Former World No.1 Andy Roddick has a hall of fame worthy career but was never able to overcome Swiss tennis legend Roger Federer, and the retired American pro recently spoke on why he could not achieve that feat.
Roddick broke onto the tennis scene at the start of the 2000's, and won his only Grand Slam title at the 2003 US Open. Touted as the future of American tennis, Roddick looked set to dominate the ATP Tour, until he ran into Federer, who would act as a roadblock for the American during his career.
Nadal's playstyle allowed him to loosen Federer's grip on the sport, says Roddick
Roddick lost to Federer in all ight Grand Slam encounters between the two, with four of them occurring in Grand Slam finals. Although Federer was viewed as the most dominant force in tennis, things began to change when Nadal entered the picture.
“It took the perfect prototype of a player to even bother Roger [Federer] a little," said the American on his Served with Andy Roddick podcast. “Chuckers like me certainly weren’t doing it, but you create a prototype of someone who is fast, strong, and can find the only pocket up and away on Roger, and all of a sudden it made tennis interesting again. “Roger completely transformed tennis with his ability to create spin, and power, and speed, and then all of a sudden you put all of those things together. "Then we had another cyborg [Nadal] that came through, he could create more distance between opponents and switch directions better than anyone ever, it was just a fascinating time. I didn't feel like a player more like a fan whilst I was playing."