How Good Was Roddick?
- Thread starter WYK
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Deleted member 758560
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lower than murray
WYK
Hall of Fame
King_olaf_the_hairy
Semi-Pro
I've said it many times before, if not for just one pesky rival Roddick would likely have a Becker-esque reputation as a grass-courter; he could have achieved an unprecedented triple-double of winning Wimbledon AND Queens for three consecutive years. I do feel a little sympathy for him coming so close, yet still missing out by so much that he barely scraped into the HoF.
However, if he HAD enjoyed a Becker-esque career I'd likely be bemoaning the fact that such a one-dimensional pro, who was well short of greatness in both his volleying and his backhand, was seen as an equal of Boris on grass, when the German was clearly a much more complete player.
tl;dr he was much better than his on-paper results and accomplishments indicate, but not as good as his most ardent fans claim.
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EDIT: part of me suspects that he could probably blame his early trainers when he was much younger. He has this weird Frankenstein game consisting of an almost Sampras-level serve married to Jim Courier-level groundstrokes. Sounds good on paper, but he had Courier's volleys as well, and movement inferior to both. Makes me wonder who in the mid-90s was coaching this teenager and thinking "that kid with the booming serve? Yeah, let's not work on his net game." If he'd been given more intensive serve-volley coaching as a junior he might have developed better overall movement as a result, with consequential benefits to other facets of his game when he was an adult. But that's just speculation on my part.
However, if he HAD enjoyed a Becker-esque career I'd likely be bemoaning the fact that such a one-dimensional pro, who was well short of greatness in both his volleying and his backhand, was seen as an equal of Boris on grass, when the German was clearly a much more complete player.
tl;dr he was much better than his on-paper results and accomplishments indicate, but not as good as his most ardent fans claim.
~~~~~
EDIT: part of me suspects that he could probably blame his early trainers when he was much younger. He has this weird Frankenstein game consisting of an almost Sampras-level serve married to Jim Courier-level groundstrokes. Sounds good on paper, but he had Courier's volleys as well, and movement inferior to both. Makes me wonder who in the mid-90s was coaching this teenager and thinking "that kid with the booming serve? Yeah, let's not work on his net game." If he'd been given more intensive serve-volley coaching as a junior he might have developed better overall movement as a result, with consequential benefits to other facets of his game when he was an adult. But that's just speculation on my part.
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NatF
Bionic Poster
His volleys and hands in isolation were actually decent, it was his transition game and IQ around the net that was lacking.
Poisoned Slice
Bionic Poster
socallefty
G.O.A.T.
Terrible from the baseline. Decent servebot.
ChrisJR3264
Hall of Fame
Honestly Matteo Berreitini plays similar to Roddick and he’s having trouble winning majors. Big serve. Big forehand. And slices his backhand bc his two hander hasn’t gotten anywhere.
Roddick was a big serve and forehand and everything else was average for an ATP pro. If you could break his serve chances are you’re taking the set. Andy improved his fitness dropping weight and better mover towards the latter of his prime but it still wasn’t good enough.
He mentally couldn’t overcome Federer. He had every opportunity to beat Federer in 2009 and he mentally fell apart displaying poor IQ in key moments of that match when he had Federer on the ropes.
Roddick was a big serve and forehand and everything else was average for an ATP pro. If you could break his serve chances are you’re taking the set. Andy improved his fitness dropping weight and better mover towards the latter of his prime but it still wasn’t good enough.
He mentally couldn’t overcome Federer. He had every opportunity to beat Federer in 2009 and he mentally fell apart displaying poor IQ in key moments of that match when he had Federer on the ropes.
JoshDragon
Hall of Fame
RS
Bionic Poster
Forgot to add stamina and return as a 9 at peak along with the other 2.
chrischris
G.O.A.T.
Berretini is like Andy in many ways. Just a bit more relaxed IMO.
stosurforehand
Rookie
I thought you were referring to Roddick for a moment and I was like WTF, but just realized it was Hewitt. Makes sense then.
AnOctorokForDinner
Talk Tennis Guru
And BH slice, but that's a cover for having a significantly worse topspin BH. Volleys maybe close too. But the basic serve-return-FH-BH composition/sum has Roddick way ahead.
stosurforehand
Rookie
He is also mentally weaker. I am completely convinced of this now. Not that I think Roddick is some huge mental giant, but he easily comes ahead of Berrettini in that category too.
The one advantage he has over Roddick is he does not go through periods of time (yet in his career anyway) he just spins his potentially huge forehand and plays defensively for no reason at all, but beyond that I agree.
The returner
Rookie
The bloke was awesome plus he had a personality.
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Herald
Guest
Stopped watching after serve and volley was mentioned as a weapon that lead to his success
chrischris
G.O.A.T.
The returner
Rookie
Watch and listen to his press conferences on YouTube , he's no robot
NatF
Bionic Poster
Roddick had a decent slice tbf, neither Berrittini's slice or volleys are good enough to merit much discussion lol. Movement, groundies, serve and return all favour Roddick this is true.
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Herald
Guest
Serve and volley was one of his weapons...sorry I am still laughing
Mustard
Bionic Poster
The serve was.
stosurforehand
Rookie
Roddick has one of the best serves in history beyond question.
He had a decent volley, albeit not great, but most people these days don't volley at all.
80s New Wave
Semi-Pro
I feel like his serve has almost become underrated since he didn't win Wimbledon and Federer was able to get a read on it but he basically could beat 80% of the tour with just that shot on hard courts or grass.
Red Rick
Bionic Poster
Every time I watch some highlights of a match of his I get furious at the approach shots. While the backhand was obviously a huge weakness, he really did his best to get the least out of his weapons he had in the 2nd half of his career. Backhand problem was purely technical, but imagine if he has like a modern shovel backhand that's not super great but still a lot better. Wouldn't be like Big 3 threat consistently, but he could've definitely grabbed a few more Slams. But the Federer matchup would always be a gigantic issue.
FD3S
Hall of Fame
Roddick S&V'ing was great as an occasional change up tactic - his serve generated weak returns from like 95% of the tour and his volleys were reasonably competent when he had time - but IMO calling it a weapon is a bridge too far considering how much more comfortable he was either blasting or grinding from the baseline.
abmk
Bionic Poster
1. Berretini is a poor man's version of Raonic who in turn is a poor man's version of Roddick. Berr's serve isn't at the same level as those 2 honestly.
2. Roddick's BH was much better than Berretini, as was his movement. His movement was fine in 2001-05 as well, though obviously not at big 4 level.
3. Roddick could actually hit his FH when being moved around by good players, unlike Berretini
4. Roddick was actually very clutch in Wim 09, saving 6/7 BPs (well fed missed one) and broke when he got the chances with very good BHs. only -ve was that one missed volley in the 2nd set TB.
mental midget
Hall of Fame
agree. roddick's serve overall was significantly better than matteo's.
not to get off-topic but berrettini's game is quite weird...just doesn't feel cohesive if that makes sense. big serve but weird motion...big slappy forehand but not super consistent...has more touch maybe than he utilizes point in, point out...fwiw he has a very good slice bh which i feel is often more effective than his drive, which just sort of sits up and lets better players tee off. man i'd love to see him lose that exaggerated racket droop when he brings it up on serve, keep the elbow a little closer to the body.
HBK4life
Hall of Fame
A lot of people can fire a gun. Doesn’t mean they can hit the target. Or a target. Or the broadside of a house.
bnjkn
Professional
He was to become world number 1 for a year or so and the best grass court player of his era. But then Federer came and put him in his proper place.
Very one dimensional serve and forehand player. He was slightly better than Berrettini, clearly better on grass I think, and more consistent.
Very one dimensional serve and forehand player. He was slightly better than Berrettini, clearly better on grass I think, and more consistent.
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Herald
Guest
Finally, someone calling a spade what it is. I love Andy, he's a good heart and was a joy to have in the game, but to pretend he was much more than a serve +1 player at his best is to stretch credibility. Roddick as the preeminent grasscourter of an era is the stuff of nightmares.
H
Herald
Guest
Roddick's groundstrokes and volleys were all inferior to Courier's.
H
Herald
Guest
You are essentially asking us to imagine Roddick as a different player. His awful backhand is one of his signatures.
Jack the Hack
Hall of Fame
How good was Roddick?
Well, he was good enough to leverage his serve and forehand to win 32 ATP titles, make 5 Slam finals, be the last American to win a major title ('03 US Open) and reach #1, get into the International Tennis Hall of Fame, accumulate a net worth of over $40 million, and then make babies with this smoke show of a woman:
Most impressively, he accomplished all of this by the time he was 29 years old! Roddick is only 40 right now, and he retired almost 11 years ago.
And as others have pointed out, Andy's got a great personality and is one of the best sports interviews available.
On a personal note, a favorite memory of mine was watching Roddick practice in Indian Wells around 2010. The way the practice courts were open back then, we were right next to the side of the court, about 10 feet away from him. He was making jokes with us in between shots. When he was done, he came over and talked with me and my son for about 5 minutes and signed a ball for us. He couldn't have been more nice.
Well, he was good enough to leverage his serve and forehand to win 32 ATP titles, make 5 Slam finals, be the last American to win a major title ('03 US Open) and reach #1, get into the International Tennis Hall of Fame, accumulate a net worth of over $40 million, and then make babies with this smoke show of a woman:
Most impressively, he accomplished all of this by the time he was 29 years old! Roddick is only 40 right now, and he retired almost 11 years ago.
And as others have pointed out, Andy's got a great personality and is one of the best sports interviews available.
On a personal note, a favorite memory of mine was watching Roddick practice in Indian Wells around 2010. The way the practice courts were open back then, we were right next to the side of the court, about 10 feet away from him. He was making jokes with us in between shots. When he was done, he came over and talked with me and my son for about 5 minutes and signed a ball for us. He couldn't have been more nice.
stosurforehand
Rookie
How good was Roddick?
Well, he was good enough to leverage his serve and forehand to win 32 ATP titles, make 5 Slam finals, be the last American to win a major title ('03 US Open) and reach #1, get into the International Tennis Hall of Fame, accumulate a net worth of over $40 million, and then make babies with this smoke show of a woman:
Most impressively, he accomplished all of this by the time he was 29 years old! Roddick is only 40 right now, and he retired almost 11 years ago.
And as others have pointed out, Andy's got a great personality and is one of the best sports interviews available.
On a personal note, a favorite memory of mine was watching Roddick practice in Indian Wells around 2010. The way the practice courts were open back then, we were right next to the side of the court, about 10 feet away from him. He was making jokes with us in between shots. When he was done, he came over and talked with me and my son for about 5 minutes and signed a ball for us. He couldn't have been more nice.
Roddick may have been Federer's beetch on the court, but he definitely destroys Fed in the wife department.
Jack the Hack
Hall of Fame
I agree from an apples-to-apples comparison of their looks. Brooklyn was a model, while Mirka was an athlete, so Andy's wife was always going to win the battle in a beauty contest.
That said, to be fair, Mirka has been a perfect match for Roger given their shared tennis backgrounds and her dedication to his career and family. She was a world-class athlete, Olympian, and millionaire in her own right when they got together, so she was a catch for him.
Another consideration in the discussion about how good Roddick was is that he also supposedly conquered Mount Sharapova at one point while he was a bachelor. That's a Hall of Fame accomplishment right there.
stosurforehand
Rookie
I agree from an apples-to-apples comparison of their looks. Brooklyn was a model, while Mirka was an athlete, so Andy's wife was always going to win the battle in a beauty contest.
That said, to be fair, Mirka has been a perfect match for Roger given their shared tennis backgrounds and her dedication to his career and family. She was a world-class athlete, Olympian, and millionaire in her own right when they got together, so she was a catch for him.
Another consideration in the discussion about how good Roddick was is that he also supposedly conquered Mount Sharapova at one point while he was a bachelor. That's a Hall of Fame accomplishment right there.
Yes and I think his arch enemy Djokovic is the other one that conquered Mount Sharapova. In fact the near divorce from his wife and a big part of his 2 year slump was allegedly due to this.
Sampras-Bruguera 1993
Legend
Great server, subpar athlete, below average movement, very hard worker, horrible net game, at one time a great forehand one of the best for sure. Very good player he was. Not great. But the best we have had since Pete, Andre, Courier, Chang. Though.. that’s not saying much since all we had are crappy players since LOL. But I have learned to appreciate him more after I have seen all the rotten players that have come since then
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Tennfan123
Legend
Good enough to be No.1, win a slam and be runner up at Wimbledon a few times.
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Herald
Guest
His boneheadedness and lack of belief against Fed frustrated me to no end. Nobody is going to argue that he was good enough to go 50/50 with Roger, but he could definitely have won one of the close ones at Wimbledon or made things closer at the Open. Strangely bad at attacking short balls for an "aggressive" player.
Sampras-Bruguera 1993
Legend
yea it got to the point by 2006, I just stopped watching their matches because you knew roddick walked on to the court already accepting defeat. Then he tried to become a pusher and that was even more pathetic because he didn’t have the movement, speed, athleticism to deploy that tactic. I can’t believe he never developed an even halfway decent net game to go with his big serve and FH combo. never made any sense to me
It’s a shame because he did have Fed in a compromising spot at least half a dozen times in slams and he blew it each time
In 2009 at Wimbledon you sat there to yourself and say, “yea just watch roddick will find a way to blow this match”. Sure enough LOL
