty. So what happens when your favorite player decides to call it a day? In my case you reflect, and realize just how much of an impact an athlete the certain athlete has had on your life. If you play the sport that the respected athlete excels in, then in many ways, they are a part of you, and you come to the realization that whether you knew it or not at the time, they are more than just athletes they are heroes, role models, even teachers.
We’ve always lived in times, where everyone is in search of a hero. Whether it’s Batman, Spider-man, or if you live in New England, maybe it’s Tom Brady. With all due respect to the crime fighters, those while they offer aspiring traits, at the end of the day do not exist. That’s another element that makes sports athletes so great. They’re flawed, their real, their human. Unfortunately, we are seeing a lot of athletes being stigmatized by steroids, and true athletes are becoming a rarity. Andy Roddick is one of them.
Andy Roddick is the definition of all American. Born in Nebraska, raised in Texas, and then Boca Raton Florida, he was always grateful for his parents for giving him the opportunities they never had. Andy has an older brother, John who, at the time seemed like he would be the next great American Tennis Player. That is until Andy got older.
If you’re a tennis fan you know for the most part about Roddick’s accomplishments. For those that do not let’s recap briefly. Roddick was able to capture the US Open title in 2003, and although he has been unfairly dubbed as a one slam wonder, you need to look at the state of the men’s game, and keep in mind Roddick has played in quite possibly the golden age of tennis, with Djokovic, Nadal, and Federer all the top of the game. The competition has never been greater. Roddick also led the US Davis Cup Team to capture the cup in 2007 over Russia, and perhaps one of the most impressive aspects of Roddick’s career is he managed to stay in the top ten for ten consecutive years. For a sport so physically demanding on the mind and body, this is quite an accomplishment. There are many other highlights of Roddick’s career,
I won’t get into all of them, but there is one I want to pay close attention to.
The 2009 Wimbledon final Roddick went up against perhaps the greatest player to ever pick up a tennis racket, Roger Federer on his best service. A heavy underdog, Roddick pushed the great Federer to five sets. Many tennis experts even John McEnroe, has stated that this was the best match of Roddick’s career, but how can that be possible if Roddick lost when Federer managed to win the fifth set 16-14? As we learned from the movie Rocky, Rocky squares off against the heavyweight champion Apollo Creed, and lose, but Rocky confesses to Adrian the night before, he doesn’t care if he wins or loses to him all he wanted to do was go the distance with the best. This loss is the same for Roddick’s. It wasn’t about the heartbreaking outcome as much as the ability to go the distance, to push the best of the best to the brink, and give it all you got. That in an essence is Andy Roddick. Sure, he may not be the most talented, but he will give you everything he’s got, every time, and not leave anything on the court. This is a true definition of a fighter.
The philosopher Aristotle wrote about the importance or role models in one’s life…“Cherish some man of great character, and keep him always in mind. Then live as if he were watching you and order all your actions as if he saw them.†Role models, teachers, heroes have always been important in my life. For me, it’s Andy Roddick, my parents, and my Uncle. As I hit the tennis courts, I looked up to Andy Roddick in every way, from his game, to his work ethic on and off the court.
As Roddick’s professional career came to an end, it also reminded me how important it is to live in the moment. This is a key to living a successful life. It sounds, simple, but most of the time, we get caught up in what the future will hold, and wanting to change the mistakes of the past, we lose focus of the moment. One of tennis’s great life lessons is that it teaches you to move on from a mistake, and focus on the point at hand. In Roddick’s case it especially became clear with each match as he drew closer and closer to retirement. He played each tournament, each match in the moment, knowing this may be it, perhaps even more so, than when he was younger.
In an age, where sports heroes have become a rarity, especially with the tarnish of steroids, Andy Roddick is genuine. Off the court, Roddick founded the Andy Roddick Foundation, which supports at risk youth. He also has made plans to build a sports learning center that not only focuses on sports, but builds character and discipline within kids. The school will be located in Austin and after tennis Andy wants to be very involved in its development. He has been co-hosting a radio show, with Bobby Bones on Fox Sports Radio on Saturdays, and wants to pursue this passion.
Roddick is appreciative and knows how lucky he has been in life. In his press conference at after his final match at the US Open he said, “I’ve been very lucky and very fortunate. I’ve gotten a lot of opportunities. I wouldn’t trade away a day of it. I got to play. I’ve loved every minute.†To Andy Roddick, a champion, I want to say thank you, for the inspiration, for being an example of a true sports hero, who no matter what, went out there, left nothing on the court, and always managed to crack a joke after a hard loss. Thank you for giving back to those less fortunate and for being the torch bearer of American tennis in one of the toughest eras the sport has ever seen. You will be missed, and I know each time, I walk onto the tennis court, or am faced with the trials and tribulations life may throw my way, I will think to myself, what would Andy Roddick do? He’d keep fighting, no matter what.
Justin Chaffee is a long-time supporter of Andy Roddick, based in Maine. This is his first essay for Tennis-prose.com.
(Andy Roddick photo by Brett Connors.)
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Dan Markowitz · September 8, 2012 at 2:40 am
Good stuff, Justin. Welcome to the site. I enjoyed your piece. Roddick did put tremendous effort and heart into his tennis career and although his actions were sometimes questionable, he is to be commended and respected for qualities like hard work and passion.
Michael · September 8, 2012 at 3:39 am
“sure, he may not be the most talented, but he will give you everything he’s got, every time, and not leave anything on the court. This is a true definition of a fighter.”
No, that is the definition of a not fighter. Tomic left nothing on the court. Nadal/Ferrer/Roddick/Hewitt etc… leave everything on the court.
So I’ll try one more time to nip this ass-backwards use of a good expression (apparently used wrongly by Werthiem). The player that leaves everything on the court gave you everything he had — ON THE COURT.
Here is a bit from Murray’s interview Sept 3rd after beating Milos in which he uses the expression, correctly:
Q. Long summer. Do you feel mentally still fresh?
ANDY MURRAY: Not fresh (smiling)….It’s the last major event of the season. So I want to make sure I leave everything out there on the court….
Oh, the USO is still going.
The #1 junior girl (American T. Townsend) went out in straights and the #1 seeded boy went out in straights today.
Victoria Duval (American) continues to move along making the semis as does S. Crawford (also American). So there is a chance of an all American girls final. No such talent in the boys.
Serena played an exo on Ashe with the same girl I saw playing doubles the other day. I think her name was Errani. Why they played an exo after the long screach-fest is a mystery to me.
Dan Markowitz · September 8, 2012 at 1:46 pm
Michael,
What do you make of the fact that a semifinals can be so lopsided? Not much to the women’s game these past couple of years. Serena is the only must-see player. I don’t think a lot of people are flocking to Sharapova or Azarenka matches. Kerber really dropped the ball losing to Errani. She seemed to be the heir apparent to make some big noise in the women’s game.
I find it interesting that the three top junior women’s players in the U.S.–Stephens, Townsend and Keys–are all black. There’s always been a lot of talk and print about a great black American player coming up, but that really hasn’t happened. Blake would be the closest to that. But I guess the persona of the Williams sisters was bigger than that of Arthur Ashe.
I saw the No. 2 junior boy play, Peliwo of Canada, and was semi-shocked to see that he’s about as big as Ollie Rochus. He looked good, but not spectacular. And I saw the top American junior, I think he’s the best one, Mitchell Krueger, lose to a small Israeli guy who basically out-toughed him. And then Krueger promptly turned pro.
Michael · September 8, 2012 at 2:20 pm
Larry Scott’s exit timing looks spot on in hindsight. Remember back some years ago when there seemed to be more interest in the women’s game ? It is not in great shape these days and I believe they had trouble selling the women’s semis this year.
Duval is black too.
I spoke to the Canadian tennis coach guy that was watching and cheering Peliwo. He was the head of whatever the Canadian tennis organization is that supports him. (Basically they cover everything and ask for $5K per year and if the player can’t come up with that, they find that as well). When I asked about the height, he told me the player was 5’10” and I replied (gently though obviously I was stating the obvious) that’s a problem. I thought of Berankis.
I spotted one of the Junior girls way up in the Promenade with her coach watching the screechers play and I thought what a couple of bad role models, at least as far as the fans are concerned. I imagined her thinking, maybe if I scream louder then someday…
Steve · September 9, 2012 at 12:50 pm
I can relate Justin. I was very bummed the first time Henin retired. I had to make an amalgam Fed/Gasquet/Nalbandian/Nadal/Senior Tour to try to fill the void and it’s great but still not quite as enjoyable.