Why does someone like Roddick fade and retire, the Big 3 not?
- Thread starter EdSWright
- Start date
Because they win
D
Deleted member 307496
Guest
Same reason as Murray, injury.
The Blond Blur
G.O.A.T.
Part of it was injuries, part of it was his game didn't really fit the current age of baseline grinding. Andy lost his big forehand after 06 IIRC. From there he developed a loopier stroke, but he was never the kind of guy to play like Djokodalurray. He lost a lot of his explosive movement, big forehand, and his backhand was always suspect so there was no way for him to survive.
chimneysweep
Semi-Pro
Lots of contributing factors. One thing is around that point the mens game was not weak like it is today, so if you had the natural decline with age and injury you were in big trouble.
socalmd123
Professional
desire
accidental
Hall of Fame
It’s all in the hips
Benben245
Banned
Safin, Roddick, Gonzalez, the list goes on and its silly. The extreme outliers also happen to be some of the most talented players of all time.The interesting thing is this should not necessarily correlate to longevity. Given the big business of tennis, Laver Cup becoming an ATP tour event????, etc I must take a wait and see approach. If this continues where star players are playing well into their mid to late thirties, I think a healthy discussion of performance enhancers is legitimate. The money to keep the cash cows, marquee players, playing is so enormous. They've slowed the courts, now they want to end the 5 set format for our attention spans, the sacrilege is endless, and the investment is lost if we don't care who is playing because the big names have retired. Lets not forget, sports are a show, honor, integrity,history, just buzz words to sell a rolex.
Roddick never mentally recovered from that 5th set at Wimbledon finals loss
Red Rick
Bionic Poster
Weird thing is Roddick would have matches where his movement was pretty decent, especially early in his career he was actually a very good athlete, and later on he just had these matches where he barely ran for anything.
I wonder if his body just couldn't sustain enough training to be fitter week in, week out.
I wonder if his body just couldn't sustain enough training to be fitter week in, week out.
Born_to_slice
Legend
Joking aside, Roddick's average ground game was deteriorating fast because of injuries. He was most likely not going to win another big title by staying on the tour. He had enough of tennis and he retired. Earned enough money for several lives so why not.
Talent
Terenigma
G.O.A.T.
Probably because he wasn't prepared to do PEDS or doping to stay strong in competitive tennis. Also to skip anyone questioning the vague implications of that comment then yeah i am absolutely saying that i think Federer, Djokovic and Nadal are all on something to keep them as strong as they currently are. Federer grunting hard in the second set against Nadal in the Wimbledon SF yet looks completely fine in the final that went for almost 5 hours against Djokovic? Please.
Also this isn't just Roddick, look at almost any past great player from 1-2 slams to 10+ and look at the ages they retire. It's not just "talent" that keeps them involved and it's certainly not the current age of technology and legal treatments or everyone would be lasting forever. Talent keeps you winning, it doesn't keep you healthy and with seemingly unlimited stamina. I know this is an aggressive opinion based on speculation but i think it's naive to act like they are 100% clean.
Also this isn't just Roddick, look at almost any past great player from 1-2 slams to 10+ and look at the ages they retire. It's not just "talent" that keeps them involved and it's certainly not the current age of technology and legal treatments or everyone would be lasting forever. Talent keeps you winning, it doesn't keep you healthy and with seemingly unlimited stamina. I know this is an aggressive opinion based on speculation but i think it's naive to act like they are 100% clean.
Wanting to start a family and Brooklyn decker had a lot to do with it. She was very confused on why Roddick made like 5-7MM a year while all her other friends husbands made 12-15MM a year and they were athletes that werent even in the top 20 in their respective sport and they also played 6-8 months a year vs 11 months.
Red Rick
Bionic Poster
A lot of players deal with injuries and slow down and never play their best again. Big 3 were all incredibly lucky to never get injured that badly or to have such an insane movement level to fall back from that even after slowing down their defense is still good enough to dominate everyone else.
Roddick at his athletic peak was a pretty good mover, but that went away pretty quickly. I think he perhaps had a lot of minor injuries he kept quiet cause sometimes he'd just suddenly be completely finished in a tournament.
MeatTornado
Talk Tennis Guru
If he was still winning as much as them at 30, he would've gotten that last shoulder surgery and kept going.
All three of them coincidentally have extraordinary endurance and longevity, as well as talent? There is something new happening to the sport, some secret advantage not yet pinpointed.
Bukmeikara
Legend
Roddick had a season like Federer in 2013, Nadal 2016 and Nole 2017, in 2011 and he was even younger than them at that point. Its just difficult to be top 10 for so long and suddenly dropped around number 40. He lost confidence in himself, some stupid people asked him when he would retire and the idea just got settled in his head. That loss against Djokovic at the Olympics was painfull and I think he just reacted emotionaly. He definately was at least top 20 when healthy, only 30 and with some confidence booster, he could have made another Master final or Slam Sf. Still great career
ibbi
G.O.A.T.
You decline physically at that age, if you don't have the amount of success that those 3 guys have had it has to be tougher to find the motivation to keep going, to have to work harder and harder for probably fewer and fewer gains.
He had a lot of issues those last few years with illness and various injuries, he missed so much time, and his results are the major tournaments were pretty woeful by the standards of someone who'd had the success that he was used to.
One slam quarter in his last ten majors played? Has to be hard to want to keep going at it when you're hurt all the time, not winning when you do play, see your ranking slipping out of the top 10, and have ol' Brooklyn Decker sat at home waiting for you.
Roddick was never like say Hewitt, was he? With that unwavering, tenacious, compete till I die sort of mindset, where you just get this love of the game, love of the competition sort of vibe from them where they're happy going out there day after day to play till they literally can't anymore because they're a sportsman through and through and don't know anything else (Hewitt is still a constant presence in the game in doubles, through Davis Cup, doing media) Roddick seems like a guy with plenty of other interests, and plenty else going on.
He had a lot of issues those last few years with illness and various injuries, he missed so much time, and his results are the major tournaments were pretty woeful by the standards of someone who'd had the success that he was used to.
One slam quarter in his last ten majors played? Has to be hard to want to keep going at it when you're hurt all the time, not winning when you do play, see your ranking slipping out of the top 10, and have ol' Brooklyn Decker sat at home waiting for you.
Roddick was never like say Hewitt, was he? With that unwavering, tenacious, compete till I die sort of mindset, where you just get this love of the game, love of the competition sort of vibe from them where they're happy going out there day after day to play till they literally can't anymore because they're a sportsman through and through and don't know anything else (Hewitt is still a constant presence in the game in doubles, through Davis Cup, doing media) Roddick seems like a guy with plenty of other interests, and plenty else going on.
For those who talk about PEDS: when these are used within a sport, it's not only a few players and definitely not only the top 3. If there are PEDs in tennis, then a lot of players are taking them (probably a majority), including among the older ones. So Federer, Nadal and Djokovic would still be on top due to their higher ability - whether there are PEDs or not.
travlerajm
Talk Tennis Guru
If it weren’t for the existence of his nemesis Federer, you might have been right.
travlerajm
Talk Tennis Guru
Pretty simple. His primary reason for success was his outlier overwhelming serve.
But his serve was good because he incorporated the most efficient explosive motion in history. This is in contrast to top servers like Karlovic, Isner, and Anderson, whose serves are so good due to unusual height and leverage. And also in contrast to Federer, whose serve prowess is based on pinpoint accuracy.
Roddick’s explosive stored-energy-based service motion didn’t age well. Once he lost a few mph on his serve, opponents could return it much easier, and his results suffered.
But his serve was good because he incorporated the most efficient explosive motion in history. This is in contrast to top servers like Karlovic, Isner, and Anderson, whose serves are so good due to unusual height and leverage. And also in contrast to Federer, whose serve prowess is based on pinpoint accuracy.
Roddick’s explosive stored-energy-based service motion didn’t age well. Once he lost a few mph on his serve, opponents could return it much easier, and his results suffered.
tennisaddict
Bionic Poster
Roddick already achieved what he had to .. a major, No 1 ranking , top 10 for so long And to top it all no one can take away his h2h over Djokovic
And the best thing he has Brooklyn waiting for him at home - Xisca is not yet married to Nadal and Novak has had marriage issues for so long now. Fed has too many kids to have sanity at home
And the best thing he has Brooklyn waiting for him at home - Xisca is not yet married to Nadal and Novak has had marriage issues for so long now. Fed has too many kids to have sanity at home
travlerajm
Talk Tennis Guru
Actually, tennis is feeling a void now until the next Roddick arrives.
BeatlesFan
Bionic Poster
Spoken by someone who obviously never bothered to watch Roddick play. I was never remotely a fan, but he had an enormous FH prior to 2006. You might wish to explain how someone who had "nothing remarkable" about him managed to win the USO, be ranked #1 in the world and win a total of 32 titles.
onyxrose81
Hall of Fame
Injuries and he just didn’t want to. Even know, while he still does podcasts and the like, he could have more of a presence in tennis but he has a lot of non-tennis interests. Why struggle on the tour when you’re not going to win anything? Roddick wasn’t wired that way.
Pheasant
Legend
Roddick’s peak was unfortunately short-lived, due to losing Gilbert, then injuries later on, then changes in the game. The big talk in 2004 was who had the most powerful forehand, Roddick or Federer. Roddick’s forehand was a cannon. Roddick also had insane serves during that time frame. But by 2006-2007, he had already lost speed on his serves. He said that he was losing about 3 mph per year on his serve for the past few years when he was interviewed in 2007. He also said that he often looked at the gun to see how fast he served during matches. I believe that 2004 was the last huge year for his booming forehand.
The slowing down of the surfaces amplified Roddick’s decline immensely. It makes me wonder what would happen today if they sped up the surfaces immensely while regulating racket size to a max size of 90 square inches.
The slowing down of the surfaces amplified Roddick’s decline immensely. It makes me wonder what would happen today if they sped up the surfaces immensely while regulating racket size to a max size of 90 square inches.
ShowStealer
Rookie
No more weak era
tennisaddict
Bionic Poster
Imagine the h2h if he had evolved.
tennisaddict
Bionic Poster
Actually two reasons
1. Unfortunately he had to face Fed everytime he made it deep.
2, Slowing down USO and Wimb. with a fast court, he had enough on serve and FH - to win multiple majors.
Lew II
G.O.A.T.
Come on stop it, Roddick himself said he would get wrecked by post-2011 Novak
tennisaddict
Bionic Poster
Roddick has always been humble.
Pheasant
Legend
Oh yeah. That’s right. This Federer character that you are speaking of was also pretty good on fast surfaces.
Fair enough. That was a pretty big omission on my part.
vex
Legend
This is so true. Winners become addicted with winning and being the best. Its the identity. ATGs would run thru a wall for another win.
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