Inside Tennis magazine has a really nice interview posted with Andy Roddick, wherein the Miami semifinalist discusses everything from Brooklyn’s “stones” to Agassi’s crystal meth revelations. Click here to read it.
Of course I’m gonna highlight the excerpts involving Roger Federer:
Inside Tennis: What is it in [Federer's] game that…
Andy Roddick: His defense. That doesn’t get talked about. The way he’s able to convert defense into offense with a subtle little chip. He can do a lot of things with a racket like as if he was born with it. You can stick a return deep and he will flick a forehand to the opposite corner. He makes it look easy. That’s a really rough shot. It doesn’t make sense.
Roddick on Roger’s “more impressive” Slam:
Inside Tennis: [Roger's] a great fighter.
Andy Roddick: Everything is great when you’re winning. It’s easy to be a winner when you never lose. You know for that four-year run, when I was kind of in the middle of it and he was losing three matches a year, I don’t think you then get a true test of someone’s will. He’s just saying, “I’m better than you.” [But]last year at the French, when Rafa went out he knew this was his shot. Yet he was down to [Tommy] Haas, he knew that was his opportunity and dug in. He was down to [Juan Martin] Del Potro, dug in. That was a show of his will. He wasn’t the better player in a lot of those matches, but won the tournament. That was probably one of his more impressive Slams.
Andy’s zero-sympathy moment!:
Inside Tennis: What was your take on the tears in Australia after he lost to Nadal?
Andy Roddick: My first reaction was, “Come on, Roger, you’ve won enough!” He did it because, obviously, he cared a lot, and he sensed Rafa legitimately had the upper hand. The other part of me was going, “Come on, you’ve done it 13 times. Let the guy have one.” I can honestly tell you in that moment, I had zero sympathy for Roger. And that’s not mean. We get along great. It was just nice to see he cared so much.
Phew! At least he wasn’t asked about the “15″ jacket! Click here to read more from Andy Roddick on Roger and his own career in Inside Tennis.
A classic “Roddick on Federer” moment after Roger routed the American 6-4, 6-0, 6-2 in the 2007 Australian Open semis:
No wonder there wasn’t much sympathy!
Roddick, not Roger, is still alive in Miami this week. He plays Rafael Nadal in the semifinals.
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