Andy Roddick says he will only know in a few weeks if his August retirement from tennis was a wise choice as the 30-year-old goes through his first January in well over a decade without preparing for a trip to the Australian Open.
Since hanging up his racquet on his birthday, the Roddick retirement has left a gaping hole in US tennis hopes as the last local to win a Grand Slam (2003 US Open) gave away his career.
“To be honest, I don’t know that it will really affect me until January comes around,” Roddick told ESPN. “The last 13 Januarys I’ve been in Australia. I haven’t experienced January 8 in the United States for 15 years.
“You start to identify certain months with certain places, that’s where you are. … I wasn’t jealous of the guys going on a 15-hour flight to Shanghai [in October] or wherever else. Once I see the guys over [in Australia], obviously I’ll miss it a little bit.”
Roddick has been making the best of his self-chosen exile form the sport, intensively polishing his golf game as well as indulging in some of the foods which were off limits to him as a player during his career. He has kept up the charity work for his foundation.
Roddick said that golf is taking a stronger place in his new life. “I’ve played 50-60 rounds since the US Open. My game’s OK, but I look at things in the grand scheme of sports – someone who’s OK at golf.
“I imagine the guy playing next to me in some tennis center that I was judging and I think I’m that guy in golf now. I can hit the ball a little bit, but I definitely don’t want to say I’m any good at it at all.”
©Daily Tennis News Wire
Topics: American tennis news, Andy Roddick, Roddick, Sports, Tennis, Tennis News
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