"Beatles fans needed someone to be mad at": Andy Roddick responds after widespread criticism surrounding Djokovic Beatles comment

Andy Roddick recently came in for criticism from fans of Novak Djokovic after he compared the Serb to being "tennis' Yoko Ono".

Speaking on his podcast Served With Andy Roddick, the former US Open champion said the fanbases of Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal disliked Djokovic for disrupting the rivalry between the two.

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Roddick used the example of when Beatles fans opposed to Ono, who became involved with John Lennon, with the two eventually going on to marry in 1969 shortly before Lennon quit the band.

"He (Djokovic) is like tennis' Yoko (Ono). He is the one who we didn't want, didn't need. We had the rivalry, we had the lefty-righty. We had the contrasting styles," Roddick said.

Social media backlash

After the episode aired, fans of the record 24-time Grand Slam winner directed their ire towards the American, who was forced to respond. "Lots of rage from the fanbase of the person I'm complimenting hahaha. Up is down, down is up," Roddick wrote on X.

"But anyways, Math doesn't care about feelings. His is the resume you'd take. No questions asked."

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Responding to a user who said he shouldn't have used the comparison with Ono, Roddick replied. "It was in the context of public perception, I think it's entirely comparable, Beatles fans needed someone to be mad at."

Roddick has previously stated that he believes Djokovic is the 'GOAT', basing his reasoning on statistics which include most Slam titles, head-to-head records against his closest rivals and weeks spent at number one in the world rankings.