Roddick has thrown away his trophies

Actually doesn't surprise me that much - extreme as it was, he's never given off the impression that he needed a constant reminder of what he used to be and I could totally picture him debating what to throw away to make more room, looking at all his trophies, and kinda shrugging before trashing them all. I actually remember someone asking him about his USO trophy - might have been on a podcast with Jay and Dan - and he quipped that it was in his study so he never saw it :D
 
Posted this in the other topic too, but this actually doesn't surprise me that much. Extreme as it might seem, he's never given off the impression that he needed a constant reminder of what he used to be and I could totally picture him debating what to throw away to make more room, looking at all his trophies, and kinda shrugging before trashing them all. I actually remember someone asking him about his USO trophy - might have been on a podcast with Jay and Dan - and he quipped that it was in his study so he never saw it :D
 
racket king said:
Roddick’s wife, Brooklyn Decker, said the former world No1 decided to throw away nearly all of his trophies during a recent cleaning spree at the couple’s home in Austin, Texas.

“We have his US Open trophy,” Decker told People magazine in an interview published on Wednesday. “But all his other trophies Andy threw away in the garbage.”
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WTF, Andy? Why hasn't he got a trophy room to house them (I realise some of them are probably quite ugly but that's not the point),he's rich enough to build one! What's he going to show Hank when he asks his dad if he really did win all those titles he said he did? It's a bit like chucking out his tennis past! Very disappointed in him!!! :confused:
 
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I totally understand not having them on display, and some of them are particularly overly large and ugly, but I think loaning them out to a tennis museum or local clubs, or at least putting them in storage for his kids to see when they are older, would have been better. If he really wanted shot of them, then giving them to people and clubs that were supportive of his career would have been an option.

It seems to say he kept just some, including the US Open trophy, so I expect he kept some other key trophies, including his first ATP one etc.
 
If true this confirms another rumor that Roddick retired mostly because of brooklyn. That she didnt understand why he made about as much as money as an average nba or mlb players that her friends dated when he was the best US player.
 
Ahahahahaha this is great.
"Gee, an ATP Masters trophy. Guess I don't need that old thing any more. Better bin it!"

Why not donate them or do a charity auction or something? That would give his foundation a huge boost. Nah, better off throwing them in the garbage.
Who knew that Fed was saving those poor trophies from landfill when he bested Roddick for all those years. :D:D
 
If I was a well known top pro, I would figure out to give away the trophies. They could be displayed at some tennis center, with some story attached, if nothing else. Or sold for charity. Having them at your home, yes, I can see that being boring. But just throwing away is stupid.

(I am no collector myself... if I buy a book, I give another away. The load is lighter this way)
 
smoledman said:
I wonder if Basel will one day construct a 'Roger Federer Museum' and he'll just donate all his trophies to that.
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maybe thats a reason rafa has all his slam trophies (i dont know about the others) for display at his academy, even the recent la decima (both of them), maybe he is right, you would not want to come home everyday and see trophies all the time especially if you are not playing anymore, whether you have a lot of them or not, maybe it would become kind of narcistic to have that on you all the time
 
mightyrick said:
I have no issue with Roddick throwing away a lot of his trophies. Especially if it is because he doesn't define success that way. This notion isn't rare. You'll even find a lot of veterans who have thrown away their medals for various reasons.

Looking at a lot of the responses in this thread, I think a lot of this is age-related. Younger folks are going to be offended. Especially millennials.

But after you've lived for awhile, gained a lot, lost a lot... you learn what is really important in life. And newsflash... it isn't medals and trophies.
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Tomic has already learned this important lesson.
 
Mainad said:
WTF, Andy? Why hasn't he got a trophy room to house them (I realise some of them are probably quite ugly objects but that's not the point),he's rich enough to build one! What's he going to show Hank when he asks his dad if he really did win all those titles he said he did? It's a bit like chucking out his tennis past! Very disappointed in him!!! :confused:
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A wiki link.
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wangs78 said:
He should have kept his Masters trophies, but I can understand why he wanted to put tennis completely in the rear view mirror. Honestly, I think he will always be remembered for his absolute futility against Roger. His lone Slam was really due to pure good fortune that Roger was knocked out early and on top of that the pressure of bearing the hopes of US men's tennis was a lot, I suppose, hence the relatively early retirement. You look at Hewitt and Haas, despite old age and injury preventing them from playing anything close to a full schedule in their final years on tour, they persevered and got some memorable wins in those years. Roddick, on the other hand, was a defeated man after Wimby '09 when he was only 27 I think. He had spent his entire career trying to prove that his USO title wasn't a fluke and he failed to do that. So when he was done, he really walked away from tennis with a sense of failure against high hopes instead of a sense of triumph. On the one hand I feel bad for the guy (I liked his press interviews) but on the other I hated his on court demeanor.
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if five or 10 years from now a tennis fan remembers Roddick first and foremost for his futility against Roger Federer, I would not consider them a very knowledgeable fan.

I am sure Andy feels like he could have won a few more big tournaments, but nothing I have heard from him the past few years indicates he considers his career a failure in any regard, nor should he.
 
tacou said:
if five or 10 years from now a tennis fan remembers Roddick first and foremost for his futility against Roger Federer, I would not consider them a very knowledgeable fan.

I am sure Andy feels like he could have won a few more big tournaments, but nothing I have heard from him the past few years indicates he considers his career a failure in any regard, nor should he.
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Of course he will never publicly say it was a failure. But if he thought it was a success then he wouldn't have retired at 29 especially when so many contemporaries kept playing despite falling out of top 10. Non-Slam tournaments would not have added to his legacy. AnywAy I get why some of you guys view his career As a rousing success, but again relative to initial expectations it was a failure. It has nothing to do with being knowledgeable about tennis.

And his tossing of his non-Slam trophies confirms my viewpoint. That all the accomplishments after the lone USO win meant little to him bc he had much loftier goals.
 
racket king said:
Roddick’s wife, Brooklyn Decker, said the former world No1 decided to throw away nearly all of his trophies during a recent cleaning spree at the couple’s home in Austin, Texas.

“We have his US Open trophy,” Decker told People magazine in an interview published on Wednesday. “But all his other trophies Andy threw away in the garbage.”
Click to expand...
What on earth ????????????? Why can't he have given them to me ? I would have kept it in Safe place.............
 
Skeptical view.....

We're two people whose fame and profile is fading so we decided to once again have my wife hitch her fame wagon to my accomplishments (all of which happened before she was in a relationship to me) by giving an interview, saying something outrageous and raising both of our profiles.
 
I'm stunned he didn't auction them off and give the proceeds to his charity since that's what he's most passionate about. They probably would've out of my price range, but I would love to own a piece of history like that.

I wonder if he kept his runner-up plates from the majors? I remember watching one of his periscope commentaries during the USO last year and he brought out his 06 runner-up trophy to show us. He still seemed proud of it even though it represented a tough loss in his career.
 
wangs78 said:
The difference between your assessment and mine (and both are correct, to be fair), is the perspective one takes. Looking at Roddick's career from the perspective of another Top 10 player, of course it's a great career. He had the Slam title, multiple Slam final appearances, several Masters titles, etc. And yes, he worked hard, tried to adapt, no doubt and very admirable. My point is he had huge expectations after he won that USO. Partly because he achieved that at a young age, partly bc there was no another American to carry the banner. My point is when you win a Slam and become #1 at age 21 as he did, your goal is not just to be in the top 10 for the next 8-9 years, your goal is to stay #1 and to win another Slam. And by that measure he failed. I'm sure that Roddick himself, deep down, felt this big disappointment I'm describing. Given how hard he tried, I'm sure he was never content being just a good Top 10 player.
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I see your point; any career comes with triumphs and failures. Indeed, I'm sure Roddick was disappointed not to have won Wimbledon, but who knows how he feels about his career as a whole. I suspect he's satisfied with it, overall, for the reasons I listed. He certainly seems to be still interested in the game based on his twitter account.
 
MeatTornado said:
I'm stunned he didn't auction them off and give the proceeds to his charity since that's what he's most passionate about.
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Well, I don't think a lot of athletes look at their trophies this way. You won't see a lot of veterans selling their medals. Quite frankly, the same logic could be applied to why popular actresses don't sell their undergarments. There's a good market for that too.

I think when it comes to personal items... people generally feel differently about cashing in on those. They'd rather store them out of sight or throw them away... never to be resurfaced again.
 
Trophies are passe in these days of images. Why do you need to clutter your dwelling with proof of your wins when there are thousands of images available to verify your claims?

Tournaments should stop awarding physical trophies. They are not recyclable and are a burden on the environment.
 
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mightyrick said:
Well, I don't think a lot of athletes look at their trophies this way. You won't see a lot of veterans selling their medals. Quite frankly, the same logic could be applied to why popular actresses don't sell their undergarments. There's a good market for that too.

I think when it comes to personal items... people generally feel differently about cashing in on those. They'd rather store them out of sight or throw them away... never to be resurfaced again.
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I understand putting them in storage, but generally I bet it's pretty rare to literally throw them in the trash. Those are two very different things.

And athletes let gear like rackets, signed wristbands or whatever get auctioned all the time.
 
wangs78 said:
Roddick, on the other hand, was a defeated man after Wimby '09 when he was only 27 I think. He had spent his entire career trying to prove that his USO title wasn't a fluke and he failed to do that. So when he was done, he really walked away from tennis with a sense of failure against high hopes instead of a sense of triumph.
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I love how people think they can read a professional tennis player's mind, lol. Didn't Roddick defeat Nadal and Djokovic after that 2009 tournament loss, as well as beating Federer in his last meeting? Doesn't sound like someone who was "done". He retired because of shoulder injuries which affected the primary strength of his game. Unlike some other players like Hewitt and Haas, Roddick's game largely depended on his serve. Without it, he could not be competitive as a top 20 player, much less competing for major titles. He walked away at the right time (for him). His motivation for getting rid of his trophies is anyone's guess, but his wife seems convinced and she knows him better than any of you clowns.
 
wangs78 said:
Of course he will never publicly say it was a failure.
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Andy has discussed his shortcomings as a player (both while active and since retiring) such as his desire to have won Wimbledon, or a second major anywhere, and his non-rivalry with Roger. But he also sounds very at peace with his career, what he achieved and when he decided to end it.

wangs78 said:
But if he thought it was a success then he wouldn't have retired at 29 especially when so many contemporaries kept playing despite falling out of top 10.
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I don't follow your logic. Are you saying if he won 2-3 more majors, he would have continued playing into his 30s? He decided at 29 he was not competing for top tourneys, so he retired. That does not mean his career was a failure, or that he perceived it to be. It just means he was done.

wangs78 said:
Non-Slam tournaments would not have added to his legacy.
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I don't get what you're getting at here. I (and Roddick) agree that he was not likely going to be competing for majors anymore, and winning some 250s or even a 1000 probably would change his legacy much. Correct.

wangs78 said:
AnywAy I get why some of you guys view his career As a rousing success, but again relative to initial expectations it was a failure. It has nothing to do with being knowledgeable about tennis.
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My comment about tennis knowledge was in regards to claiming Roddick will be best remembered for his futility against Roger. I can't comment on what initial expectations were for Andy, I didn't follow tennis in the early 00's, but if expectations were multiple majors, multiple year end No. 1's, multiple Davis Cup titles, then yes, I guess he was a relative failure.

wangs78 said:
And his tossing of his non-Slam trophies confirms my viewpoint. That all the accomplishments after the lone USO win meant little to him bc he had much loftier goals.
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Again, this is a leap in logic. As many have pointed out in this thread alone, many athletes do not attach the significance to trophies that the average fan might expect. Obviously he's holding on to his US Open trophy. Moving on from the others in no way suggests he views his career as a failure.
 
LeeD said:
End of one life, allows the beginnings of another......
Around 10 years is a long time to look at past accomplishments over and over again.
That's why there are so many old trophies at the pawn shops.
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Yeah unlike most here I can totally understand this. It is one chapter in his life, save the ones that hold meaning and move on. This action does also seem to fit with his personality too tbh.
 
I always liked Andy for his unorthodox approach. This time however I believe donating them for some auction would be a better idea.
 
If it's a true story it shows how much the lesser titles mattered to this particular slam winner, he didn't even want to keep the trophies.
 
Wow, two threads and I realize why I don't read these forums anymore. This place is toxic.

If true, he simply was ready to move on, doesn't mean the event was not important to him, just that the trophies may not be now. I find it funny someone would think more of a man who hangs onto past glory, than one doing something meaningful with his life now. Interesting community here.
 
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