The Andy Roddick Foundation To Open New Facility

Written by: Staff on 1st April 2013

The Andy Roddick Foundation To Open New Facility

epa03385260 Andy Roddick of the US hits a return to Juan Martin Del Potro of Argentina during their fourth round match on the tenth day of the 2012 US Open Tennis Championship at the USTA National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows, New York, USA, 05 September 2012. The US Open runs through Sunday 09 September 2012. EPA/JOHN G. MABANGLO |

The Andy Roddick Foundation has announced plans for a 10,600 square-foot sport and learning center in East Austin and next month will hold a celebrity golf tournament at the Spanish Oaks Golf Club as fundraiser for the center.

Apparently local real estate developer Manny Farahani has provided the property for the foundation, which will be home to eight future courts on a campus where KIPP Austin charter schools and the Kozmetsky Center for Child Protection are located. Roddick, who is close to former legend Andre Agassi appears to have taken a page out of his friend’s book, whose Las Vegas charter school has been lauded nationally, However, Agassi charter school does not have tennis courts on site.

Work on the facility should be completed this year. The foundation’s is looking to raise $2 million for an operating endowment.

According to the Austin Business Journal, the foundation has filled its board of directors’ spots. Roddick is the chairman and has been joined by legend Billie Jean King as another former tennis great. Roddick has also brought on board two executives from Dell: Paul Bell and Andy Esparza. Roddick has also tapped the services of Maria Farahani, co-founder of Austin-based Fara Coffee and the wife of Manny, as well as Phillip Meyers, former CEO of Heartland Automotive Services.

Manny and Maria also run their own foundation, the Fara Foundation, which supports health, education and other projects in her native Nicaragua.

©Daily Tennis News Wire

Topics: Andy Roddick, Billie Jean King, Fara Foundation, Texas tennis news, The Andy Roddick Foundation