Andy Roddick gives thoughts on Serena Williams' imminent retirement - "It means the end of something that has been so important to tennis"

Former World No.1 Andy Roddick has expressed his shock at the news of Serena Williams’ imminent retirement.

The 40-year-old Williams announced on Tuesday that she has made plans to retire from the sport she has ruled for more than two decades. Roddick and Williams have been good friends since they were eight years old. They even trained together for almost four years in south Florida.

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Speaking in a video on Tennis Channel, the 2003 US Open champion gave his thoughts on Williams’ retirement plans.

“It's weird. You kind of know something's coming, not like immediately, right? I had no inside info on any of this, I think it's been played pretty close to the vest," said Roddick. "You know it's not going to go on forever but you're still kind of shocked by the news, not because the actual moment is surprising but because it means the end of something that has been so fantastic and so important to this game of tennis."

The 39-year-old Roddick also touched upon how everyone doubted the Williams sisters in their formative years.

“I was lucky enough to have a front row seat to the Serena show," recalled the American. "When I was 9 and 10 years old at Rick Macci Tennis Academy and a lot of what we saw in the King Richard movie, I was right there watching it. Frankly, a lot of us at the Academy were like 'You can't actually become a professional without playing competitive matches and juniors. How ridiculous is that.' Well, guess who was ridiculous?

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“All of us were second-guessing Venus and Serena for their process. They innovated with this sport, physically with their competitiveness, the way they went about becoming two of the greats of all time. It had never been done before the way that they had done it. Credit to their father Richard for finding a way to give these two, who were girls and now women and icons of our sport, a chance to perform at the highest level. We're all better for it."

Williams lost in the second round of the National Bank Open (Rogers Cup) but is expected to appear for the final time at the US Open, which begins on August 29.