Background

Ethnicity: Andy is of mixed ancestry. He has German, English, Norwegian, Welsh, Irish, French, Swiss and Dutch roots.

Andy Roddick was born on August 30, 1982, in Omaha, Nebraska, United States; the youngest of three boys in the family. His father, Jerry, owned several Jiffy Lube automobile maintenance franchises, and his mother Blanche (née Corell) was a school teacher.

Education

Some time later after Roddick's birth, his family settled in the Austin, Texas, area, where a very young Andy took tennis lessons. He was not the first tennis prodigy in his family. One of his older brothers, John, played on the junior circuit and made it into the top ten in the rankings during his teens. The family even relocated from Austin, Texas, to Florida so that John could train year-round. John was about six years older than Andy and went on to run a tennis academy in San Antonio, Texas, after retiring from competition because of a back injury.

Roddick came from a well-to-do family that could easily afford the expensive lessons and equipment necessary for early training in tennis. He picked up a racket to follow in his brother's footsteps and was intensely focused from an early age. He begged his mother to let him have a rebound net in the garage.

For his ninth birthday in 1991, Roddick's parents took him on a trip to Flushing, New York, where they watched the United States Open from the stands. At the age of fourteen, Roddick attended a tennis camp in Tampa, Florida, but did not like the intensely competitive atmosphere. Nor did he attend one of the well-known Florida tennis academies that train champions during their teen years. Instead, he went to a private school SEK Boca Prep International School and played on its basketball team. He graduated in 2000. Roddick also took high school classes online through the University of Nebraska High School.

Career

Roddick's talent as a tennis player began to gain attention in late 1999, not long after his seventeenth birthday. He won two juniors titles in Florida, the Orange Bowl, and the Eddie Herr International. In January of 2000, he traveled thousands of miles to play in the Australian Open. He was still in the juniors rankings and surprised many when he became the first American male player since 1959 to win the junior men's title.

Watching a young Roddick play, many sportswriters have compared him to Sampras. Both had similar physiques, forceful serves, and a strong forehand that unnerved opponents. Roddick had actually beaten Sampras the first time they ever went up against one another on the court, in March of 2001 at the Ericsson/Lipton ATP tournament in Key Biscayne, Florida.

Though many colleges tried to recruit Roddick for their tennis programs, he decided to turn professional instead. This also allowed him to sign endorsement contracts with sportswear makers, tennis racket manufacturers, and other companies. In just the second match that Roddick ever played as a pro, he made a surprisingly good showing against one of his heroes, Andre Agassi, at the Ericsson Open in Key Biscayne, Florida. Agassi beat Roddick, but many sportswriters hailed the teen as the next big star of American tennis.

During the 2001 season, Roddick struggled to fulfill that promise. There were several highlights, including the moment when he eliminated another one of his heroes, Michael Chang, early in the French Open in May. It was a long game that lasted nearly four hours, and halfway through it, Roddick began suffering from leg cramps. He seemed to play more fiercely then, commentators noticed. He admitted at the post-match press conference that he had been determined to come out on top.

Roddick failed to advance much further during the 2001 French Open. He was eliminated at Wimbledon and in the quarterfinals of the United States Open later that year. Both Opens, along with Wimbledon and the Australian Open, are known as tennis's "Grand Slam" titles. They are the toughest and most prestigious tournaments, watched by millions around the world, and also come with generous cash prizes for a first-place win. In 2002, Roddick once again failed to win any of the Grand Slam titles.

In May of 2003, after a disappointing performance in the first round of the French Open, Roddick replaced his longtime French coach, Tarik Benhabiles, with a new pro. Benhabiles had been a strict coach with the teenage Roddick when he needed firm discipline, but Roddick was now twenty years old. It was rumored that Benhabiles was trying to limit Roddick's social life in order to keep him focused on his game. But the tactful Roddick claimed that he switched coaches only because he needed more help learning to play on grass courts like Wimbledon.

Roddick began working with Brad Gilbert, Agassi's former coach, in June of 2003, and began a winning streak almost immediately. Later that month he made it to the semi-finals on Wimbledon's grass but was ousted by Roger Federer of Switzerland. The next big match-up was in August at the United States Open, held in New York at Arthur Ashe Stadium in Flushing Meadows, Queens. Though the tournament was repeatedly delayed by rain-outs, Roddick steadily beat his opponents and then eliminated Juan Carlos Ferrero of Spain. At the time, Ferrero was the number one-ranked men's player.

In November of 2003, Roddick played admirably in the Masters Series Cup and finished the 2003 season as the world's top-ranked men's player. He hosted the NBC series Saturday Night Live that same month. In May of 2004, he traveled to Rome, Italy, to play in another Masters Series tournament, where he was awakened by the smell of smoke at his hotel at five a.m. Roddick alerted other guests at the Grand Hotel Parco dei Principi and took them onto his sixth-floor balcony to await rescue. He also helped others down from the balcony above his. He was the last one to be rescued by firefighters and was praised for his heroics during the early morning blaze that killed three guests.

Later that month, Roddick was dampened by a loss to Olivier Mutis of France at the French Open. At Wimbledon, he broke his own speed record for serve-153 miles per hour-and made it to the Wimbledon finals for the first time. On July 4, he lost to Federer over four sets.

In August, Andy took part in the Summer Olympics in Athens, where he lost to Fernando Gonzalez in the singles tournament in the third round. At the United States Open, Andy lost in the quarterfinals to Joachim Johansson. At the 2005 Australian Open, Roddick managed to reach the semi-finals. In February, he won the first tournament of the year in San Jose. He won the next title in April at a tournament in Houston. In June, he won the London tournament for the third time in a row. At the Wimbledon tournament, he again managed to reach the final, where, like a year ago, he was opposed by Roger Federer. Once again, Roddick lost to the Swiss tennis player. He won the tournament in Washington in August. At the United States Championship, Andy unexpectedly lost in the first round to Gilles Müller.

Federer continued his mastery over Andy in the 2007 Australian Open, beating him in a three-set semifinal. Andy played well that spring, however, creeping back into the Top 10. In a Davis Cup match with Spain, Andy aggravated an earlier hamstring injury. He recovered to win Stella Artois, but he could not get out of the quarters, falling to Richard Gasquet in five sets. He played well the rest of the summer and was looking good at the United States Open, when he met Federer again and went down to defeat for the 14th time in 15 meetings. Andy finished the year, leading the United States to the Davis Cup title with wins over Sweden and Russia.

Andy won several spring tournaments in 2008, defeating Radek Stepanek in the final of the SAP Open. Later he beat Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal on his way to victory in Dubai. During that tournament, Andy and coach Connors decided to part ways. Because of the back and shoulder injuries, Roddick missed the French Open entirely and bowed out of Wimbledon in the second round to Janko Tipsarevic. He decided to skip the Olympics to get ready for the United States Open, but he fell to Djokovic in the quarterfinals. He quit the Tennis Masters Cup, due to an ankle injury.

In 2009, Andy hired Larry Stefanki to coach him. Roddick ripped through the Australian Open draw until he met Federer in the semifinals. He lost again, in straight sets. Andy lost to Federer twice more during the spring.

Andy continued his strong 2009, reaching the finals of his next tournament, in Washington, and the semis a week later in Montreal. He lost both times to Juan Martin del Potro. Roddick finished the year with an injury to his left knee.

Andy began 2010, winning his first tournament, the Brisbane International. The injury of the shoulder hampered Andy in the Australian Open, and he lost in the quarterfinals to Marin Cilic.

Roddick started the 2011 season by reaching the final at Brisbane and later he won the Cellular South Cup in Memphis. Andy also won the deciding match for the United States in their opening Davis Cup tilt, against Chile. His sore shoulder led him to pull out of the French Open.

In 2012, Roddick played his last tournament - the United States Open, but he lost in the fourth round to Martin Del Potro from Argentina. This was his last match and he announced to his fans about his retirement. In 2013, after his retirement, Roddick played his first professional golf tournament at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am and he was also hired by Fox Sports 1 to co-host their famous program 'Fox Sports Live.' In 2015, Roddick joined the BBC as pundit and commentator for the 2015 Wimbledon Championships.

Achievements

• Andy Roddick became one of the best tennis players in the world at the turn of the century. He gained prominence for his titanic serve and bruising groundstrokes and dominated the game early on as he ascended to the World No. 1 ranking and won the United States Open in 2003.
  
  Throughout his career, Roddick won thirty-two ATP singles titles, including one grand slam singles title and five ATP Masters 1000 singles titles. He was also the runner-up at the Wimbledon Championships in 2004, 2005 and 2009 and the United States Open in 2006, losing on all four occasions to Roger Federer. Roddick was also a four-time semi-finalist at the Australian Open and a three-time semi-finalist at the year-ending ATP World Tour Finals.
  
  Roddick won the 2004 ESPY Award for Best Male Tennis Player. He is also a recipient of the Arthur Ashe Humanitarian Award of the Year and the Arthur Ashe Institute for Urban Health Award. Roddick was the first male tennis player ever to receive the award.

Works

More photos

• movie

  • Unstrung

    (Unstrung exposes the dramas of the juniors tennis world, ...)

    2007
  • Just Go With It

    (After telling his girlfriend that he's married as a means...)

    2011

Views

Andy Roddick founded the Andy Roddick Foundation to help raise funds for organizations supporting children in need. He has also supported Bryan Bros. Foundation, City Harvest, Elton John AIDS Foundation, Laureus Sport for Good Foundation and Willow Foundation.

Quotations: "At one point in your life, you'll have the thing you want or the reasons why you don't."

"Most players who play tennis love the game. But I think you also have to respect it. You want to do everything you can in your power to do your best. And for me, I know I get insane guilt if I go home at the end of the day and don't feel I've done everything I can. If I know I could have done something better, I have this uneasy feeling."

"My serve has killed a small dog ... I'm joking, I'm joking! The dog was huge!"

"I'm the most successful bad player ever."

"Once you get to a certain level, anybody can beat anybody else on any given day."

"I'm convinced being a tennis analyst is the easiest job in the world."

"The only pressure I feel is what I put on myself."

"The key to the match might have been his serving. Maybe I should have concentrated harder on watching them go by me, I don't know."

"I enjoy hitting tennis balls. I haven't lost any of the innocent parts of tennis. I just do it in front of less people."

"I do understand that when someone gives you a load of money, you take that money. Someone like Larry Ellison wants to invest in his event and make it the biggest possible, and he gets stopped by the ATP. If you're a start-up, what would make you want to navigate through that and to go through that firing line? How can you step into tennis with any confidence? It's the stupidest thing I've ever heard of."

"If nothing else, I'm a decent quote."

"No, if I wore a sleeveless shirt, people would try to feed me after the match. If you got the guns, go for it. I got two breadsticks sticking out of my sleeve. I'll stick with sleeves."

"When you make the schedule, you're not planning on playing deep into every single week, or at least I haven't in the past. I'm not physically or mentally ready to pick up my bags and go to Monte Carlo. I definitely have to look at what's best for my chances at (at the French Open)."

"For every bad moment I've had, there have been 25 positives."

"Tennis analyst is the easiest job in the world because whatever the person does, if it works you just say that's what's good, and if it doesn't work, you guys go, 'He should have done the other things.' It just doesn't take much thought. If I'm grinding and I'm winning, you guys are like, 'He's reinvented himself.' If I'm playing like crap and pushing, then, you know, 'He's horrible and he needs to hit the ball.'"

"I cook a little - I've never taken classes or anything - but enough to get by."

"I used to, like, hit for a half hour and then go eat Cheetos the rest of the day, come out and drill forehands. Now I'm really trying to make it happen, being professional, really going for it, and I miss my Cheetos."

"There's no home team in tennis, no built-in fan base, so the players have to step up and do their fair share."

"You can get the true essence of New Yorkers by just hanging out in Central Park."

"I've been good about keeping my nose to the grindstone."

"I got to play in a crowd, play in Wimbledon finals, be the guy on a Davis Cup team for a while. Those are opportunities not a lot of people get."

"I've become better at the net. I've got a 135 mph serve so I'd be stupid not to follow that in. Overall I'm a better player than I was last year."

Personality

Roddick is known for his humorous on-court behavior and witty answers off-court in interviews and press conferences.

Physical Characteristics: Andy Roddick is 1.88 m (6 ft 2 in) tall and weighs 86 kg (190 lbs).

Interests

• listening to music, watching movies

• Sport & Clubs

  basketball

• Athletes

  Andre Agassi

• Music & Bands

  Dave Matthews Band, John Mayer

Connections

Roddick and Brooklyn Decker began dating in 2007 and, on March 31, 2008, Roddick announced on his website that they had become engaged. The couple married on April 17, 2009, in Austin, Texas. On May 2, 2015, it was announced the couple was expecting their first child. Their son named Hank was born on September 30, 2015. On November 27, 2017, their daughter Stevie was born.

Father:

Jerry Roddick

Mother:

Blanche Roddick

Spouse:

Brooklyn Decker

(born April 12, 1987)

Brooklyn Decker is an American model and actress best known for her appearances in the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue, including the cover of the 2010 issue.

Son:

Hank Roddick

(born September 30, 2015)

Daughter:

Stevie Roddick

(born November 27, 2017)

Friend:

Rafael Nadal

Friend:

Roger Federer

References

• Coming of Age: Andy Roddick's Breakthrough Year For many, Michael Jordan represented basketball, and in earlier generations baseball was associated with the legendary exploits of Babe Ruth. In the past, it was Jimmy Connors or John McEnroe that was the face of men's tennis with Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi following. Superstars and personality drive sports. For tennis, the face will be Andy Roddick.
  2004
• Andy Roddick's Twitter