Seventeen years after he conquered the home Major in New York, Andy Roddick remains the last American player with the most significant title in his hands.
The winner of 32 ATP crowns and the year-end no. 1 player from 2003 finished his career just after turning 30 at the US Open 2012, enjoying time with his family in Austin and still watching his old rivals battling for the greatest player of all time honor.
Throughout his career, Andy played 43 matches against Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic, winning 11 of those and suffering 32 defeats, 21 to Roger Federer in 24 encounters, including that memorable one in 2009 Wimbledon final.
Asked on Tennis Channel about the GOAT race between three legends, Roddick shared his thoughts about the whole thing, calling that discussion a little dumb at this point. With Federer, Nadal and Djokovic all still being active and at the top of men’s game, Andy can’t draw conclusions until they all finish their careers, with not much to separate them at this point.
After the Australian Open, Roger, Rafa and Novak are all packed within three Majors and it will be interesting what will happen in the rest of the season, with Roland Garros changing schedule due to a coronavirus and Wimbledon that is also in doubt.
Roddick lost Wimbledon finals to Federer in 2004, 2005 and 2009, finishing runner-up behind the Swiss at the US Open 2006 as well. “There seems to be this need to discuss the greatest player of all time in the men’s tennis, and for me, at this point, it is kind of dumb.
It would be like handing out the Oscars before you watch the endings of a movie. It doesn’t make much sense. It is just too early and we can’t make predictions before Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic finish their careers.
We are lucky to still have them in the game, hopefully with Andy Murray back into it, but I think it is premature to draw conclusions, no matter how everybody likes to talk about that topic.”
