Roddick admits to being jealous of Federer's easygoing tennis style

ATP
Sunday, 01 September 2024 at 04:00
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Andy Roddick spoke about his admiration for Roger Federer and the ease with which he played. The American had the best part of his career in the early 2000s, winning his only Grand Slam title at the 2003 US Open, shortly after Federer lifted his first major at Wimbledon that same year.
Federer's arrival on the Tour marked a new era as he reached the incredible milestone of 20 Grand Slam titles, far surpassing the seemingly insurmountable 14 of Pete Sampras. The Swiss Maestro went down in history for his elegance on the court, which is why many still consider him the “Greatest of All Time,” despite holding the record as years later Rafael Nadal (22) and Novak Djokovic (24) would surpass him.

Roddick on Federer’s dominance: “He was the guy I played most in big matches”

Between 2004 and 2007, Federer won 11 of the 16 Grand Slam tournaments contested, defeating Roddick in four of those finals. The Swiss dominated their head-to-head with an impressive 21-3 record against one of the standout players of the 2000s. Roddick reached world No. 1 in 2003 and 2004 for a total of 13 weeks and remained in the top 10 for a total of 440 weeks until the end of the decade.
In a recent episode of Served with Andy Roddick, the former player, contemporary of the 42-year-old Federer, opened up about the ‘jealousy’ he felt towards Federer for his relaxed approach to tennis: “I don’t have a lot of regrets. I don't envy people for their successes. I am more than happy that these three (Federer, Nadal, and Djokovic) have won all of the tournaments that they've won,” he said. “I was very jealous and still jealous of Roger (Federer) because he was the guy I played most in the biggest matches.”
“Just because we were good on the same surfaces at the same time, his ease of operation just drove me crazy. I could see him on the Saturday before a Grand Slam losing to some chucker on our practice court, and I walked by and he was smiling, laughing.”
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One of the most memorable finals was the 2009 Wimbledon, where the American came closest to overcoming Federer. The Swiss secured an epic victory, breaking the record for the longest final in a major (in terms of games played) 5–7, 7–6(8–6), 7–6(7–5), 3–6, 16–14, with a total of 77 games. On that occasion, Federer finally broke Sampras' record by winning his 15th Slam title.

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