Andy Roddick is Going Out in Style – By: Jack Neworth

Written by: Staff on 1st September 2012

Andy Roddick is Going Out in Style - By: Jack Neworth

epa03378062 Andy Roddick of the US reacts to winning the second match against Bernard Tomic of Australia during their match on the fifth day of the 2012 US Open Tennis Championship at the USTA National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows, New York, USA, 31 August 2012. The US Open runs through 09 September 2012. EPA/LARRY W. SMITH |

They say in life timing is everything. (Trust me, that’s especially true in comedy. If you’re off just one word the whole joke is ruined. Go figure.) One could say, so it was with the magnificent tennis career of Andy Roddick. I shall explain.

Andy Roddick had the great misfortune to arrive on the tennis scene at the same time as a fellow named Roger Federer, perhaps the greatest of all-time. In 12 years, Roddick faced Federer 24 times on tour but was able to win only on 3 occasions. (Ouch!)

So, instead of one Grand Slam, Roddick might have had four or five, including possibly a couple of Wimbledons. (Then again, as they say, if my aunt had a certain pair of whatever she’d have been my uncle.)

But let’s not feel too sorry for Andy. He just turned 30 and he’s made over $20,000,000 in tennis. (And perhaps triple that amount in endorsements.) And he did win the U.S. Open, which, as of the moment, is more than Andy Murray can say, not to mention Bjorn Borg.

Roddick also has his own Fox Sports nationally syndicated radio show (“Roddick and Bones,” which airs on Saturdays.) And, oh yes, one last thing, he’s married to a former Sports Illustrated swimsuit model. (Brooklyn Decker). Some are saying, as has Forbes Magazine, for example, that Roddick’s career was “star-crossed.” If so, where do I sign up?

And yet, by all rights, Roddick could curse the tennis Gods for having delivered Federer when they did. (Truthfully, I’ve never been 100% certain that Federer isn’t bionic. He never seemingly gets injured and a flawless game much like a fine Swiss watch. But I’lll save this “Federer is too good to be human” theory for another article.).

Wouldn’t you know, the moment Andy announced his retirement, I started nostalgically looking back on his career.(Something about not missing your water until your well runs dry.”) Among other notable facts to recall, Roddick is the last American male to win a Grand Slam (U.S. Open 2003) and was the leading force in America’s last Davis Cup Championship (2007.)

Roddick also won 32 titles in his career and, unless I’m mistaken, is one of only two players on the men’s tour to win a title every year for the past twelve years. (The other is a machine, I mean a guy named Federer.)

In looking back, it’s possible that we took Roddick for granted. Ever since he won the Open, perhaps many of us, myself included, looked to Andy to be the next in the historic lineage of Pancho Gonzalez, Jimmy Connors, John McEnroe, Pete Sampras, and Andre Agassi, an American male who dominated tennis’ world stage.

For Roddick it wasn’t to be, which brings up the curse of “coming in 2nd” or “being in the shadow”.” (Although none of the others I can think of in these categories ever married a Sports Illustrated swimsuit model!)

For example, the world just finished watching the 2012 Olympics where an all too common (and to me, unfortunate) sight was to view a supremely-conditioned athlete broken-hearted and in tears after winning a Silver medal. Imagine, being the second best in the entire world at something and being so disappointed that you’re in tears.

Federer, to his everlasting credit, was proud of his Olympic Silver medal in tennis, or so he said. Then again, with 17 Grand Slam titles under your belt, I suppose it’s a little easier to have that attitude. (Especially if you’re bionic.)

Among the little known “coming in second stories in sport is that of Matthew “Mack” Robinson, the older brother of Jackie Robinson. By a mere .04 of a second, Mack finished 2nd to Jesse Owens in the 200 meters at the 1936 Berlin Olympics.

Yet, while Jesse won 4 Gold Medals in those games, few remember Mack Robinson’s name. This, despite the fact that, at one time, Mack held the world’s record in the broad jump, now known as the long jump. (Fortunately, there is a Post Office in Pasadena named after Mack Robinson for all the work he did with kids in the community.)

But leaving track and field and back to tennis, the name of the late Vitas Gerulaitis comes to mind as someone whose career was “in the shadow”. Vitas, who competed in the Borg, McEnroe and Connors era, was in three Grand Slam finals but lost all three. (Roddick was 1 for 5 in Slam finals, including an epic and truly heart-breaking 5-set loss to Federer in 2009. With a 16-14 fifth set, the match holds the record for being the longest Wimbledon final in terms of games played.

Vitas did win 25 titles on the tour and was #3 in the world at one time. (Roddick was #1 in the world in 2003.) One glaring difference between the two careers, Vitas won $2,778,748 on tour while Roddick won $20,499,120. (I would bring up the swimsuit model comparison but Vitas did pretty well in that category himself.)

But here’s to Andy for going out on his own terms and with great style and class. (And, as always, with a sense of humor.) One can hope for a storybook ending, that in his very last tournament, Roddick could add one more Slam to his resume. The odds are long against it and, by the time you read this, Roddick’s ride in the Open might be over as he sails off into the sunset.

But, before you get too teary-eyed, just remember, if Andy’s sailing at all, it’ll likely be on a yacht. And Brooklyn Decker will be sailing with him.

(An avid tennis fan, Jack Neworth writes a humor column every Friday in the Santa Monica Daily Press at www.smdp.com. He is also the co-author of “Men in White”, a screenplay about tennis legend Pancho Gonzalez and his rollercoaster forty-five-year friendship with fellow HOF player Pancho Segura. Jack can be reached at jnsmdp@aol.com.)

Topics: American tennis news, Andy Roddick, Bernard Hewitt, Roger Federer, Sports, Tennis, US Open 2012